After an illustrious career spanning 60 years, actress Nichelle Nichols -- known for playing Star Trek's Lt. Uhura and The Young and the Restless' Lucinda Winters -- is retiring from the screen. But before she goes, she's giving her Star Trek fans and Y&R fans a spectacular treat: one last performance in the Star Trek origin story Renegades: Ominara, which also stars Loren Lott (ex-Ana Hamilton, Y&R).
Both Lott and Nichols will share the role of Ominara in the sci-fi adventure, which follows Ominara and her lifelong conflict with Professor Steiner (Walter Koenig/Johnny Jay Lee), who uses her as a test subject for his technological experiments -- including a chip that, when implanted into the brain, allows for silent and instant communication with other "chipped" individuals.
Ominara -- which marks the third installment in the Renegades saga -- will follow the title character from her early days as an orphan growing up on the streets (played by Lott) to her later years, when she's queen of the galactic underworld (played by Nichols).
Preliminary pre-production, costume designs, makeup tests, props, and sets for Ominara have been completed, but producers are moving forward with the next steps in the production process and are asking for fans' support via a Kickstarter fundraising campaign. Perks attached to donations include a limited edition Ominara figure, autographed photos, and even walk-on roles and set visits.
"This is going to be an amazing project," says the project's writer/producer Frank Zanca. "It's got a bit of everything: interesting characters, sci-fi action, intrigue, and a talented and diverse cast. Nichelle is an amazing lady and all of the fan support is greatly appreciated."
For more information on how you can support the making of Ominara and to watch a teaser trailer for the project that includes a special message from Nichols about her final acting role, click here.
Nichelle Nichols began her show business career at age 16 as a singer with Duke Ellington in a ballet she created for one of his compositions. After switching to acting, she was twice nominated for the Sarah Siddons Award for best actress in The Blacks and Kicks and Company. A guest appearance on The Lieutenant led to an offer from Gene Roddenberry, who in 1966 cast her on his show Star Trek: The Original Series, as communications officer Lieutenant Nyota Uhura. She later repeated her role in a string of successful Star Trek films, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
In 2016, Nichols took on the role of Neil Winters' (Kristoff St. John) mother, Lucinda, on The Young and the Restless. She played an emotional story arc in which Lucinda died, earning her a Daytime Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series category in 2017.
Lott joined the cast of Y&R as Devon's (Bryton James) little sister in November of 2018. She was let go in the summer of 2019 when, as she shared at the time, the powers that be "didn't know what to do with my storyline, and they wanted to spend their budget increasing other people's storylines." After departing the CBS soap opera, Lott went on to star in the OWN series Cherish the Day and recently filmed a movie directed by Robin Givens (ex-Dr. Phillips, The Bold and the Beautiful) called Favorite Son.
What are your thoughts on the casting and premise of Nichelle Nichols' and Loren Lott's upcoming project, Renegades: Ominara? How do you feel about Nichols deciding to retire? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
