Martin-Green On Burnham’s Ambition
2 min read
Michael Burnham might not have a rank at the moment in Star Trek: Discovery, but don’t assume that situation will last forever, says Sonequa Martin-Green.
In a new interview with Den of Geek, the character had made it to First Officer, and Martin-Green understood why she was the first Trek protagonist not to be captain. “I had a pretty good understanding of that,” she said. “What I knew about Michael Burnham being the first officer and not the captain was that they were pursuing different and unique paths for the story. Because we had always seen the captain, we had always seen every world of Star Trek from the eyes of the captain, so something that Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman wanted to do was to define a new Star Trek with a new identity.”
It an interesting way to portray the main lead and Martin-Green liked the idea because it gives the character room to grow. “What I really love about it is that it becomes a story of ascension and a story of that upward mobility that a lot of us can relate to,” she said. “And you see someone who is unfinished and so you can then jump into the story with them and grow with them.”
In fact, in spite of being busted down for mutiny, Martin-Green expects Burnham to sit in the captain’s chair one day. “I definitely think that’s in the future, and that’s part of the journey for sure,” she said. “We’re certainly not closed off to it, but who knows when. It’s certainly a part of it because that journey to captain has been driving Michael from the very beginning, and definitely since joining Starfleet. That progression and that yearning to ascend is almost a pillar in her personality.”
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