Star Trek Magazine – July 2019

01 Rainn

Wilsonas

HarryMudd

inhisdebut

Discovery

appearance,

Season1,

Episode5,

“ChooseYour

Pain.

02 Muddin

captivityagain

intheShort

Trek“The

EscapeArtist.”

03 Mudd

captures

Stametsand

Burnham

inEpisode

7,“Magic

toMakethe

SanestMan

GoMad.”

artwork inspired by R.E.M.’ It was so

touching to me.”

Again, that was all pre-internet

• practically the Stone Age. Message
  boards didn’t exist. Neither did chat
  rooms. No one could text or instant
  message like-minded friends about
  exciting news or compelling rumors.
  “You couldn’t fi nd that
  community,” Wilson puts it succinctly.
  “Sonow, there’s this [Star Trek]
  community, but even back then I
  wentto Norwescon – which is a
  science-fi ction convention – several
  times. My dad had written Tentacles of
  Dawn, and I would go play Dungeons

& Dragons there, and I would go to

the panels. Th ey had a 24-hour movie

room, movie marathons playing

constant sci-fi movies, and horror and

stuff like that. I still have my science

fi ction book collection from the ’70s,

which numbers about 3,400 science

fi ction books. So, I was – I am – a

huge, huge fan.”

To the Disco

Cut to the present. Wilson, now in

his early 50s, is a three time Emmy

Award-nominated actor. He’s best

known for his role as Dwight Schrute

on the American iteration of Th e

“I’mtalkingmaybeas earlyas ’71,
’72,’73,definitely,”Wilsonrecalls.
“So,theoriginalserieshadjustgone
offtheair.It’sanoddthing,because...
I wasjustthinkingaboutthis:now,
becauseoftheinternet,andbecause
ofconventions,youcanfindyour
tribe.I remembertherewasa time
I wasreallyintothebandR.E.M.I
lovedR.E.M.– I hadalltheiralbums,
I memorizedtheirlyrics,andI just
thoughttheywereamazing.I was
ina recordshoponce,andI found
anR.E.M.fanzine.I pickedit up,
andit saidsomethinglike‘This is for
R.E.M.fans.’It washand-printed,
mimeographed,orsomethinglike
that,bysomefansinGeorgia.I paid
$3.50forit.It wasincredible,because
it [mademerealize],‘Oh,there’sother
peoplethatfeelthewaythatI do.
There’speopledissectingthelyrics,
andpeopletalkingaboutwhattheir
favoritealbumsare,anddrawing

“Harry Mudd is a

conman, smuggler,

raconteur, roustabout,

and it is really informed

by his wardrobe.”

RAINN WILSON

02

03

INTERVIEW