The fourth episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, “A Farewell to Farms,” which is now available for streaming on Paramount+. Included in the guest starring cast is Star Trek: Discovery alum Mary Chieffo, who returns as an all-new, all different Klingon: K’Elarra.
Comics Beat caught up with Chieffo over Zoom to learn more about her guest role in the episode. We asked about how she came to be involved in the show, about the difference between playing an animated Klingon versus performing in full prosthetics, and (of course) what she would order from the food replicator.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
AVERY KAPLAN: How did you come to be involved in Lower Decks?
MARY CHIEFFO: I was very fortunate that Mike McMahan and Brad Winters thought of me. They said that they had already crafted this episode and they said, “Wait, who should be a lady Klingon? Mary!”
I’ve been fortunate, again, because the family is so strong through being at the Las Vegas convention when Lower Decks was first announced, which is when I first met Mike. And through our various Trek circles, we’ve always been very friendly. I’m such a big fan of the show, so it really was this wonderful moment. And I’m just so thrilled that I get to do this voice.
So they said, “Will you do it?” And I said, “Absolutely.” Then I got the scene and I was even more excited. I just get to be an awesome Star Trek: The Next Generation era lady Klingon.
KAPLAN: What was the practical process of recording like for you?
CHIEFFO: I got to go in the booth and work with Brad specifically. I had gotten the scene a decent amount ahead of time, always nice. And I just started playing around with what I wanted to do. They wrote it so classic lady Klingon, that I said, “Oh yeah, this is what I want to play with.”
And we spent, I’d say an hour playing. Then I got to come back in one other time just to do a little clean-up stuff onc ethey’d put things together. And I got to see some images of the character, but of course, when you’re recording, it’s not fully animated yet. That was an interesting part of the process, to see bits of the script and bits and pieces of how they were animating it.
It was great time. Brad would just throw different things at me to play with, and was very excited by all the funny, sultry growls that I was doing. It was a great time.
KAPLAN: How does playing an animated Klingon differ from playing one in full makeup?
CHIEFFO: It’s different parts. With the live action, there was a lot more prep work in the language. Literally, I was speaking a lot more Klingon as L’Rell. And working with my scene partners, I was very fortunate that we often had time to work when we were out of the prosthetic.
But then on the day, three hours there in the chair getting in the makeup and getting in the armor of the chancellor outfit, whatever it may be. And then a lot of me with ice packs on my wrists and fans in my face in between takes. I always tried to really know what was happening in the scenes, especially when it was mostly in Klingon, so that on the day, all those other factors could be layered on top of the acting work that we already had a foundation for.
Whereas with recording, a challenge there is that you aren’t as directly with your scene partner. But again, I got to work with Brad, who was really great at giving me stuff and playing around. It felt very active, I didn’t feel totally isolated. It was still a very playful environment.
And its nice to not feel the pressure of, “you have to be perfectly memorized.” You can look down, and I often do feel like I can be more free in certain ways when I’m not beholden to that. Again, all different challenges and different ways to play around.
Again, you can really ask, “Can I just say that line one more time?” Whereas if you’re doing a full scene on a day of doing live action, you don’t really stop and start in that same way.
Photos credit: Paramount+KAPLAN: I’m curious, how has your understanding of Klingons changed since you first started playing L’Rell?
CHIEFFO: I really had such a great time watching all the different Klingon episodes and learning all the different characters. And from that, was very inspired in my interpretation of L’Rell, especially as a lady Klingon, all the things that she’s really up again.
I remember watching in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the episode with Grilka, where you really see that she can’t suceed her husband’s house because she’s a woman. And I said, “Oh. There’s some patriarchy really still sticking in there in the Klingon Empire.” So we really get to see that expanded with L’Rell’s journey, even in the first season before she’s chauncellor. And then we took it up to eleven with Kol-Sha and all the ways that he didn’t take her seriously as a leader.
So I think my answer would be, just a deepening of what that culture is and how it is in contrast to the Federation.
Also what we see in this episode of Lower Decks is that there’s also this peacefullness. There are Klingons everywhere, and they actually do live on Qo’noS, and it’s not “all battle, all the time.” Which we also got to see with Tenavik being the monk, which I thought was so beautiful.
So continued understanding of the depth of the Klingons, starting out with their forward-facing reputation and what I hope we accomplished in certain ways in Discovery is showing more of a vulnerability. I don’t like to say “humanity,” because that’s very human-centric. “Kling-anity.”
KAPLAN: Was your performance as K’Elarra inspired or informed by any other Klingons (including but not limited to L’Rell)?
CHIEFFO: Yes. That was fun, because I had witnessed a lot of these TNG-era Klingons as I was watching through, and I did lean a little bit more on the Duras Sisters, K’Ehleyr and Grilka, my number one favorite. Those four were base inspiration. Especially the boob window, obviously; I have to honor that.
And then allowing her to have a little bit more of Mary in there vocally. With L’Rell, I loved that I got to develop a whole dialect based off the Klingon sounds with Rea Nolan, our dialect coach on Discovery. Which was so cool, because I just love geeking out on dialects.
But with this, it was more, “Just be a Klingon flavor of yourself, Mary,” which was very neat.
KAPLAN: Did you get any backstory or inside information on K’Elarra?
CHIEFFO: No, other than that the guy in the band had invited her. And I think that they were definitely excited for me to have free reign when it came to what her backstory was. And obviously, her relationship with Ma’ah. I had some fun coming up with some stuff on my own, especially what I reference about all of our shennanigans in the past. They left a lot of fun subtext in there.
KAPLAN: As we’ve touched on, you’ve played a Klingon in live action, animation and video games. Is there any other Star Trek species (including human) you hope to portray in the future?
CHIEFFO: Any and all forms. But I really would love to see myself as a Vulcan. I do think, in contrast… having had the opportunity to be a Klingon, what would be the fun antidote to that?
And I’ve often said, too: Klingons and Vulcans both have deep emotional wells. They have just processed them very differently. So, I think that would be fun. But there’s so many great species, and it’s just so great with Trek — you can do such a deep dive. Or, like Doug Jones got to be part of creating a whole new legacy of a new species.
KAPLAN: What would you, personally, order from the food replicator?
CHIEFFO: This is stream of consciousness. I’m vegan, number one. Which technically, everything in the replicator is vegan. But I was thinking of a fudge peanut butter cake. That’s maybe what I just want right now… But when it’s like that really thick chocolate with just like a peanut butter something.
New episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks are available for streaming on Paramount+ on Thursdays.
Keep up with all of The Beat’s Star Trek coverage here.
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