Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Star Shares Her Uncanny Transformation Into Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura

Published Sep 9, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT

John Orquiola is a New & Classic TV Editor, Senior Writer, and Interviewer with a special focus on Star Trek. John has over 5,000 published articles at SR, and he has interviewed the biggest names in Star Trek on the red carpet and VIP events, among other beloved shows, movies, and franchises.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Celia Rose Gooding becomes Nichelle Nichols' Lieutenant Uhura in season 4's finale, and she shares her new look on social media.

At San Diego Comic-Con, Paramount+ shared a sizzle reel for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 that showed Gooding wearing the classic, 1960s' style Starfleet uniform, hair, and makeup made famous by Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura. Celia's younger Ensign Uhura and her future self seemingly cross time and switch places in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4's finale, "Tomorrow's Enterprise."

To celebrate Star Trek Day, Celia Rose Gooding shared a gallery of gorgeous behind-the-scenes photos of her five seasons playing Nyota Uhura on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which wrapped filming the entire series last December. In one of the photos, and shared to her Stories, Celia included a photo of herself in full hair, makeup, and costume as Nichelle Nichols' Lt. Uhura. See the photo below:

Check out Celia's Instagram gallery below:

Nichelle Nichols is legendary as Lt. Uhura, but Star Trek: The Original Series and the six Star Trek movies she appeared in revealed very little about Nyota's life story. Sadly, the most prominent African-American character in the original Star Trek was mainly a background player who mostly sat at the USS Enterprise's communications console and announced, "Hailing frequencies open!"

Uhura's first name, "Nyota," became official canon thanks to Zoe Saldana's portrayal of Uhura in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot movies, which took place in the alternate Kelvin Timeline. Nyota Uhura then became recognized as the Communications Officer's full name in Star Trek's Prime timeline as well, where Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: The Original Series take place.

Image via Paramount+

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has thankfully given Uhura much greater prominence, revealing that Uhura was orphaned when she was sixteen, and that Nyota was a Starfleet Cadet when she first joined the USS Enterprise. Celia Rose Gooding has brilliantly portrayed Uhura's growth and evolution, with Nyota's promotion to Ensign and finding her purpose to "keep the Starship Enterprise connected" as Communications Officer.

Celia Rose Gooding's transformation into Lieutenant Uhura, and her uncanny resemblance to Nichelle Nichols, are stunning. Whatever Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4's finale has in store, it's bound to be unforgettable to see Celia become her iconic predecessor and set foot on "Tomorrow's Enterprise."

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 is streaming on Paramount+

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