Warning: This Article Contains Minor SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4’s cast members tease the big change coming to the Ensigns of the USS Cerritos. Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 premieres September 7th on Paramount+, hot on the heels of Ensigns Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) making the jump to live-action in a lauded crossover with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 episodes will also receive a theatrical release in accordance with Star Trek Day on September 8th.
In a press release from Paramount+ (as reported by TrekMovie.com), Star Trek: Lower Decks cast members Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, and Eugene Cordero comment on their characters receiving promotions in season 4. All of these interviews were conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strikes. Check out the actors’ quotes about the Lower Deckers rising up the ranks of Starfleet:
Jack Quaid (Bradward Boimler):
I love that the Lower Deckers got promoted. Boimler has his first away mission that he is leading, and he is nervous, to say the least. He doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. He eventually must learn to trust his friends and trust the process.
Tawny Newsome (Beckett Mariner):
She tries to give this promotion back 80 times, which I can understand. She does accept it because she realizes she can still do her thing; she can still do some good; she can still be a little chaotic. She believes ‘I’m still a lower decker; I’m still a scrappy underdog.
Noël Wells (D’Vana Tendi):
Tendi is very excited about being promoted. She’s come to Starfleet with this hope of being assimilated but, secretly, she’s finding this well of power within herself. Being promoted is a natural extension of all the hard work she is doing.
Eugene Cordero (Samanthan Rutherford):
I think Rutherford has a fear of moving up or advancing too fast. I think he’d be worried to move to a different ship or be placed in a different world where he would have to give orders. That’s an issue they’re all having, but I think Rutherford would have the toughest time.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Promotions Explained
Ensigns Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, and Rutherford receiving promotions doesn’t mean they would cease to be Lower Deckers on the USS Cerritos. The next step up the Starfleet ladder for the Ensigns would be promotions to Lieutenant, junior grade. While a loftier position, it’s still a fairly low rung of the totem pole, and the Lower Deckers would continue doing much of the ‘dirty work’ of the Cerritos. But the promotion also comes with perks, such as Boimler leading his own away mission. Becoming Lieutenants could also mean the Lower Deckers get their own quarters and stop sharing bunks in the hallway.
Boimler and Mariner are also coming off their visit to the 23rd-century USS Enterprise commanded by Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ crossover, although Brad and Beckett aren’t supposed to talk about that under temporal protocols. Adding a new wrinkle to the Lower Deckers promotion is the addition of Provisional Ensign T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) to Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4’s cast. The no-nonsense Vulcan now being forced to take orders from the higher-ranked Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, and Rutherford is certainly rife with comedic possibilities.
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 premieres Thursday, September 7th, on Paramount+.
