The latest episode of Star Trek: Picard, “Absolute Candor”, is out today on CBS All Access. In it, we meet a new character, Elnor - a Romulan, but different from those we’ve met before.

During the Picard press tour back in January, TrekCore interviewed the actor who plays Elnor, Evan Evagora. In the interview, published yesterday, Evagora told TrekCore, “I was fortunate enough to have my mum who’s a very, very, very big sci-fi nerd [...] I grew up watching the Original Series movies, and some of Next Generation.” Evagora went on to explain that his first Star Trek memory is The Search for Spock, but that his favorite episodes are “I, Borg” and “Tapestry”. Both episodes, of course, provide relevant backstory to the action of Star Trek: Picard.

Evagora later went on to explain his casting process for Elnor (he was filming Fantasy Island in Fiji at the time), and why playing Elnor changed his thinking about Romulans. “My character kind of went against everything I knew about Romulan culture,” he said. “I can’t say too much without revealing too much about my character, but [Elnor] is an expert in hand to hand combat, raised as the only male in an all-female sect of warrior nuns.”

Evagora’s family life helped him understand his character, too. “In terms of creating an understanding of my character,” he said, “I’ve got like five sisters and my mother — I’m the youngest as well — so I know exactly what it’s like living with a household of women! It’s very much a matriarchy in my household.”

In Star Trek: Picard, Elnor is similar to Raffi, in that he has a relationship with Picard that pre-dates the start of the series; they met during Picard’s evacuation efforts ahead of the Romulan supernova. “I would say I’m very loyal and dedicated to Picard,” Evagora explained. “I’d say he’s even kind of like a father figure, almost. I knew him — we encountered each other — when I was younger, and [the Star Trek: Picard story] picks up after not having seen each other for a while; it picks up on that relationship, and the history there, as well.”

You can watch the debut of Evagora’s character Elnor on Star Trek: Picard episode 4, “Absolute Candor”, streaming now on CBS All Access, and tomorrow, worldwide.