Tamlyn Tomita Interview: Star Trek: Picard Season 1

The Romulans gained a newfound prominence in Star Trek: Picard and chief among the pointy-eared antagonists is Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita). The leader of the Tal Shiar’s synthetics-hunting cabal, the Zhat Vash, the half-Vulcan/half-Romulan Oh emerged as the main villain of Star Trek: Picard season 1 as she pursued her agenda of wiping out all of the android children of the late Commander Data (Brent Spiner), including Soji (Isa Briones). Further, as Star Trek: Picard slowly leaked more details about Oh, Trekkers learned that she was a double agent who manipulated the Federation for decades as the Head of Starfleet Security.

Among Commodore Oh’s nefarious acts, she masterminded the calamitous events of Star Trek: Picard‘s backstory, including the attack on Mars by rogue androids which, in turn, led to all synthetic lifeforms becoming banned by the Federation. Oh also ordered the assassination of Dahj, Soji’s twin sister, and she coerced Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) into joining Jean-Luc Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) mission as a Romulan spy. As a result, Jurati murdered Dr. Bruce Maddox (John Ales), her former love who secretly created Soji, Dahj, and an entire race of synthetics on the planet Coppelius. In Star Trek: Picard‘s two-part finale, Commodore Oh personally led a Romulan Warbird force to wipe out Soji and her synthetic family before they could summon an ancient race of androids that would destroy the galaxy. However, Oh’s planned decimation of Coppelius was foiled by the heroics of Jean-Luc Picard and a Starfleet cavalry force led by Acting Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes).

Screen Rant had the pleasure of interviewing Tamlyn Tomita for a fascinating, in-depth discussion. We explored the origins of Commodore Oh, her true Romulan identity, Tomita’s intricate process of discovering who her character is, why she doesn’t necessarily see Oh as a villain, and what could be next for the Commodore Oh in Star Trek: Picard season 2.

So, let’s talk about Star Trek, let’s have some fun. So how did you get involved with Star Trek: Picard? Was it offered to you or did you pursue the role?

Well, it came down the pipe as a very secretive project and there were hushes from my agent as to what it could be, and then when I was going further down the audition process, it was like, “I think this is Star Trek: Picard“, and I go, “Oh wow, are they gonna reboot it?” And they were like, “Oh no, this is gonna be the new version of it,” and I was like “Fantastic!” And so it was traditionally the audition process and I think it happened — Wow, it happened early 2018! Yeah, it had to have been spring 2018 when I first auditioned, then there was a long pause, and then I was brought in to audition again, and I declined. And then they offered me the role of Commodore Oh. Because I’d originally been brought in for another part.

Oh? Interesting.

Yeah, the two or three first rounds of auditions were for another part, and then the third or fourth audition, they called me back and I said, “No, I think you guys have seen me enough”, and I was confident in the auditions that I had given. And then they came in out of the blue with Commodore Oh.

Did you grow up as a Star Trek fan? Was it something you wanted to be part of?

Only TOS. So, I’m learning all the acronyms, so only The Original Series, but my love Daniel is a bigger TNG fan. So he knows the heart of Star Trek: Picard was Picard and Data. So he was really thrilled with the continuing relationship and the evolution of both characters. It’s a new chapter of Data’s life as we don’t know it. I have to be very careful with my words because I don’t know where that character is going to go to, in terms of seeing his mortality come to an end, but that’s just in humanoid terms. We don’t know androids or synthetics, or what kind of other consciousnesses they can be privy to. But in terms of how Picard is resurrected into a golem is really super interesting.

Yeah, I thought that was a crazy risk that paid off. I thought that was very bold of them but I really liked it.

Yeah, it pays off because of all the investment and the reinvestment of the discussion with his best friend and the cost of friendship, and the cost of being able to say hello and goodbye really weighted his decisions – or the others’ decisions to place him into a golem and how he’s going to react to becoming [synthetic] – because I don’t think that was his choice.

No, it wasn’t. You’re right. [Picard] was set to die.

He has to deal with the choice that was made for him by others. So it’s going to be very interesting as to that kind of discussion as to how do you thank people or how do you damn people for making that literal life decision for you.

Back to Commodore Oh, how fully-formed was she when you got hold of her? Did you get to add stuff or was it all on the page?

Well, it’s interesting because, again, not being privy to the internal discussions as to who she is or what she is, I can tell you that she was not originally named Commodore Oh. She was a Commodore but she had another name. I believe it was Vulcan, I believe it was something like T-apostrophe, like T’Pol or T’Shar or something like that. But right before we started shooting, I believe they changed it to Oh and I did not question as to why. But I believe my first day of shooting was the Admonition scene, so I’m in the circle and I’m going, “So who am I? And why am I dressed in this manner?” So there were a lot of questions as to who I was and the scripts were still being polished. And then I asked and requested all the scripts so I can figure out what’s going on and what is my place on this chessboard because I had no idea. And I didn’t realize until reading the scripts how integral a part [Oh] was. At the same time, I was shocked and amazed at what I did know and what I didn’t know, and how it was being created as we were going along in the shooting schedule. So I think there were a lot of creative, wonderful juices flowing back and forth between the creators as to who Commodore Oh was, and General Nadar.

