Interview: Dawnn Lewis on captaining the Cerritos on STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS

On Star Trek: Lower Decks, the buck stops with U.S.S. Cerritos captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis). The mother of series protagonist Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Freeman often finds her nerves being tested by her crew, daughter and (perhaps worst of all) Starfleet Command.

Comics Beat was eager to get the chance to speak with Lewis over Zoom to learn more about playing Freeman across all five seasons of Lower Decks. We asked the accomplished actor all about the practical process of recording, about what she hopes the character’s legacy will be and about what inspired Freeman’s firmly established predilection for scatting.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

AVERY KAPLAN: Captain Freeman has been in almost every single Lower Decks episode since the beginning. Has your perspective on the character changed since 2020?

DAWNN LEWIS: My perspective on the character? No, it hasn’t changed. But I’ve watched the character change. I’ve watched her go from talking at people to talking with people. And listening more, and trusting more. 

It is very obvious that she and Mariner have rubbed off on each other in certain ways. And it has helped bridge their relationship better. I think both of them, though, kind of enjoy the feisty spiciness of their communication, so I don’t think that will ever totally be lost. 

But I really love the episodes and moments where Mariner verbally states how much she trusts and regards her mother. And when Captain Freeman verbally states, “No no no, I know Mariner wouldn’t do x, y and z and I trust her to get it done.” You would not have heard that in the beginning.

So like a lot of mothers and daughters that may have really tough starts, and contentious relationships in the teenage years, hopefully by the time everyone gets a few more years under their belt and some more experience and maturity, things get better. 

And that’s what I watch differently on the show. It allows Freeman to be a different kind of captain now.

KAPLAN: Would Freeman be less stressed if Mariner weren’t on the crew?

LEWIS: No. I think Captain Freeman needs a gummy. She needs a joint. She needs extended periods in the holodeck in a spa.

No, she was pretty high strung before. I think Mariner’s presence kind of sent Freeman over the edge, so it was on full throttle more often than not. But as the seasons go by, you watch that being tempered… from time to time.

Freeman can still go to 15 in two seconds. But, at least it’s not perpetual; not anymore.

KAPLAN: Was Freeman’s predilection for scatting something that you inspired?

LEWIS: Yes. I am a singer, and they wanted me to participate in the talent show. And Mike McMahan and the producers know that I’m a singer. And they asked, “Dawnn, would you want to sing a song? I don’t know if we can get licensing for it, but you can sing. You have such a beautiful voice.”

I said, “I’ll tell you what. Let’s not do any of that, and let me just be goofy and not be able to sing.” So I just started scatting really badly. And they were on the floor in the booth. So then they just started writing it in; scat competitions and all these kinds of things.

That was a lot of fun. That was one of those opportunities where the creative team just dropped the ball in our lap and said, “Go ahead and play,” and it ended up on the screen.

KAPLAN: Do you relate to Freeman?

LEWIS: I do. But in reverse. Because I was Beckett to my mom’s Captain Freeman. Single mom raising four kids in New York in the 60’s. So she’s teaching us to be independent, self-sufficient. So we’re doing out best to do that, and breaking all the rules that she was raised with. 

My mom was from South America originally. So very different traditions, very different expectations of kids and adults. So I was that rambunctious teenager that gratefully, God granted me enough time to see better and do better and be better. 

And like Mariner and Captain Freeman… You could tell that they loved each other, because they’re mother and daughter. But they didn’t like each other. And that was the deal between me and my mom.

And now that we’re in season 5, Beckett and Captain Freeman actually like each other, and they root for each other and they have each others’ backs. And that’s me and my mom now.

So that’s the similarity for me is, I was Beckett in real life.

KAPLAN: What do you hope Freeman’s legacy will be?

LEWIS: I hope Captain Freeman’s legacy is being a leader committed to excellent and compassion. She’s not somebody who’s going to ask you to do something that she herself, if need be, wouldn’t go ahead and do, if it needed to be done. 

And you can only do that when you have compassion for the people that you are sending off to do whatever it is you are asking them to do. And you are a better leader when you have an understanding of what’s required of the people you are sending out to do what needs to be done.

So there’s a way that you speak to people, there’s a way that you instruct people, there’s a way that you instill confidence in people so that everyone can succeed. In a few words, a leader that demonstrates excellence and compassion.

KAPLAN: What do you think Freeman’s command crew would say about her as a captain?

LEWIS: They all say I’m a badass, that’s what they say. They say, “She’s a badass, she knows her stuff.” And again, “If we don’t get up and do this, she’s going to get up and do this, and in a minute, we’re not going to be needed.”

I think they have the utmost regard for her. Which is demonstrated when Freeman got arrested and all of them moved Heaven and Earth to make sure my name was cleared and I was out of prison. Because no one could fathom that what I was being accused of was true. So, my crew had my back, because I’d always had theirs. 

So when push came to shove, they said, “Oh no, you’re not coming for my captain. No way.”

KAPLAN: What does the practical process of recording look like for you?

LEWIS: We get called into the studio. During the pandemic, we all did remote recording as best as possible. Some people have home studios; I was not one of them. So I was in New York at the time when the pandemic hit, in an apartment. I was doing a Broadway show.

So I would take my heavy winter clothes and part them in the closet and put a little table with the microphone and my headphones, and then drape a blanket over the closet door. A couple of blankets and comforter, to close it in. And that was my little sound-proof booth and I was recording in my closet.

And then when protocols opened up and we were allowed to go back into the world, we’ve been in the recording studio. And still to this day, we can only go in one at a time. And it’s the engineer in the booth and one of the producers, or whoever is directing that episode, giving us direction.

So we’re still very isolated. Like I said, some people have home studios, some of us don’t. But the majority of us come into the studio and get the work done. 

Which is beautiful, because I can be anywhere in the world, and as long as there’s a recording studio we set up a time and then they patch it in. If I’m in London, or New York, or Texas, or Canada; wherever. And that’s one of the beauties of recording for animation is that they really bend over backwards to make it possible.

Because as you can imagine, we have a pretty large cast. And the other shows I’m on, like The Simpsons or Futurama, trying to coordinate everyone’s schedules? Because that’s what it used to be: coordinating everyone’s schedules so we could be in the studio at the same time so we could record scenes together. This gives us a lot more flexibility as performers, as well as the studio to get it done.

It’s a harder job for the editors, I have to say, to piece it all together. The editors are amazing. Because they make it sound like we were all in the same room together, finishing each others’ sentences. It’s really brilliant.

KAPLAN: What would you, personally, order from the food replicator?

LEWIS: It would have to be a whole meal. 

I love sushi. I would love to see what sushi is like in the future. What would we be eating as sushi? And finish it with a piece of German chocolate cake that never made you fat. 

Future sushi and non-fattening, beyond crazy delicious German chocolate cake.

New episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks are available for streaming on Paramount+ on Thursdays.

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