Why Dr. Boyce From Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Looks So Familiar

This article contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Season 4, Episode 6, "Off-Hour."

The latest episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Season 4 spotlights the friendship between Dr. Joseph M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush). They've spent the series working alongside each other, and the Season 2 episode "Under the Cloak of War" also showed that, before the Enterprise, they served together as field medics during the Federation-Klingon war.

In "Off-Hour," a tiny crack forms. Dr. M'Benga reveals he's called back his predecessor as the Enterprise's chief medical officer, the acerbic Dr. Boyce (Brian Markinson), in case he ever decides to leave the ship. Chapel says she'd have to leave too if Boyce took over, and M'Benga admonishes her for "always" having "one foot out the door." But all of that is forgotten when the Enterprise hits a slipstream wormhole, draining the ship's power and making its insides crash about. M'Benga is pinned by a shaking table and his waist area is crushed, but Chapel refuses to let him die. When Boyce, who is stuck in the galley, writes his injuries off as lethal and tries to order Chapel to help him treat other wounded, she refuses.

Boyce is not a new creation of "Strange New Worlds." The character originates from the original (and unused) "Star Trek" pilot, "The Cage," where he was played by John Hoyt. There he was the earliest prototype for Bones McCoy (DeForest Kelley), as "The Cage" has Boyce sharing a drink with Captain Pike (Jeffrey Hunter), who confides in him the way Kirk (William Shatner) would do to Bones in later episodes.

That's not the only thing familiar about Boyce. Markinson is a prolific TV day player with many credits to his name, including previous "Star Trek" shows.

Brian Markinson appeared in all three of the 1980s-90s "Star Trek" shows, each time as a different character. Of course, "Star Trek" series reusing actors is nothing unusual. Case in point: "Strange New Worlds" Season 4 previously had  "Star Trek: Voyager" veteran Rachael Harris guest star as an Orion pirate.

On "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Markinson played Vorin, a member of a pre-warp alien civilization, in the Season 7 episode "Homeward." Then, on "Voyager" Season 1, Markinson appeared in two episodes as Lieutenant Pete Durst, a member of Voyager's crew who met a grisly fate. (Plague-ridden Vidiians abducted Durst and harvested his organs. Markinson pulled double duty as Sulan, the Vidiian surgeon who stole Durst's face.) He thereafter showed up in the "Deep Space Nine" episode "In The Cards" as Dr. Elias Giger, a scientist who owns a rare Willie Mays baseball card that Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton) is trying to get for his father. 

Markinson has been acting since 1990, and he has the resume of roles, big and small, on TV and film, to show for it. Staying in science fiction, he was part of the casts of both short-lived "Battlestar Galactica" prequel spin-offs. In "Caprica," he played Agent Jordan Duram, a dogged anti-terrorism investigator, while in "Blood & Chrome" he appeared as Commander Silas Nash. Markinson also had the honor of playing the first villain on the superhero TV show "Arrow." There, he portrayed Adam Hunt, a corrupt businessman targeted by Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell).

With Markinson's full resume including guest appearances on "The X-Files," "Mad Men," "Supernatural," and many more, you've probably seen his face somewhere before — including, now, on "Strange New Worlds."

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is streaming on Paramount+.