Oh, so her name was General Nadar? I didn’t know that. I thought it was just Oh.

Nooo. Actually, I don’t know if I’m called General Nadar…

Riker called you “General” but no Romulan name, so I thought it was just Oh.

Yes, well, I don’t think anybody would have known because I’m a completely new character. Also, when you’re conducting war, wouldn’t you identify yourself? “I am General N’Dar of the Romulan Warbird, blah blah blah.” Isn’t that protocol when you’re conducting warfare? So I thought that went against usual Star Trek patterns. You always see “Somebody’s hailing, Commander” and you always look forward to when that big screen comes on and you see this face, so that’s what I thought was missing as well. But yeah, I am a General, my name is Nadar, but that’s scripted.

Wow, I did not know that. That’s amazing. Now, you didn’t get to work with Patrick Stewart, unfortunately…

I did not! Because they were concentrating on building the relationships on La Sirena and I thought that was super important. Of course, if you’re going to enter the Star Trek Universe, you want to work with Spock, you want to work with Kirk, you want to work with McCoy, and Scotty, and Sulu, and Uhura. The next one for me would have been Picard. And then when Seven of Nine came on, I had to ask my love, “Is Seven of Nine in TNG?” and he goes, “Nope!” Then I go, “Oooh, then they’re really going to do a mashup of all the Star Trek shows.”

And it was amazing. As a fan, this was a dream scenario that came true. So you got to work with Peyton List and you got to work with Alison Pill. What were they like to work with?

Lovely. Peyton was lovely. Again, the scene in the Admonition circle was me basically speechifying and really laying down the gravitas and the weight of what it means to endure the Admonition. Literally, endure. It’s not “experience”, “have fun”, or “see”, it’s really endure the weight of our history, the weight of consequence, and the weight of duty. There’s three things. It’s the past, the present, and the future, and these are the reasons you must endure it at all costs. [Peyton] was lovely, it was a beautiful set of women, both physically and internally, because these women were really trying to emulate what it means to be a Romulan woman. And we thought it was really interesting, too, that the Zhat Vash were all women.

Right. They were the opposite of the Qowat Milat, who were also all women.

Right. So that’s another case for discussion and we really kind of bonded together, all twelve of us. And Peyton was lovely as to how she’s receiving [the Admonition] as to her relationship of Commander versus Commodore, and Alison was great in that [mindmeld] scene as she was all innocent and bug-eyed as to meeting this Vulcan Head of Starfleet Security. And being curious, and being vulnerable, and being frightened because the seriousness of the scene kept on growing exponentially for her. So it was lovely.

I have to ask about that scene because there was one more startling thing about that scene besides the mindmeld: What was up with Oh’s sunglasses? That was a very unique choice. You never see sunglasses on Star Trek like that.

So, that was another curious thing for me because we all know from watching Star Trek TOS that Vulcans have inner eyelids, so I go, “Why is she wearing sunglasses?” And I never got a straight answer, except for the fact that one of the writers, I’m not sure if it was Michael or Akiva, I don’t remember, but they really wanted a particular image and I think it was based on how my hair was cut. My hair. This was how my hair was brought in. I was totally open to changing it for the character. For some reason, it invoked an image of the French actress Anna Karina. Serendipitously for Star Trek, she had passed away right after. So there was some kind of weight to wearing that. I knew I looked kind of ridiculous, in my personal opinion – Tamlyn Tomita’s opinion – a Vulcan in sunglasses and ears is a little too much, but I knew I just had to play it seriously. There was a reason I had to wear those sunglasses, because I had to conceal my halfness.

I thought, looking at it from Agnes’ point of view, the sunglasses made you feel more intimidating.

Right? It’s intimidating and mysterious but also, because they kind of looked like Tom Cruise’s Risky Business glasses, you can’t escape that similarity. So I took it as a bit of homage to pop culture. But there is a reason I had to choose, personally, as to why Commodore Oh would be wearing sunglasses when she’s introduced as a Vulcan.

In the finale, you played chicken and had a face-to-face confrontation with Captain Riker. Did you get to act opposite Jonathan Frakes?

No, so that scene was shot separately. I know my scene was shot first and they filmed Mr. Frakes’ portion up in Toronto, because I think he was still shooting [Star Trek] Discovery so they had to slide it into his schedule. So they just made sure that I could do what I could do. So I never got meet any of the original series guys.

That’s a bummer. I think Ricardo Montalban had to go through the same things in Star Trek II. He couldn’t act opposite [William] Shatner because he did his scenes first.

