Warnng: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 9 - “Fissure Quest"Garrett Wang not only returned as Ensign Harry Kim onStar Trek: Lower Decks, but he’s back as multiple versions of Harry from differentStar Trektimelines. Wang played Harry,Star Trek: Voyager’s Eternal Ensign, for seven seasons, and he’s officially back as Kim for the first time since 2001.
InStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5’s penultimate episode, the starship Anaximander commanded by Captain William Boimler (Jack Quaid) picks up a mulitiverse variant of Harry Kim - the only Harry promoted to Lieutenant. Incensed that every otherHarry Kim in the multiverse hasn’t been promoted,Lieutenant Kim goes rogue and ends up becoming a threat to the multiverse.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Cast Guide: Who Voices Each Character In The Final Season
Meet the Lower Deckers and bridge crew of the USS Cerritos as Star Trek: Lower Decks warps into its fifth and final season on Paramount+.
ScreenRanthad the pleasure of chatting with Garrett Wang about playing multiple Harry Kims onStar Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Voyager’s legacy, and the possibility of returning as a live-action Harry Kim.
Image via Paramount+
ScreenRant: Garrett, I want to confirm before we start: You are the original Garrett Wang, right? You’re not one of the multiverse duplicates?
Garrett Wang: I am not. (laughs) That’s very funny. I am Prime. Garrett Prime.
I’ll talk to any Garrett, but I’m glad I got the original. Congratulations on Harry Kim coming back onLower Decks.And multiple versions of Harry Kim. I think you’ve now played more versions of your character than any otherStar Trekactor.
Garrett Wang: I would have to say that’s true. Yes. I think one of my favorite lines from the episode is when Tawny Newsome yells, “Damn you, Two Pip Kim!”
As a voice actor, how did you go about differentiating each Harry? Since there were so many.
Garrett Wang: Just keeping in tone. The thing is, in the script, there’s so many different ones, and they’re speaking to each other. So I had to have something that would get me there quickly. So I just thought of some type of adjective or some type of numbering system where, ‘Okay, this, this is the Super Confident Harry. This is the Really Nervous Harry. This is the OCD Harry.’ So I would think of one thing to snap me into that and keep it going. I love doing voices, so that’s the thing. I impersonate other people in my cast. So for me, doing multiple, different types of Harry was a dream come true.
Your Janeway, actually, is excellent. Your Kate Mulgrew is flawless.
Garrett Wang: Well, not to Kate, it isn’t. She’s like, [Kate Mulgrew voice] ‘He’s dined out on that impersonation for years.’ I mean, she’s always making fun of me about that.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Did The Greatest Star Trek Crossover Ever
Lower Decks Brought Back Six Star Trek Legacy Characters
YourLower Decksepisode is already thebiggestStar Trekcrossover of all time. I could not believe who’s in this show. Jolene, you, Alexander Siddig. Andrew Robinson, Alfre Woodard…
Garrett Wang: Alfre Woodard! There’s no other Lower Decks episode with this many legacy people, correct? This is the biggest. This may go down as one of the all-time best Lower Decks episodes because of that. The inclusion of all those characters. Because, let’s face it, US fans of Trek, we watch all Trek, right? We watch every incarnation of it. So to see characters like Bashir and Garak who are so beloved -people love those characters - to see them there… To see T’Pol there, to see even Alfre Woodard! They didn’t have to go there, but they went there. So it was very exciting.
That was really awesome. And I love that there are so many Harry Kims, and Lieutenant Kim ended up as the villain, and it’s all tied to how he feels disrespected because all the other Harry Kims are still Ensigns.
Garrett Wang: Right, he felt bad for the others. So the one that was promoted who should be totally fine and just living a nice, comfortable life, he’s the one that gets all crazy about it. Yeah, I love it.
I liked when he was just stewing in the cell. ‘They wouldn’t even put us in the cell with the commanders!’ The episode is called “Fissure Quest,” but maybe it should be called “Harry Kim Destroys The Multiverse.”
Garrett Wang: Or it could be “Kim Quest.” Or “Harry Quest.” Yeah, “Kim Quest.”
The Advantages Of Animated Star Trek Being Able To Bring Back Legacy Actors And Characters
The Makers Of Current Star Trek Are Fans Themselves
Obviously, your comeback as Harry Kim is something we fans have been wanting forever…
Garrett Wang: Oh, imagine how much you’ve wanted it. I’ve wanted it 5000 times more. Yes, so excited.
