Summary
- Sonequa Martin-Green praised the Klingon actors' endurance of the painful makeup and prosthetics on Star Trek: Discovery.
- Klingons like Chancellor L'Rell and Voq/Ash Tyler remain unforgettable despite not being seen in later seasons.
- Martin-Green discussed the challenges the Klingon actors faced, including not being able to sit or eat due to the thick makeup.
Star Trek: Discovery's new look Klingons were a controversial aspect of seasons 1 and 2, but series lead and producer Sonequa Martin-Green has nothing but praise for what the actors who played Klingons endured. The Klingons weren't seen again in Star Trek: Discovery after the series left its original 23rd century setting and permanently jumped to the late 32nd century. However, the Klingons remain unforgettable, especially the major characters like Chancellor L'Rell (Mary Chieffo) and Voq/Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif).
Sonequa Martin-Green joined The D-Con Chamber for an in-depth discussion of her career and her run as Captain Michael Burnham on Star Trek: Discovery. Martin-Green explained the arduous process the actors who played Klingons on Star Trek: Discovery endured, and she has nothing but awe for how difficult the roles were to perform with the amount of makeup and prosthetics involved. Read Sonequa's quote and watch The D-Con Chamber video below, with the Klingon talk around 54:00:
The Klingons… I don’t know how they were able to do it. Because it was nothing but pain… It was so thick, what they were wearing was torturous. They weren’t able to sit… They could not eat…. There had to be a nutritionist on set whenever there was a Klingon day to make them smoothies, because they could only open [their mouths] enough to get a straw in there. They had to build these wooden contraptions for them to at least be able to lean back into because they could not sit.
I remember Mary Chieffo explaining that it was so hot under there, it was suffocating. I don’t know how they could even breathe. But she said that the sweat would go back into her ears, and there was nothing you could do about it. You just had to take it. And then on top of that, the Klingon language is really painful. It’s so guttural to the throat. I only had to speak it once, and my throat… I just had to pour honey down my throat because you legit have to… [gargling sound] That’s the proper way to speak it. That’s what they were doing all the time.
And then they had fight choreography, and so the fact that they were able to imbue the life [into the Klingons]...
Star Trek: Discovery's Klingons May Not Be Seen Again
The Klingons were changed back to their familiar form in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Star Trek: Discovery's Klingons were poorly received, which is unfortunate considering the amount of work and what the actors suffered through to bring the revamped Klingons to life, as described by Sonequa Martin-Green. Star Trek: Discovery made the Klingons more alien than ever before, and the Klingon War was not only the focus of Star Trek: Discovery season 1 but affects characters on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds who fought in the war like Dr. Joseph M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), and Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia).
Star Trek: Discovery season 2 depicted the Klingons as beginning to take steps to resemble how they look in Star Trek: The Next Generation .
When the Klingons returned in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, they no longer resembled how they looked in Star Trek: Discovery. Instead, the classic and more popular Klingon look from Star Trek: The Next Generation returned. Klingons like Ambassador Dak'Rah (Robert Wisdom) and General Garkog (Bruce Horak), the singing Klingon, did not mention their more exotic brethren in Star Trek: Discovery. It's possible Star Trek: Discovery's version of the Klingons may not be seen again, but Sonequa Martin-Green honors the work the actors put into bringing those Klingons to life.