He did his scenes first, right? Yeah, so actually, because that film is the favorite of any Trekkie, and sometimes I take slight offense at being labeled the bad guy or the villain. I say I have a very focused agenda, which happens to be counter 180 degrees to yours. And so my point of view is very different. But I do with it with as much integrity and a sense of fun, but always with a sense of duty and allegiance as to what my mission is. So I knew that Ricardo Montalban’s character had a little bit more deliciousness to him, but it’s because he’s truly mad. He’s truly mad with his isolation. So I had to veer away from any Ricardo Montalban iteration, which would have been fun, but you know…

Plus you’re a Vulcan.

Yeah! Exactly.

One of the other things I loved about Oh and how her backstory played out is the show kind of retconned Star Trek in a way. It said that Oh joined Starfleet roughly at the time when Data joined Starfleet to stop the synthetics from growing. Which I think is an amazing way to insert this character into the Star Trek legacy, that she was in the shadows all along. What would be fantastic is if they did flashbacks to the TNG era where you could see Oh wearing the original uniform and doing her stuff way back then. I’m sure you’d be totally up for that if they did that.

I would love to! It’s always the great thing about being involved in such a legacy series such as Star Trek is you’ll always want to know more about the characters that you love. But also, you get to find that you’re really curious about the villains that you hate. What’s the deal with the Bajorans, what’s the deal with the Klingons, what’s the deal with the Romulans? That’s why for me, I really thought about what it means to be a Romulan. So going back to see how Oh maneuvered her way up – through excellence! – into the Head of Starfleet Security is a really interesting story.

So in the end, Oh lived to fight another day. In a way, her mission was kind of accomplished in that the galaxy wasn’t destroyed. But she didn’t get to kill Soji and all of the synthetics. Do you think Oh is satisfied with that conclusion? Do you think she’ll try again? Is she too far gone with hating the synthetics?

With every conflict, is there truly a winner or a loser? In this particular battle, it came down to a detente. So there was no great sense of epic loss. Because we come from two different viewpoints, and “will live to see another day”, [speaking for Oh] I withdraw with grace and integrity and with my feathers all ruffled but they’re all intact. And I think it’s interesting, from my first viewing of the show, I think the Romulans were kind of right about the synthetics. I mean, Sutra was… kinda sh*tty. Yeah?

She was. She was nuts.

She was sh*tty. And I still don’t buy the idea that synthetics can do a mindmeld. That’s another question as to the heart and soul of a humanoid but can that be transferred to a synthetic? It’s like, “But it’s a mindmeld!”

Yeah, I was definitely iffy on it.

Right? So there are a lot of doors open and I think I’m a familiar door into the Romulan universe, but I think that being half-Romulan and half-Vulcan, from what I understand, is that to prove my Vulcanness I have to be twice as good in my Vulcanness and to be a Romulan, I have to be twice as good at being a Romulan. It’s like you and I being Asian-American, this is the question going on right now politically: Do Asian-Americans have to prove their Americanness by being twice as American? So that was a basic foundation, that was a basic sense if where I was coming from in portraying Commodore Oh/General N’Dar. Where does this line of her bi-raciality come through? I do it with a sense of duty, a sense of accomplishment, a sense of mission, a sense of one’s allegiance to one’s country, to one’s code, to one’s God.

That totally comes through. I love the insight and that you really dug into the character and thought her through. 

And it was fun. And the fact that knowing what a Romulan is, knowing what a Vulcan is, and my love for those cultures – because, come on! Romulans in TOS, you always remember them. They weren’t silly, they weren’t stupid, they were supremely intelligent. And that’s probably a fault of theirs. And that’s where Kirk would always arise because he would do that spontaneous, kneejerk reaction with whatever it means to be human.

Is there any inkling that Commodore Oh will be back in season 2?

I don’t know. I haven’t gotten any word. I do hope so and I have faith in, as well, that if it doesn’t happen with Star Trek: Picard, we could see this character perhaps 20 years from now, a la Star Trek: Picard versus TNG. We’ll see Oh in 2599, so that’s the beauty of science fiction is that you can continue on.

Totally, yeah. So if Commodore Oh does return, would be interested in her kind of becoming like an anti-hero like Emperor Georgiou is on Star Trek: Discovery? Michelle Yeoh’s character. She started off as this evil Emperor then she kind of joined the crew and kind of became this foil. Or do you think Oh should stay a black hat villain, or at least true to herself and her agenda?

Well, another pop culture reference I had in mind when I played this character was Severus Snape. To be that evil, that badass, that counter to the hero. That’s great for me to hang on to because every good story needs a bad guy, and the bad guy has all the fun. But because you see Michelle Yeoh’s character in Discovery played one way, I think the creators have it in mind to play Oh with another color. Especially with two Asian actors. So I think it would behoove them to try another color palate.

Star Trek: Picardseason 1 is available on CBS All-Access and internationally on Amazon Prime Video.

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