Star Trek‘s Nana Visitor is opening a channel to all who have been influenced by the women of Star Trek in her new book Star Trek: Open a Channel: A Woman’s Trek. The book consists of interviews with cast, writers, producers and celebrity fans all touching on the highs and lows of women behind the scenes and in front of the camera across the franchise’s more than 60 years.

Visitor played Major Kira Nerys on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which ran from 1993-1999. She’s since reprised her role in animated form in Star Trek: Lower Decks. When talking about the making of this book in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Visitor says, “this book was supposed to be 200 pages when it was proposed, grew to 300, and could easily been 1,000.” She goes on to say her hopes for the book do exactly as the title says, “opens a channel between all of us.”

According to the publisher Simon & Schuster, the book features interviews with Kate Mulgrew, Terry Farrell, Denise Crosby, Mary Wiseman, and Rebecca Romijn to name a few. The publisher says the book is just as much Visitor’s story as it is about the women in Trek and the impact they’ve made on society.

Visitor is not the first Trek actor to pen a book speaking about their experiences with the franchise. Leonard Nimoy, who played Lt. Commander Spock on Star Trek: The Original Series, wrote an autobiography titled I am Spock. His co-star William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk, wrote a memoir called Star Trek Memories. More recently, Wil Wheaton who played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, wrote an annotated and updated edition of his 2004 memoir Just a Geek titled Still Just a Geek.

Opening a Channel and Breaking a Glass Ceiling

Open A Channel details not only the women of Trek and their stories but how those stories impacted the women of the real world. S&S says Visitor interviewed astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti for the book while she was in orbit on the International Space Station.

The book also chronicles the pioneering stories behind the scenes of the franchise, including the groundbreaking casting of Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura as well as the first female captain to lead a show, with Star Trek: Voyager‘s Captain Kathryn Janeway played by Kate Mulgrew. According to the publisher, “Visitor sets out to discover both how Star Trek led the way for women, and how it was trapped in its own era.”

Star Trek: Open a Channel: Women in Trek comes out October 1, 2024. It is currently available for pre-order with major book retailers.

via Collider