In the episode, the eighth episode of the show's second season, titled If Memory Serves, the crew of the USS Discovery visit the planet Talos IV. That planet was previously visited by the USS Enterprise in the show's 1966 pilot episode, The Cage. Melissa George as Vina and Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery. Credit:Michael Gibson/CBS In the original series pilot, the crew meet a human woman, Vina, on the planet. Played by Susan Oliver, she is the lone survivor of a crashed human colony ship, who becomes romantically involved with the USS Enterprise's Captain Christopher Pike, at the time played by Jeffrey Hunter.

In Star Trek: Discovery the crew of the USS Discovery revisit the planet hoping to save their colleague, Mr Spock (Ethan Peck), who is losing his mind. The mission which reunites Captain Pike, played in the new series by Anson Mount, and Vina, who is now played by George. Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and Vina (Melissa George) are reunited in Star Trek: Discovery. Credit:Michael Gibson/CBS Most of George's scenes were with Captain Pike and Mr Spock; she also filmed scenes with the show's lead, Commander Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green. "They are true professionals," George said of the Star Trek: Discovery cast. "They seem like nobody could play the roles the way they are.

"And Ethan Peck, where did he come from? That voice, and that stance, and the power that he gives and his presence as Spock. I think he's doing a killer job." George also filmed scenes on the iconic bridge set, the centrepiece of almost every Star Trek series since the original series in the 1960s. Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Spock (Ethan Peck) are reunited, as Vina (Melissa George) looks on. Credit:Michael Gibson/CBS "I was blown away, everything they touched was real, everything worked," George says. "There was nothing that was fake on that set. And that day, filming on the bridge, was exciting because everybody was there, every character, every single one, doing their thing. "I was so giddy, I realised, I am on the set of Star Trek ... I don't know, I guess you feel very, very lucky and very grateful to be chosen to be in this kind of role. Sometimes in life there is a little gift hiding, you know, unannounced."

To research the part, George says she began with Susan Oliver's original performance from 1966. "Her acting was very heightened because it was Star Trek and the very first one," George says. "But what I got was the essence of how much she loved Captain Pike. Captain Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) and Vina (Susan Oliver) as they appeared in the 1966 pilot episode of Star Trek. Credit:CBS Studios "For that reason I kind of wanted to take her and listen to the guidance of producers and the costume designer because it's modernised in such a way," George adds. "So you start to put the pieces together from her look, to the way she sounds, to the the way she could walk. After a few days I kind of got the impression of the Vina we were creating today and I slipped into her shoes."

George's guest appearance was filmed over a two-week period in Toronto, Canada, where the series is shot. It was also the first time in her career that George says she was compelled to keep a role top secret until it aired. Inside "the cage" on Talos IV: Vina (Melissa George), Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Spock (Ethan Peck). Credit:Michael Gibson/CBS "I felt, you know, that it was special," George says. "And they were obviously very protective of this particular story line. So to be chosen to play her was obviously an honour and we had to take so much care about what Vina means to Star Trek fans. "Hopefully the fans like it, and I am happy that Captain Pike got to see his girl and, you know, I got to see my man and see where it goes from there."

George says becoming part of the Star Trek franchise was almost overwhelming, comparing the moment to her guest role in Friends which she filmed back in 2003 having grow up as an enormous fan of the series. "When you find yourself in that situation, on the set of the coffee house, for example, and acting with all the cast of a show like this you just pray to God that you're good because you're not really focused at all," she says. "On Friends I was walking onto a show that I was obsessed with for a decade. I had the same moment on Star Trek when I arrived at the [set for the] planet Talos IV, what I thought would be special effects in the studio, and instead we drove two hours out to location," she says. "We had to leave at 3.30am and all of a sudden these huge trucks start coming down one after the other, dumping architectural-sized rocks and round things and recreated the whole planet." George is only the second Australian actor to take a prominent role in Star Trek and the first to be cast in such an iconic role.

Actress Wendy Hughes played Lt Commander Nella Daren, a love interest for Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation which aired in 1993. Growing up in Perth, George recalls seeing Star Trek repeated on local TV regularly. "It was on TV every day, my parents watched it, everyone knew Spock, everyone knew the costumes, everyone knew the storyline," George says. "When you listen to the dialogue it has its own language but the source, underneath, Star Trek is really a metaphor for life. "And I think that's why we all know it, why we all follow it," George adds. "We had Lost in Space and we had Star Wars and all sorts of other sci-fi, but there's nothing quite like Star Trek, really."

Star Trek: Discovery airs on CBS All Access in the US and on Netflix in Australia.