Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment WriterWhen the cast of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” was first announced, much attention was paid to all the legacy “Trek” characters who were getting a new life on the Paramount+ series, from Capt.
Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) to Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush).Then there was Lt.
Erica Ortegas, one of the only wholly original characters on the series, which takes place on the U.S.S. Enterprise roughly a decade before the events of the original “Star Trek” series from the 1960s.
As the helmsman on the Enterprise under Capt. Pike, Lt. Ortegas — pardon the pun — flew under the radar for “Trek” fans at first.