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Stacey Abrams Becomes President of United Earth on 'Star Trek: Discovery' : 'She's a Civil Hero'

Stacey Abrams previously shared that she hopes to serve as president of the United States at some point in her career

Kelly Wynne has been a TV writer at PEOPLE digital since 2021. Her work has been seen in Newsweek, where she acted as a reality TV and true-crime writer, Atwood Magazine and her mental health blog, The Chronically.

Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams looked presidential in her recent acting role.

The longtime Star Trek fan, 48, made a cameo in the season 4 finale of Star Trek: Discovery as the new President of United Earth.

Abrams, who is currently the only Democratic candidate in Georgia's race for governor, has been vocal about her future plans to serve as the president of the United States. She previously told Five Thirty Eight that she hopes to run by 2040.

Discovery star Sonequa Martin-Green raved about Abrams' cameo, telling Deadline that the cast, including Chelah Horsdal, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Wilson Cruz, David Ajala, Blu del Barrio and Ian Alexander, were all ecstatic to spend time with the politician.

"I'm still floored when I think about Stacey gracing us with her presence in our Season 4 finale," Martin-Green said. "We spent so much of our time fanning out and pretending to be cool in her midst."

Praising Abrams, the actress added, "She's a legend in the making and a civil hero, and she was an absolute delight to work with. She wowed us with her charm, humility, and generosity, and she whipped out some acting chops too! It was an honor for me as a Black woman to stand with her in the story. It's an experience I'll cherish for the rest of my life."

Abrams has been vocal about the impact the Star Trek franchise has made in her life, even using plotlines from the show to illustrate her own worldviews in her book Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change .

Because of her deep love for the series, Abrams had one request when stepping into the role as fictional president, according to executive Producer Michelle Paradise. Abrams agreed to the role if they promised not to spoil anything from season 4 — and just give her the information she needed to play the role.

"She was very specific about that," Paradise told Variety . "She wanted to be able to just watch it and enjoy when the show finally came out. So, yeah, we avoided all the spoilers."

Paradise also said Abrams was a natural choice for the role. "We always knew that Earth returning would be a big, big moment, and coming into season 4, we knew that was going to happen in the finale," she said. "As we started to look ahead to the finale, we realized we are going to need a face for this moment, someone to represent Earth."

Paradise added, "When the time came to start talking about the president of Earth, it seemed like, 'Well, who better to represent that than her?' "

Casting Abrams paid off. "There's just something that made us think, 'Well, of course she can do it,' " Paradise continued. "And she did. She just blew us away."

Georgia's gubernatorial race is expected to conclude in November and Abrams is running against current Georgia Governor, Brian Kemp.

This isn't her first time running for the position. She lost to Kemp in 2018.

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Stacey Abrams Explains How She Was Cast as President of Earth in ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ (Video)

“I got a communicator, which I’m probably going to sneak into my pocket,” the voting rights activist said

“Star Trek: Discovery” fans were treated to a surprising cameo in the show’s Season 4 finale, when politician and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams appeared playing the President of Earth. The president greeted Captain Michael Burnham and her crew as the Federation and Starfleet visited Earth for the first time in 100 years, and Abrams’ casting as the president of the planet soon took flight on social media.

In a new video posted on Abrams’ Twitter account , the Democratic candidate fo governor of Georgia and producers from “Discovery” explain how she was cast and why she’s such a big “Star Trek” fan in the first place.

“We knew that she was a fan of the show and I had read an interview with her at some point where she was talking about her love of ‘Star Trek’ and her love of ‘Discovery’ specifically and Burnham,” executive producer and writer Michelle Paradise explained. “We reached out to her people and were like we wanna just ask about this, and she’s so lovely and was so excited about it and genuinely excited to get to do it. And it was just the neatest thing.”

“One of the reasons that I love ‘Star Trek’ is that it is not one thing, it is so many different shows and it’s so many different vantage points,” Abrams said in the video. “It has this idealized notion of what can be but a very grounded understanding of how hard the work will be to get there. And what has been so remarkable about every iteration of the show is that they take that same construct, but they do it so differently and so well that you never get bored with the journey.”

