One of the biggest challenges facing any science fiction or fantasy series is helping audiences suspend their disbelief and truly invest in the some of the more outrageous ideas presented. Thankfully, a little bit of good character writing and an earnest performance can go a long way toward doing that, creating relatable characters in a totally unrelatable setting. On the Paramount+ series "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," one character who pretty regularly feels relatable is helmsman Lieutenant Erica Ortegas, played by Melissa Navia. The hotshot pilot and former soldier in the Klingon Wars has become a major fan favorite, and for good reason, but what helps Navia really get into her character's head?

I had the chance to chat with Navia via Zoom and asked her all about getting into Ortegas' headspace in the season 3 episode "Terrarium," as the character ended up stranded on a deserted planet on the other side of a wormhole from the Enterprise, trapped with a downed Gorn pilot. Given the fact that the Gorn had previously captured Ortegas and then nearly killed her during her escape, she has some serious baggage with the monstrous-seeming aliens that's played out throughout season 3. That part is admittedly kind of hard to relate to, but Navia pointed out a moment earlier in the season, after the disrupted wedding in episode 2, where we can really see (and feel) what Ortegas is going through.