Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 6, “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail”
Star Trek: Strange New Worldsjust answered a big question fans have been wondering since Carol Kane’s Commander Pelia joined the show’s cast. Following the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and his Enterprise crew,Strange New Worldshas introduced updated versions of classicStar Trekcharacters as well as entirely new characters.
After the death of Lt. Hemmer (Bruce Horak) inStrange New Worldsseason 1, Commander Pelia took over as the Enterprise Chief Engineer, and she has proven to be a delightful addition to the show’s cast. Anextremely long-lived Lanthanite, Pelia’s engineering prowess has helped save the Enterprise on several occasions, but it’s her knowledge of history that proves useful in “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 3, episode 6features a massive Scavenger Ship that swallows the Enterprise whole. With communications blocked, Pelia devises a plan to rewire the ship using several corded landline phones from the 1980s that she just happens to have in her quarters. Pelia’s delightfully messy living space offers a glimpse into her extremely long life, and she confirms that she’s a whopping 5,000 years old.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Confirms How Old Commander Pelia Is
Strange New Worlds Has Previously Only Hinted At Pelia’s Age
Directed by Valerie Weiss with a script written by Bill Wolkoff and David Reed,“The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail” primarily focuses on James T. Kirk(Paul Wesley) as he faces his first real command challenge on the USS Farragut. But Captain Pike and his crew get plenty to do as well, as they work to escape the bowels of the Scavenger Ship.
Pelia proves particularly helpful in this endeavor, as her quick thinking allows the Enterprise crew members to properly coordinate their escape. Before all of this, though, Pelia encounters Captain Pike and Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) as they’re on their way to Engineering. When they immediately react by raising their phasers, Pelia quickly tells them not to shoot, adding,“You don’t live to be 5,000 by getting yourself shot a lot.”
Although Pelia has made reference to her past before (such as mentioning she knew Pythagoras, who lived during Earth’s 6th century BCE), this is the first time she has given an actual number regarding her age. While it’s likely she’s fudging the numbers a bit and rounding up or down to an exact 5,000, there’s no denying that this is an impressive figure.
Is Pelia Star Trek’s Oldest Main Character?
5,000 Years Old Is Difficult To Beat
Much about the Lanthanites remains unknown, including their average lifespan, so it’s unclear if 5,000 is considered old for their species or not. Either way, it certainly makes Pelia one ofStar Trek’soldest characters, if not the oldest outright (god-like beings excluded). By all accounts, Pelia appears to beStar Trek’soldest main character and the oldest Starfleet officer we’ve encountered so far.
InStar Trek: The Next Generation,John de Lancie’s Qlikely has Pelia beat in terms of age, but it’s impossible to determine how old the omnipotent being truly is. InStar Trek: Voyager’s"The Q and the Grey," Q mentions that his people"have always existed,“implying that some members of the Q Continuum are as old as the universe itself.
The Enterprise-D’sEl-Aurian bartender, Guinan(Whoopi Goldberg), is also extremely long-lived. Although her exact age has not been revealed, she must be at least 600 years old by the time ofStar Trek: Picard,based on her appearance in 1893 inTNG’s"Time’s Arrow” two-parter. Also of note, from “Time’s Arrow” onward, Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) has a 500-year-old head.
The upcomingStar Trek: Discoveryspin-off,Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,will feature the return ofVoyager’sEmergency Medical Hologram, known as The Doctor (Robert Picardo), who will be around 800 years old. Still, aside from Q, none of these characters' ages come close to Pelia’s 5,000 years, which not only makes her the oldest character onStar Trek: Strange New Worlds, but one of the oldest characters in the entire franchise.
