Warning: This Article Contains SPOILERS For Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Finale - "Old Friends, New Planets"

Summary

• Star Trek: Lower Decks executive producers explain the effort it took to bring back Shannon Fill as Sito Jaxa in the season 4 finale.
• They tracked down Fill, who hadn't performed in over 30 years, and convinced her to return, even bringing her daughter to the recording.
• Sito's death had a profound impact on Mariner and defined her desire to remain an Ensign, defending Starfleet and everything Sito believed in.

Star Trek: Lower Decks executive producers Mike McMahan and Brad Winters explain the heroic effort it took to get Shannon Fill to reprise her role as Sito Jaxa in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4's finale. Fill played Sito twice in Star Trek: The Next Generation; she was introduced as a Bajoran Starfleet Academy Cadet involved in a cover-up over the death of her classmate in the TNG season 5 episode, "The First Duty." Sito returned in the TNG season 7 episode, "Lower Decks" - the inspiration for Star Trek: Lower Decks - where the Ensign tragically died in the line of duty during a mission for Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the USS Enterprise-D.

Appearing on The 7th Rule podcast with Cirroc Lofton and Ryan T. Husk, Mike McMahan talked about how they had to "track down" Shannon Fill to appear as Sito Jaxa in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4's finale's flashback. Check out McMahan's quote and watch The 7th Rule video at the 27:22 time stamp below:

Shannon Fill, we had to track down… That’s a whole other podcast. The nicest person I’ve ever met. My line producer Brad still texts with her. We love her. We’ve gotta get her to a convention. I don’t think she’d performed for like 30-something years. We were like, “Come back. We’ll pay your SAG dues. Come on to Lower Decks.” And she brought her daughter to Lower Decks. She brought her to the record. We had a blast.

On Twitter/X, Star Trek: Lower Decks executive producer Brad Winters described what a "delight" Shannon Fill was to work with, and how she needs to attend Star Trek conventions. Check out his post below:

Brad Winters further detailed what it took to get Shannon Fill to voice Sito Jaxa in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4's finale flashback. Check that post out below:

What Shannon Fill's Return As Sito Meant For Mariner & Star Trek: Lower Decks

Sito's death has great significance for Mariner & Star Trek

In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 9, "The Inner Fight," Lieutenant Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) dropped the bombshell that she knew Sito Jaxa at Starfleet Academy. Lower Decks season 4's finale flashed back to "Starfleet Academy 13 years ago" where young Mariner indeed idolized Sito, who was a member of the elite group called Nova Squadron led by Nicholas Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill). The flashback also included Wil Wheaton voicing Wesley Crusher and an appearance by Joshua Albert, their classmate whose death Nova Squadron covered up in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The First Duty."

The fifth member of Nova Squadron, Jean Hajar, also appears in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4's finale flashback.

Ensign Sito Jaxa's death had a profound impact on Mariner, and it defined Beckett's desire to remain an Ensign like Sito was when she died rather than Mariner being forced to send her friends to their deaths as a Starfleet commander. Still, Mariner defended Starfleet and everything Sito believed in and died for when Nicholas Locarno threatened the galaxy with his Nova Fleet and a stolen Ferengi Genesis Device in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4's finale. After 30 years of being out of the acting game, Shannon Fill returned to Star Trek, and hopefully, she will attend a convention and see how Sito is beloved by fans.

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 is available to stream on Paramount+.

Source: The 7th Rule, Twitter/X