theblerdgurl Podcast with Karama Horne

theblerdgurl Podcast with Karama Horne


David Ajala Talks Cleveland Booker and Star Trek Discovery

October 15, 2020

Hey Star Trek fans guess what? I had an amazing chat with David Ajala, the new star of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3. He plays Cleveland Booker, the rogue pilot that Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) meets when she crash lands in the future after the events of the season 2 finale. In this timeline, there is no federation…or is there? CBS was also nice enough to give me access to a couple of scenes from the new season as well. Click the link below to watch!

If Ajala looks familiar, that’s because he has been on theblerdgurl podcast before. And he starred as Manchester Black on Supergirl and as the elusive Captain Roy Eros on SYFY’s Nightflyers.  He’s also had guest starring roles on Black Mirror and the video game franchise Mass Effect.

Despite the show wrapping back in February of this year, Ajala says this season’s Trek storyline has eerie parallels to both the pandemic and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. For the veteran actor, the last few months have been a time of reflection and gratitude. Sentiments which he shared with his fellow castmates in weekly Zoom session with show creator Alex Kurtzman. 

Ajala is thrilled to be joining the Star Trek franchise as well as portraying what he describes as an “anti-establishment” character on the show, plus Michael’s new love interest. He also confirmed that although the show is now set so far in the future, they have broken away from cannon, but he assured me that the team stayed true to the sentiment of Star Trek lore.