WARP FIVE: Voyager's Garrett Wang on the Return of Harry Kim

Welcome to Warp Five, StarTrek.com's five question post-mortem with your favorite featured talent from the latest Star Trek episodes.

The fifth season of Star Trek: Lower Decks has allowed the U.S.S. Cerritos to come into up close and personal contact with several fan-favorite characters including , as a result of multiple subspace rifts popping up all over the Alpha Quadrant.

As we learn in "," , Brad Boimler's transporter-induced double, has been helming the U.S.S. Anaximander following Section 31 faking his death at the end of "." Captain William Boimler has been tasked with looking into all the quantum fissures that keep popping up with increased frequency, closing on a ship they believe is ripping open all these rifts. Alongside him are the alternate reality "interdimensional castaways" T'Pol, Curzon Dax, and Elim Garak; an EMH Dr. Julian Bashir; and the Kim Krew — a handful of Ensign Harry Kims from several quantum realities.

StarTrek.com had the opportunity to talk with Garrett Wang about the return of Harry Kim(s), Star Trek: Lower Decks, the 30th anniversary of Star Trek: Voyager, and more!

On The Unwavering Love of Harry Kim

Garrett Wang has been in awe of the fan reception and excitement over Harry Kim, especially after the dropped.

"It feels amazing [to be back,]" reflects Wang. "When Paramount+ put out the trailer for Season 5, most of the fans on social media— because Harry is at the very end of the trailer, they were so excited. To me, that shows me that fans still care about Harry, that there's still love for Harry Kim. They're invested."

"And for me, I've been waiting for it," Wang continues. "I've been waiting for it. I spoke to the other journalists, I said, all the times that they could have had Harry in Star Trek. But because this episode has multiple Kims. It's all made up now. It's all fine."

On Live Action Versus Animation

While the series doesn't typically do joint recording sessions, Wang had the unique instance where his scene partners were often various versions of Harry Kim — Harry Kim, Two-Pip Kim, Tall Socks Kim, etc.

Comparing his experience to Voyager, Wang shares, "It's kind of interesting because whenever we're on the Bridge, when a director is trying to tell us that we're getting hit by a phaser fire or something, and there's a bump on-screen, a lot of directors will say, 'That's a 6,' on a 1-10 scale, how big that is. Or, 'That's a 10.' And so, as an actor to differentiate between the different Harrys, I almost have to have a numbering system or a description, an adjective like, okay, this is the nervous Harry, this is the overconfident Harry. So I have some tag line or some number in my head, which helps me differentiate between Two-Pip Kim and the other ones. Yeah. It's so funny. That's kind of what it's like. It's the Harry Kim Multiplicity episode."

On the Anaximander Crew

The Anaximander crew pulls from all corners of the Star Trek universe. On being assembled with a motley crew of top-tier officers, Wang states, "It's amazing. I'm a huge fan of Deep Space Nine. So being able to see Elim Garak and being able to see Bashir interact, and they're a couple too. It's just like, 'Yes, yes, yes, yes. I want to see this.'"

On Voyager's 30th Anniversary and Its Impact

2025 will mark the 30th anniversary of Star Trek: Voyager, which amazes Wang.

"It's still hard to believe that 30 years have passed," reflects Wang. "I start thinking about that, and I go, 'My goodness. There are people walking around on this planet that weren't even alive when Voyager started.'"

"This is amazing," Wang continues. "And the fact that Harry has been one of the more beloved characters over time, and I'm learning that more when I do more conventions and these meet and greets. I have fans that come up and say, 'Yeah, because of Harry, it influenced me to be in this science profession, this STEM profession that I've chosen.' Whenever I hear that I've inspired or helped influence somebody's life, it's a proud moment. It's like, wow, thanks. I am so happy for you, and I'm so proud and so moved by the fact that I did something that moved or changed your life."

"I was the only Asian person on TV as a series regular in the late '90s," notes Wang. "There was no one else. Lucy Liu had not gone on Ally McBeal yet. Nobody had crossed over. And it didn't dawn upon me until I was at an Asian entertainment awards show in Los Angeles, and I bumped into Daniel Dae Kim, who happened to guest star on one of our episodes of Voyager. So I walked up to him and I wanted to congratulate him for being on Lost at the time. And I said, 'I'm so happy for you. It couldn't have happened to a better guy for you to nail a series regular role. Thank you so much for representing.' And he goes, 'I got to thank you, man. You paved the way.' And I almost started crying. I was like, "What, me? I did it. Oh my gosh."

On Playing A Nuanced Baddie

In a twist in the episode, there isn't a traditional bad guy who is opening all these quantum fissures for nefarious means. In fact, the team responsible for these open rifts is an alternate reality Lily Sloane and her crew of Vulcans who are on a mission of peace, exploring quantum realities to further their scientific knowledge. Upon realizing their misunderstanding that they're just part of different federations, both crews decide to help each other out and help each other repair their respective ships.

Unfortunately, while distracted by aggressive Khwopians, Two-Pip Kim, fed up with what he deems as microaggressions towards the Kim Krew, steals Sloane's ship, the Beagle, in order to take all the Kims back to his reality where they will no longer be "overlooked and disrespected."

Speaking on Two-Pip Kim, Wang shares, "Whenever you get to play bad, that is the time that you can really just dive into it. It's a lot of fun. And it's funny because I gave them a whole bunch of different takes on the laugh, the maniacal laugh. They used a very, very exaggerated one that I thought they would not use it. It's so much fun to play bad."

Wang adds, "He wanted to make things better for all the Harrys. So he's still noble in that right. He still has a good driving mission, his mandate."