Abrams said it didn’t quite matter which role she was playing, she was ready to jump onboard. “They give such care to how they craft spaces and worlds,” she said. “Whatever the story was, I wanted to be a part of it because watching Michael Burnham come into her power as a captain, watching this hearty crew reclaim itself not only in a new era but in a new space that is so reminiscent of what they remembered but so different. That, to me, speaks of why we do the work we do in politics. It’s about giving people hope and giving them a better life and creating this vision of what is possible. So regardless of the role that I was gonna get to play, I wanted to be a part of it.”

Abrams also couldn’t help but nerd out about the experience of getting into costume to play a character in the “Star Trek” universe. “I went to a performing arts high school, and it was nothing like this,” Abrams said in the video. “I’ve been very lucky to get to sit in a chair and have someone do my hair and my makeup in ways I wouldn’t have imagined. I’m not wearing prosthetics, I don’t get new ears or a new forehead, but my hair is different. And then I got to be outfitted for my uniform and that was just an extraordinary experience. And I got a communicator, which I’m probably going to sneak into my pocket.”

Watch the full video above . The “Star Trek: Discovery” Season 4 finale is now streaming exclusively on Paramount+.

Stacey Abrams

• View history

Stacey Abrams ( born 9 December 1973 ; age 50) is an American politician from Georgia who made a guest appearance as the President of United Earth in the Star Trek: Discovery fourth season episode " Coming Home ".

She was the Democratic Party candidate for governor of Georgia in 2018 and 2022. As a self-confessed Star Trek superfan, she told the New York Times in 2019 that she binged episodes during her 2018 race for governor. [1]

External links [ ]

• Stacey Abrams at Wikipedia
• Stacey Abrams at the Internet Movie Database

• Action/Adventure
• Children's/Family
• Documentary/Reality
• Amazon Prime Video

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How ‘Star Trek’ Got Stacey Abrams For That Surprise ‘Discovery’ Finale Cameo

Where to Stream:

• Star Trek: Discovery

Former House of Representatives member, and current Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has made no secret of her passion for  Star Trek . She’s appeared on  Star Trek podcasts, done interviews for books about the franchise, and as recently as March 6 she discussed her current candidacy by comparing it to sitting in the “captain’s chair.” But it’s probably fair to say that her cameo on today’s  Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 finale — as the President of United Earth, no less — was still a shocker.

“We wanted to lock it down at every stage of the game,”  Discovery co-showrunner Michelle Paradise told Decider of the surprise cameo. “We didn’t want that to get ahead of the show, and we wanted that to be an organic moment, for the audience to experience that in the moment. Everyone on our whole team was on board… It’s not as hard to lock those things down when everyone is on the same page.”

Over the past two seasons of Discovery , the crew of the titular ship has been flung to the far future, discovering (no pun intended) a universe broken apart and isolated. Over various adventures, they’ve slowly rebuilt the United Federation of Planets, with one noticeable hold-out: Earth. But thanks to the crew saving the entire galaxy from a strange alien race called the Ten-C, and their destructive mining apparatus called the DMA (Dark Matter Anomaly), Earth, it’s revealed, has finally agreed to join the Federation.

In this week’s episode, titled “Coming Home”, written by Paradise and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, the President of United Earth visits the Discovery to officially accept the invitation, and is revealed to be played by none other than Abrams. For Paradise, capping off this two-season arc with her appearance was the perfect way to end this journey.

“When we got about halfway through, and were coming to the finale, we realized, we needed a face for this,” Paradise recalled. “We needed someone to represent Earth, who can say the words, ‘Earth is back.’ … Stacey Abrams came to mind, knowing she’s a fan of the show, and all that she’s done for obvious reasons, all that she has done and continues to do.”

When the idea popped up, Paradise texted Alex Kurtzman, the architect and Executive Producer of the  Star Trek franchise and co-showrunner of  Discovery to get his take. Kurtzman’s answer? “He thought it was amazing, so many exclamation points when he texted me back,” Paradise said.

