Warning: This Article Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4
Following the acclaimed crossover with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Jack Quaid discusses the big change that just happened to Ensign Brad Boimler in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4. Boimler and Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) jumped to live-action and met Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the crew of the 23rd century USS Enterprise in Strange New Worlds’ crossover. Now that they’re back aboard the 24th-century’s USS Cerritos, Boimler and Mariner can’t discuss their time travel, but they both received promotions to Lieutenant, junior grade.
In a press release for Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 that contained interviews with the cast conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike, Jack Quaid talked about Boimler’s promotion and the challenges he’ll face as newly-minted Starfleet Lieutenant. Check out his quote below:
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.
What Boimler’s Lieutenant Promotion Means To Star Trek: Lower Decks
Lieutenant Brad Boimler leading his first Away mission is a storyline in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 3, “In the Cradle of Vexilon.” The USS Cerritos visits an alien megastructure to solve a problem, and Lt. Boimler is placed in charge of three new Lower Decker Ensigns with the help of T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz), another Lower Decker recently promoted to Lieutenant. The anxiety-ridden and eager-to-please Boimler will be in the stressful position of commanding others, and his leadership skills will be put to the test as the Cerritos crew faces its latest crisis.
As Boimler pointed out when the Cerritos’ Ensigns received their promotions, becoming Lieutenant, junior grade means they are still Lower Deckers. Lieutenant j.g.s are the least important of the ranks above Ensign. However, the Lieutenant rank still comes with perks like their own quarters on the Cerritos as well as greater responsibilities. And this includes the lives of junior officers in Boimler’s hands when he’s leading an Away mission. Brad Boimler dreams of commanding his own starship one day, and Boimler does show signs that becoming Captain is his destiny in Starfleet, but Star Trek: Lower Decks isn’t going to make Lieutenant Boimler’s first Away mission as leader an easy one.
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 streams Thursdays on Paramount.
