[SPOILERS] “The Life of the Stars,” Starfleet Academy‘s eighth episode, reintroduces Discovery‘s Sylvia Tilly, played by Mary Wiseman. Tilly left the USS Discovery in season 4 to become an instructor at the Academy, which had not yet relocated to San Francisco, but Ake summons her to the Athena after traditional means of helping the cadets process trauma after the incident on the Miyazaki have failed. Tilly shows up, armed with the power of theater (specifically, Our Town) to help them work through their emotions.
We talked to Mary about coming back to Star Trek as a more confident Tilly, working with Holly Hunter, and her thoughts on the tricky waters of fandom and online commentary.
What was it about this episode that you thought worked really well for Tilly, and were there other options on the table?
This is what [co-showrunner] Alex [Kurtzman] brought to me. And I thought it was so brilliant. And I was personally really invested, because I have a history with Our Town and a greater history of Thornton Wilder, and obviously, I’m a theater kid myself, so I was very excited to get to bring that into the Star Trek universe. And I thought it was really a brilliant use of using something like theater in an academic setting to to enable the kind of openness and vulnerability that I think is necessary to develop resilience in people who are going to be faced with serious trials like these cadets were on the Miyazaki.
Was the only one that came up? Like they didn’t say “We’ve got these five ideas” or anything like that?
No, they brought it to me after they’d already written the script. It was just perfect. And I think that they felt like that, and I felt like that when they presented it to me and was so excited. It’s such a natural fit. And, yeah, I was just elated. I thought it was such a cool idea, and I was just chomping at the bit to get started.
Yeah, it did seem very on brand for you, as well as for her. That final confrontation scene that Tilly has with Tarima… I’ve watched it twice, crying my eyes out both times. In a scene like that when someone else is at that high emotional intensity, how do you keep yourself from going there too?
Yeah, that’s a great question. It’s tricky, because a lot of times in acting, you want to kind of give what you receive. And so I felt like what I needed to hold, and what I was reminded of by the director and Alex and everybody involved, is that she’s affected by by this and what this girl is going through and how this girl is responding to her, but also, she’s in a position now where she’s a teacher and responsible for this cadet, and needs to hold things together to guide her through this really difficult experience, which was a really fun thing to play, and really the dynamic in the playing of it was how to empathize with her and receive what Tarima was experiencing and going through and try to steer the ship where I thought it needed to go in order for her to move through this experience and heal and be able to come out better on the other end.
Tilly takes in Tarima’s anger over having to be in the play and be at the Academy
We all know Tilly went off to to to be an instructor at the Academy, at what the Academy was then before this show. But did you talk at all with Alex and the writers about other things that have happened between Discovery and now, for Tilly?
I guess I took what I knew from the script, which is that Tilly has been in the Beta Quadrant with the third years. And I just filled it in imaginatively that she’s been off of the base and working in the field with these slightly older, more advanced cadets. And then also, yeah, imaginatively, and I think, the script was instructive in this, I think really settled into her role as a teacher, and really found her approach and her way through, and has found comfort and ease and a lot of meaning in getting to be a teacher. And I really like that idea that when she makes this shift from wanting to be a captain to wanting to be a teacher, that she’s actually really found her place where she can thrive and and be the most effective and the most helpful.
She does seem to have a certainty that she didn’t have before.
Yeah, she was hard earned.
She was always very much herself, very authentic, but she doesn’t seem to have that sort of insecurity anymore, or fear or doubt.
Yeah, I don’t think that at this point in Tilly’s life, and having taken on this role as a teacher, Tilly is not struggling with imposter syndrome when it comes to being a teacher. I think she’s really settled into a place where she feels like she can be effective and she can also find joy in her work. And I don’t think it would be satisfying if she was the same… was, you know, dealing with the same demons that she did as a cadet on a starship. I think that I would crave, and I would hope the audience would crave, a certain kind of growth from her, where she’s a bit more situated and a bit more embodied.
And did that all come from you, or was that part of your discussions with the writers or Alex?
