Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Ocam Sadal’s Surprising Casting And Impact

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s surprise breakout character, Ocam Sadal, was changed by casting Romeo Carere, reveals executive producer and co-showrunner Noga Landau and actor Karim Diané. Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy brings a fresh burst of youth and college-age shenanigans to the 60-year-old sci-fi franchise.

Although Star Trek: Starfleet Academy centers on six main cadets, Ocam Sadal was a seventh surprise featured character introduced in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 2, “Beta Test.” Ocam is the brother of Tarima Sadal (Zoë Steiner), and they are the children of Betazed’s President (Anthony Natale). In a twist, Tarima joined the War College, and it was Ocam who enrolled in Starfleet Academy.

In an interview with ScreenRant’s John Orquiola about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 4, Noga Landau and Karim Diané, who plays Jay-Den Kragg, discuss the addition of Ocam to Starfleet Academy’s youthful ensemble. Karim shares the hilarious and “ridiculous things” Romeo Carere improvises on set, while Landau reveals that Ocam was originally planned to be Tarima’s sister. Read their quotes below:

Karim Diane: Romeo is like a genius. He is such a talented actor. And I don’t say that lightly about a lot like that. I really, really mean that. It’s been such a joy seeing him work. And I think it’s important to note that a lot of his lines are improvised. Not everything that he says obviously makes the show, but this guy sometimes says the most ridiculous things that are so funny and are so left field that they just break the entire set down. Everybody just starts laughing. And he is not afraid to go for it and just really find the line and just run past it, and blurt it out. And it makes for an awesome character. Yeah, I really love Romeo and Ocam.

Noga Landau: If you like Ocam in season one, buckle up. We go full Ocam in season two. I can’t wait for you to see that.

ScreenRant: As a writer, you create this character, but you probably didn’t see that coming, right?

Noga Landau: In terms of what he was supposed to be, John, I’ll tell you, originally, we thought that Ocam was going to be Tarima’s sister. Oh, we were not even thinking that Ocam was going to be a boy. We had a very different idea of who Ocam was. And then Romeo Carere appeared in our auditions, and we suddenly said, ‘All right, throw out everything we thought we knew about Ocam before.’ Because this guy, Romeo, came out of nowhere. He’s a Toronto local, and nobody knew him before, and we immediately knew that he had to play the role. He had to be Tarima’s brother and so much more.

Ocam Sadal is such an amusing presence, in part, because of how he was introduced in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 2. Ocam seemed to be an ancillary character compared to his sister, Tarima, until the climactic surprise when Ocam became the third roommate of Darem Reymi (George Hawkins) and Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta).

It turns out Ocam is a lovable goofball who seems to have stepped out of teen movies like American Pie. Ocam’s penchant for improvised irreverence led to him becoming Starfleet Academy’s mascot in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 3, “Vitus Reflux.” Ocam quickly became part of the gang that includes Caleb, Darem, Jay-Den, SAM (Kerrice Brooks), and Genesis Lythe (Bella Shepard).

Unexpectedly, it’s Tarima who becomes the outcast by joining the War College, while Ocam hangs with his new gang in Starfleet Academy. Ocam has quickly become a scene-stealer, thanks to Romeo Carere’s comedic talent. It’s easy to see how Romeo’s ad-libs can leave the cast and crew in stitches, according to Karim Diané.

Noga Landau’s confirmation that Ocam’s importance will increase, and that Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 2 will go “full Ocam,” is welcome news for fans of the hilarious Betazoid cadet. Romeo Carere is so good as Ocam in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy that he makes the producers’ original vision of Ocam as Tarima’s sister hard to imagine.