From there, Kurtzman and Paradise hopped on a Zoom with Abrams to find out if she might be interested in appearing on the show, with one, big caveat: Abrams didn’t want to know anything about what else was happening in Season 4 because she’s a fan, first. In lieu of spoilers, they pitched her the idea of Earth coming back to the Federation, as well as the general gist of her character. And with that, Abrams was in.

Still, it’s a tricky thing to bring a public personality like Abrams onto a TV show set without news leaking to the press. But Paradise credits Abrams’s “phenomenal” team for making everything smooth, safe and professional in bringing the politician to the show’s Toronto based set. There, the Star Trek superfan was treated to a tour of the production’s facility, as well as getting to work with the show’s new AR wall, a massive LED screen built by Pixomondo that simulates sets — a production technique made famous on another “star” franchise’s series,  The Mandalorian .

Though Abrams is only on the show for one scene, it isn’t a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo. Not only does Abrams formally agree to bring Earth back into the Federation, she also has a conversation with series star Sonequa Martin-Green, who plays Captain Michael Burnham, that brings together many of the emotional threads and themes of the season.

“Her presence carries everything that I could have possibly hoped for in that character, who she is and what she represents” Paradise said on writing for Abrams. “And in her conversations with Burnham, a feeling that this season, the threats of this season, we’ve accomplished our goal. That, okay, we’re good… [But] that doesn’t mean the work is over. We have made it through this crucible together, and there is more work to do… She — and we — are always looking ahead to how we can make lives better. All of those positive things that are the bedrock of  Trek … Giving those lines to [Abrams] and Sonequa, the President and Burnham, felt really important for our season.”

As Paradise emphasizes, there’s a clear undercurrent in the scene of what Abrams means to supporters in the real world as a powerful speaker and voting rights advocate who is running to be the first Black female Governor of Georgia, acting opposite Martin-Green, who as Burnham is the first Black female captain in Star Trek history. On the power of this moment, Paradise gave a shoutout to Osunsanmi, Discovery ‘s producing director, noting that a large part of what works there are his visuals, as well as “what Stacey and Sonequa bring to the screen.”

That all said, despite what seems like a dream scenario for Abrams, the crew of Discovery , and  Star Trek fans, as well as a powerful moment on and off set, there are potential real world ramifications of casting a political candidate as the President of United Earth on a science-fiction show. That potential blowback is something Paradise seems aware of.

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“She is a political figure, so anytime you make that choice, to cast a real life person in a fictional role, there are going to be people who like that choice, and going to be people who don’t like that choice,” Paradise noted. “We felt really great, and very honored that she would come in and do our show, and play this role on our show. We couldn’t be happier about it. We feel very lucky.”

So given all this, should fans expect to see Abrams pop up again for guest spots in the show’s currently filming fifth season? The answer is almost definitely not, particularly because she’s kicking off another run at the Governor’s seat in Georgia. But if things do fall through in her aspirations, would Paradise be up for a Star Trek: West Wing spinoff focusing on Abrams’ President of United Earth? “I’m in, I’m all in,” Paradise said, laughing.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 is now available to stream in full on Paramount+.

Where to watch  Star Trek: Discovery

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Star Trek: Discovery Reveals Seven Of Nine's Surprising Legacy

Star trek: discovery season 5 has a tribute to kenneth mitchell, star trek: discovery's elias toufexis breaks down lak's fate in season 5, episode 7.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Finale - "Coming Home"

The USS Discovery finally came face-to-face with Species 10-C in Star Trek: Discovery season 4's finale, which resolved the major storylines and set Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) on a path towards exploring the future. As the Dark Matter Anomaly nearly destroyed Earth and Ni'Var, Burnham and her Starfleet crew had to stop Dr. Ruon Tarka (Shawn Doyle) from attacking Species 10-C and complete their First Contact mission in order to save their homeworld and the galaxy at large.

