Star Trek's modern era has split its time between introducing new characters and fleshing out the lives of classic-era fan favorites. While I've loved seeing previously undocumented adventures of franchise icons like Spock (Ethan Peck) and Admiral Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), I've also found a lot of joy in meeting completely original figures who had never been mentioned before Star Trek's small-screen return with Discovery in 2017.
Among these modern-era exclusives, one of my favorites has been Carol Kane's Commander Pelia. Not only is she joyously off-beat, but her status as a Lanthanite also brings a mysterious new Star Trek species into the fold. Only Starfleet Academy's Captain Ake (Holly Hunter) has also been revealed as a Lanthanite, although she is also half human. Regardless, the defining trait of Lanthanites is their incredibly long lifespans, as proven by both Pelia and Ake. The upper limit of how long Lanthanites can live hasn't been canonically established, but Strange New Worlds just dropped a pretty solid clue.
FULL SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, episode 1, "Valles Marineris."
Strange New Worlds season 4's premiere implies Commander Pelia is MILLIONS of years old
Pelia's age hasn't been officially revealed, but she is generally believed to be roughly 3,000 years old. That's an impressive lifespan that has pretty much every Star Trek species beat. It means she's witnessed, or at least could have witnessed, a great deal of human history. We already know from Strange New Worlds season 2's "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" that she was present on Earth during the 21st century. It stands to reason she was there during other eras as well.
As difficult to grasp as Pelia's age is, the season 4 premiere, "Valles Marineris," includes a compelling exchange that seems to reveal that she's much, much older than has been believed so far. With the Enterprise crew debriefing after realizing they were responsible for the evolution of humanity, Pelia says something that caught me off guard: "Even I remember a part of that."
With the Cenozoic Era having just been mentioned seconds earlier, it seems to be that Pelia is claiming to have been there during that period on Earth, over 60 million years ago. At the very least, the comment comes across as a soft confirmation that she visited the planet as humanity was evolving. Even if we account for 10 million years either side, that still puts Pelia into a near-godlike category of Star Trek characters, almost like John de Lancie's Q. Are pure-blooded Lanthanites immortal? That possibility remains firmly on the table.
What else Pelia could have meant
I will admit that there is an alternate interpretation of Pelia's comment in "Valles Marineris." It's not quite as convincing, though, and it would be worded a little strangely if read this way. When Pelia says "Even I remember a part of that," the Enterprise crew are discussing the complex series of events that had happened throughout the episode. In true Star Trek style, the dialogue strikes a balance between incomprehensible sci-fi technobabble and an easy-to-parse summary. Despite how (sort of) simplified the scene is, it's still discussing an incredibly high-concept phenomenon.
Therefore, it's not inconceivable that Pelia is basically saying, "Yeah, I understand some of what you just said." On the other hand, I fail to believe that someone as intelligent and long-living as Pelia could struggle to grasp what was being said around her in that moment. As such, I'm left to assume that she was actually talking about having memories from millions of years ago, rather than "just" thousands. It's unclear, but I think that might be the point. The less mysterious the Lanthanites become in Star Trek, the less compelling they seem.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 is streaming now on Paramount+. Catch a new episode each Thursday.
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