Even though TV audiences will soon have a brand new Star Trek franchise to watch, replete with unknown characters, a new ship and foreign, unexplored worlds to visit, there may be one familiar aspect to the series: the voice of the ship’s computer.
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Majel Barrett, the late wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who voiced the computer interfaces across all of the Star Trek TV series and some of the movies, may be returning to Star Trek: Discovery. Roddenberry’s son, Rod, announced it on Twitter.
But wait, you’re thinking. Barrett died in 2008. How is that possible?
It turns out that just before her death, Barrett recorded an entire library of phonetic sounds for future usage. It’s so thorough that it’s already been used, most recently in J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek reboot. Technically, Barrett could be the voice of Starfleet for eternity.
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Dubbed “The First Lady of Star Trek” by fans, Barrett also played Nurse Christine Chapel in the original Star Trek series and Lwaxana Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Needless to say, Trekkies and Trekkers everywhere were overjoyed to hear this news.
Star Trek: Discovery is set to premiere in January 2017 on Space in Canada.