Star Trek: Picard Actor Ito Aghayere Explains Her Personal Kinship To The Franchise

gamerant.com:

Actress Ito Aghayere, who portrays a younger version of Guinan in Star Trek: Picard, has recently reflected and commented on her personal relationship to the famous franchise as a whole. Star Trek: Picard season 2 was finally released at the beginning of this March and now at the midway point of its ten episode run.

Due to Star Trek: Picard re-visiting Jean-Luc Picard's ultimate rival, Q, the second season is able to explore and incorporate elements of time-travel, having the opportunity to tap into different multiverses. This grants fans the opportunity to have even more access to iconic, previously established characters throughout the Star Trek franchise whose past may have remained anonymous for far too long. With the influx of the successions of flashbacks, many cast members received callbacks as Star Trek: Picard season 2 continues to run rampant with quick cameos. Most notably out of the many cameos is young Guinan (played by Aghayere), who happens to be running her own bar in L.A. — except she happens to be living on Earth in the year 2024. Originally, the role of the bartender has previously belonged to Whoopi Goldberg, however, this season showcases the transition of Aghayere taking on the role instead. Her character makes her debut in the series during season 2, episode four, which is titled “Watcher.”

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Now, in a recent interview with Variety, Aghayere has detailed the unique kinship and connection she feels towards the Star Trek franchise. “I watched all of ‘TNG’ as a kid, primarily because my parents are immigrants, and they’re very conservative. As a kid growing up, there were very few shows that they would let us watch