exist Star Wars: Lower Decksthe responsibility rests with the USS Cerritos Captain Carol Freeman (louis talent). The mother of series protagonist Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsom), Freeman often finds her nerves tested by her crew, her daughter, and (perhaps worst of all) Starfleet Command.
Comics Beat was eager for the chance to chat with Lewis via Zoom to learn more about playing Freeman across all five seasons lower deck. We asked the accomplished actor about the actual recording process, what she hopes the character will leave behind, and what inspired Freeman’s unwavering penchant for dispersion.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Avery Kaplan: Captain Freeman appears on almost every single lower deck The plot from the beginning. Has your perspective on the role changed since 2020?
Dawn Lewis: What do I think of this character? No, it hasn’t changed. But I see the role changing. I watched her go from talking to people to talking to people. Listen more and trust more.
It’s clear that she and Marina influenced each other in some ways. This helps bridge their relationship better. Still, I think they both kind of enjoyed the liveliness of their exchanges, so I don’t think that feeling will ever completely go away.
But I really enjoyed the episodes and moments where Marina verbally expresses how much she trusts and respects her mother. When Captain Freeman verbally states, “No, no, no, I know the sailor can’t do x, y, and z, and I trust her to get it done,” you don’t hear this at first.
So, like many mothers and daughters, they may have had a very rocky start and a contentious relationship as teenagers, and hopefully things will get better when everyone sticks around for a few more years and gains more experience and maturity. good.
That’s the difference I see in the show. It makes Freeman a different kind of captain now.
Kaplan: Would there be less pressure on Freeman if sailors weren’t on the crew?
Louis: No, I think Captain Freeman needs a jellybean. She needs a joint. She needed to spend a lot of time on the holodeck in the spa.
No, she was nervous before. I think the presence of the Mariners pushed Freeman over the edge, so he often gave it his all. But as the seasons go by, you see it being honed out every now and then.
Freeman can still hit 15 in two seconds. But, at least it’s not forever; no more.
Kaplan: Was Freeman’s penchant for spreading stuff inspired by you?
Louis: Yes. I was a singer and they wanted me to be in a talent show. and Mike McMahan The producers knew I was a singer. They asked, “Don, do you want to sing a song? I don’t know if we can get permission, but you can sing. You have such a beautiful voice.
I said, “I tell you what. Let’s not do these things that make me stupid enough to sing. So I started spreading out really bad. They were on the floor in the booth. So they started writing it down; shit contests and all Those types of things.
That’s fun. It’s one of those opportunities where the creative team puts the ball in our lap and says “keep playing,” and it ends up on the screen.
Kaplan: Are you related to Freeman?
Louis: I do. But the other way around. Because I’m the Beckett to my mom’s Captain Freeman. A single mother in the 1960s raising four children in New York City. So she taught us to be independent and self-sufficient. So we’re trying our best to do that and break all the rules she had growing up.
My mom is from South America. Children and adults have very different traditions and very different expectations. So I was that grumpy teenager who thanked God for giving me enough time to see clearly, do better, and be better.
Like Sailor and Captain Freeman…you can tell they love each other because they are mother and daughter. But they don’t like each other. This is the agreement between my mother and I.
Now that we’re in season five, Beckett and Captain Freeman actually like each other, they support each other, and they support each other. Now it’s just me and my mom.
It’s similar for me, I’m Beckett in real life.
Kaplan: What do you hope Freeman’s legacy is?
Louis: I hope Captain Freeman’s legacy is that of a leader committed to excellence and compassion. She won’t ask you to do something she wouldn’t do herself, if need be, if need be.
You can only do this if you have compassion for the people you send to do what you ask them to do. You are a better leader when you understand the requirements for the people you send out to do what needs to be done.
So there’s a way to talk to people, there’s a way to coach people, there’s a way to instill confidence in people so that everyone can succeed. In short, he is a leader who demonstrates excellence and compassion.
Kaplan: What do you think Freeman’s commanders would say about her as captain?
Louis: They all say I’m a bad guy, that’s what they say. They said, “She’s a badass, she knows her stuff.” Again, “If we don’t stand up and do this, she is Stand up and do this, and in a minute we are no longer needed.
I think they have a lot of respect for her. This was demonstrated when Freeman was arrested and all of them went to great lengths to ensure my innocence and my release from prison. Because no one could understand that the accusations against me were true. So, my team supports me because I’ve always supported them.
So when push came to shove, they said, “Oh, no, you’re not coming to get my captain. No way.”
KAPLAN: What was the actual recording process like for you?
Louis: We were called into the studio. During the epidemic, we tried our best to do remote recording. Some people have home studios; I’m not one of them. I was in an apartment in New York when the pandemic hit. I was doing a Broadway show.
So I would put my heavy winter clothes in the closet, set up a small table with a microphone and headphones, and put a blanket over the closet door. A few blankets and quilts to close it up.
And then when the protocols opened up and we were allowed back into the real world, we were in the studio all the time. To this day, we can only go in one at a time. It was one of the engineers and producers in the booth, or the director of the episode, who gave us direction.
So we are still very isolated. Like I said, some people have home studios and some people don’t. But most of us go into the studio and get the job done.
It’s wonderful because I can be anywhere in the world, as long as there’s a studio, we schedule it and they make it up. No matter where. One of the beautiful things about animation recording is that they really went to great lengths to make it possible.
Because as you can imagine, we have a pretty big cast. There are also other shows that I have participated in such as The Simpsons or future worldtrying to coordinate everyone’s schedules? Because that’s how it used to be: coordinate everyone’s schedules so we could all be in the studio at the same time, so we could record scenes together. This gives us as performers and as a studio more flexibility to get it done.
I must say, it was a tough job for the editor to piece it all together. The editors are fantastic. Because they sound like we’re all in the same room, finishing each other’s sentences. What a great experience.
Kaplan: What would you personally order from a food replicator?
Louis: This has to be a complete meal.
I like sushi. I’d love to see what the future of sushi looks like. What sushi do we eat? Finish with a piece of German chocolate cake that won’t make you fat.
The future of sushi and no fattening, beyond insanely delicious German chocolate cake.
new episodes Star Wars: Lower Decks Available to watch Thursday on Paramount+.
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