Star Trek: Discovery grooms Grudge the cat for inter-galactic stardom
A four-legged character could overshadow some of her two-legged counterparts in the sci-fi drama.
Star Trek: Discovery has introduced a new cat to the pantheon of feline superstars and the showrunner predicts Grudge's stardom may eventually overshadow her human counterparts.
Female tabby Grudge is the pet of smuggler Cleveland "Book" Booker (London actor David Ajala), a charming new character who encounters Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) in the future, and she will join the ranks of Red Dwarf's Cat and Spot from Star Trek: Next Generation as A-list animals. (We take no side in the cat vs dog debate but have to ask: what was the last TV dog in space?)
Star Trek: Discovery executive producer and co-showrunner Michelle Paradise told TVLine that Grudge had become a star in short time. “Grudge is an absolute hit. I think Grudge is everyone’s favourite new character… Everyone, of course, wants to be on set on the days when we’re shooting the cat. Including me.”
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Paradise said: “Grudge is Book’s first lady love, and we will be seeing a fair amount of Grudge this season. We won’t overplay Grudge, but Grudge is an important part of Book’s life, and is with him on his ship. We will be seeing Grudge again.”
The Star Trek universe is no stranger to feline characters. Besides Spot, the original series featured an episode, Catspaw, in which Spock and Kirk battled a shape-shifter which took the form of a giant black cat.
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Grudge, who is ironically played by a pair of Maine Coon brothers, already has an Instagram account, just the beginning of a burgeoning social media career.
Paradise predicted: “Everyone is going to be overshadowed by Grudge at conventions. No one’s going to want [series star] Sonequa any more. It’s just going to be, ‘Where’s the cat?'”
The first episode of season three of Star Trek: Discovery is streaming now on Netflix. Subsequent episodes will be released each Friday.
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