I always feel like I’m being instructed by the text that I’m reading. I don’t see, in the script, a lot of waffling or a lot of self-doubt in her. I see her just trying her hardest to move through this with these cadets and help them from a place of her own experience and from a place of confidence that she can right the ship.
Mary Wiseman as Tilly in season 1, episode 8 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy streaming on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Brooke Palmer/Paramount+
We all thought we were going to see a lot more of you this season, and I know you’re just in this one episode. Are you going to be back next season?
I don’t… I can’t answer. Outside my purview.
Understood, we get that answer a lot.
Yeah I’m sure you do..
So Discovery launched a whole new era of Star Trek, and along with all the love that came with Star Trek fans, there are always some that are just over-the-top negative about whatever thing they think is their thing. Everything, whatever it is. And you’ve come through all that, and I’m wondering if you gave any, or would give any, advice to these young actors taking on these roles who are already seeing a lot of it.
God, I would really hope that they would come to me if they were being affected by anything like that, because it is a really difficult thing to suddenly be confronted with — an online presence of anonymous individuals who can work out some of whatever’s going on in their own lives, be it rage or, you know, self-loathing, and then put that onto you. It’s shocking. It’s like you always want the power of invisibility so you can see how the world feels about you. This kind of situation is like getting that power. You see the worst things people could say about you and the kindest things people could say about you, and that’s how you find out you don’t want the power of invisibility actually. So it’s really jarring when it first happens. And what I would say to them, is sadly, this is the way it is to be any sort of a public figure, and it’s not about you and these comments are not reflective of reality, and they actually have nothing to do with you, they have to do with another person who is struggling with their own thing and working through it in a really destructive way.
But I HATE that anybody else has to go through that, especially young people, especially anybody just starting out. So I feel very protective. And just talking about this really makes me want to reach out to them and see how they’re doing. I think I didn’t want to anticipate that would happen while we were on set? You know, you don’t want to scare people or make them feel vulnerable like they have to protect themselves, but maybe, maybe a check-in would be nice. Because it’s a really intense period of growing pains to go through that, and to the greater world, I would just say, you know, just treat people the way you want to be treated, and be gentle. We’re all just little babies up in here.
The vitriol is insane. But there’s a lot of love! There’s so much love out there too,
Yeah, and that can be really daunting to take on also, you know? You don’t really know where to put that. So it’s all a process and and you become better at at taking it in and letting it go.
You had one, particularly great scene with Tig (Reno) and Holly (Ake) together, the three of you. It wasn’t enough! Was there more stuff filmed or written that was cut?
No, that was it. I think they wanted to get Tilly in with the cadets, and I totally get it. And I was grateful for any time I can get with Tig. I think, you know, both as people and as characters, we have a really good absolute optimist/absolute curmudgeon dynamic that is really satisfying. And of course, I was just over the moon to get to work with Holly Hunter. I’ve been a fan forever, and to get to see her in the flesh and work with her was such an honor, and something I can take with me that I’m really grateful for.
Did you guys have fun filming that?
I had a blast. I was just on cloud nine. I get to work with Holly Hunter, and I get to bother Tig? This is my ideal scenario.
“It’s okay to love.”
Has it felt familiar stepping back into Trek?
Yeah! I mean, the costumes, the literal soundstages, the crew, there’s so many crew members who have come over from the other show, and producers. And, you know, I got to see everybody, it’s like a homecoming. There’s so much love. You spend so much time with these people. And then, you know, Tunde, and then I got to run into Jonathan Frakes as he was prepping his next episode, and just the delight of getting to see people you don’t get to see every day, but have spent a lot of time with. Just big hugs and happy tears, and it rocked.
Mary Wiseman as Tilly in season 1, episode 8 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy streaming on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Brooke Palmer/Paramount+
More for SFA 108
For a deeper dive into the episode, check out our recap/review and the new episode of the All Access Star Trek podcast, which includes audio from this interview as well as Tony’s chat with Gaia Violo and Noga Landau.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.