And that’s the magic ofStar Treknow, especially the animatedStar Trek.Prodigywith the rest of your cast, with Kate and Robert, just the fact that you’re all able to come back, you’re all able to become your characters again. Animation eliminates the whole aging issue…
Garrett Wang: Yeah, it’s so wonderful to have this medium. I think animation is no longer for kids only. It’s definitely an adult platform as well. So I’m excited to be part of it.
Last year, Terry Matalas talked about wanting Captain Harry Kim inPicardseason 3. Can you talk a little bit about how far along that got for you? Were you ever contacted about that, or was that just something that you heard about later, and were like, “What?!”
Garrett Wang: I was contacted, yes. I was actually in a script, and then there were… Well, the official word is there were budgetary issues. So that’s the… Yeah. So catch me a convention and I’ll tell you the true story. How’s that? (laughs)
I’m there. I’ll head right for your table.
Garrett Wang: I’ll have to have you sign an NDA. But other than that…
I’ve signed so many. That’s my job. In your own headcanon, what rank is Harry now? Has anybody ever told you, ‘This is where he is at this point in his career?’
Garrett Wang: No, but I remember talking to somebody in the US Navy at one point after the end of Voyager. And I said ‘Just a quick question: If you’re an ensign, seven years later, what is your rank in the US Navy?’ And the guy started calculating, and he said, ‘Almost Lieutenant Commander.’ I go, ‘Thank you.’ So, I mean, at this point, Harry should be Captain, for sure. Yeah, it’s been that long. It’s been 30 years since Voyager started. He should be a Vice Admiral, actually. Yeah, he should be the lowest rank of Admiral at this point, I would say.
Garrett Wang On Star Trek: Voyager’s Legacy
Voyager Continues To Inspire Generations Of Star Trek Fans
I was at theStar Trek: Voyagerdocumentarypremiere last month in LA. That was such a great event. I saw you guys all on stage. The documentary was fantastic. Congratulations on that, because I believe you’re an executive producer.
Garrett Wang: Yes, that was a lot of fun.
BothLower DecksandProdigyhave incorporated so much ofVoyager,so many of your cast, so much of its story and concepts. It must be gratifying how muchVoyageris loved by fans, and by the people who makeStar Trekthemselves, who are also fans.
Garrett Wang: Yes, the fact that they have been including these legacy characters from Voyager just shows me that they love Voyager, and it is gratifying. It’s just so gratifying and satisfying to see that there is that respect for what came before.
A whole generation grew up with your show as their mainStar Trek.Janeway was their Captain. How much more respect and adulation thatVoyagerhas gotten in the years since has been really awesome to see.
Garrett Wang: Oh, it’s so awesome. Because a lot of times at conventions, I will have women come up to the table and they’ll say, ‘I was 10 when Voyager began, and Harry is my first crush.’ So young ladies that were between the ages of nine and 12, that was the time, and if that Voyager came on, and they were watching them with their family, Harry Kim was the one that they were crushing on.
Amazing. You probably were on so many girls' posters on their bedroom walls that you don’t even know about.
Garrett Wang: I know. It’s so crazy to think that too. It’s like, I was on a wall.
Garrett Wang Discusses The Future Of Harry Kim
Could Captain Or Admiral Harry Kim Appear?
Robert Picardo is in thecast ofStarfleet Academy. Have you ever talked to him about it? That show is probably our best shot at seeing Captain Harry Kim in live-action.
Garrett Wang: I haven’t had a chance to talk to Bob about his inclusion in that as of yet. I haven’t even talked to Tawny about her participation in that either. I should, at some point, have a conversation with them about that, but not as of yet.
Luckily, you and Robert Duncan McNeill have your own podcast,The Delta Flyers, which is just so great.
Garrett Wang: I’m pretty busy as it is, right?
I was just thinking thatStarfleet Academyis so far into the future that if you did appear, you would be Admiral Harry Kim.
Garrett Wang: Yeah, in the future: And here’s a special message from holographic Admiral Harry Kim.
About Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5
In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, the crew of the USS Cerritos is tasked with closing “space potholes” – subspace rifts that are causing chaos in the Alpha Quadrant. Pothole duty would be easy for Jr. Officers Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, and Rutherford … if they didn’t also have to deal with an Orion war, furious Klingons, diplomatic catastrophes, murder mysteries, and scariest of all: their own career aspirations. This upcoming season on Paramount+ is a celebration of this underdog crew who are dangerously close to being promoted out of the lower decks and into strange new Starfleet roles.
Check out our otherStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 interviews:
Star Trek: Lower Decks’series finale streams Thursday, December 19, on Paramount+.