The first half of Star Trek: Discovery' s spectacular season 4 finale, "Coming Home," dealt with two major problems: stopping Dr. Tarka, who held Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) and Commander Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) prisoner aboard Book's ship, and discovering who aboard Discovery helped Tarka and Booker to sabotage the First Contact mission. The latter was easy since General Ndoye (Phumzile Sitole) confessed to being Tarka's conspirator but she acted out of her desire to save her homeworld, United Earth. Ndoye then volunteered to pilot a shuttle to stop Book's ship from destroying Species 10-C's powerful hyperfield . Ndoye rammed Book's ship, which led to its destruction. Ndyoye was beamed back aboard Discovery but Book's signal was lost mid-transport. As for Tarka, he met his demise along with Book's ship. Thankfully, Book's cat, Grudge, was safely aboard Discovery all along.

Related: Discovery's 10-C First Contact Struggles With New & Classic Star Trek

Meanwhile, United Federation of Planets headquarters warped to Earth with Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) and Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman), who left Discovery to teach at Starfleet Academy, leading the evacuation. Tragically, only 400,000+ could be evacuated by Starfleet from Earth. Regardless of the impossible odds, Vance and Tilly continued the evacuation and bonded thanks to their impending doom. But they and Earth were spared when Discovery's heroes successfully talked Species 10-C into withdrawing the DMA. Unlike the prior season finales of Star Trek: Discovery , season 4's climax did not rely on action or Captain Burnham saving the day with risk-taking heroics. Instead, the pivotal First Contact between the Federation and Species 10-C relied on the exchange of emotions and each sides' best ideals to find a common solution. "Coming Home" crystallized a new direction for Star Trek: Discovery that embraces the highest ideals of Star Trek.

Star Trek Makes Real-Life Stacey Abrams The President Of Earth

Stacey Abrams was revealed as the President of United Earth in a shocking, climactic cameo at the end of Star Trek: Discovery 's season 4 finale. Abrams is a diehard Star Trek fan who even hosted an online Star Trek event in 2020 to help the elections of Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. Star Trek: Discovery 's director, Olatunde Osunsanmi told Screen Rant in an interview that Abrams was friends with Wilson Cruz, who plays Discovery's Chief Medical Officer and Counselor Dr. Hugh Culber . Though Cruz, Abrams met Star Trek: Discovery 's showrunner, Michelle Paradise and executive producer Alex Kurtzman, and they arranged to have the Georgia politician cameo in the show, eventually deciding to make Abrams United Earth's previously unseen President.

Abrams' appearance as the President gave her the opportunity to act alongside Sonequa Martin-Green's Captain Burnham, and she also formally announced that United Earth is rejoining the Federation. Earth broke away from the Federation after The Burn happened and remained an isolated world for over a century, redesignating itself as United Earth. The fact that Discovery's homeworld was missing from the Federation was a painful reminder of how broken the 32nd century was, but United Earth returning to the fold marks a bright new beginning for the Federation and Earth. It's unclear if Stacey Abrams will reprise her role as United Earth's President in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 but it was a jaw-dropping cameo nonetheless.

Star Trek: Discovery's Species 10-C Explained (Fully)

Species 10-C is a Star Trek alien race unlike any other in the franchise. Star Trek: Discover y wisely took the opportunity to create a thoroughly alien species that would test Starfleet's heroes patience, understanding, and their commitment to seeking out new life and new civilizations. Because they reside in another galaxy beyond the Galactic Barrier, the intriguing Species 10-C wasn't bound by Star Trek's tradition where most aliens are humanoid in appearance. Instead, Species 10-C is the size of skyscrapers and, because of their completely alien brain patterns, universal translators are useless. This required Burnham and her team to find a new way to communicate with them. But Species 10-C has a complex system of emotions as the basis for their language, and this gave Discovery the building blocks to begin First Contact.

Related: Discovery's DMA Plan Means Earth Is Being Attacked For The 9th Time

Crucially, Species 10-C isn't a villainous or malevolent race. They are a lifeform that has achieved a higher state of evolution and technological superiority to the point where they were unaware of and didn't consider the denizens of the Milky Way Galaxy to be higher life forms. While they were confused by Discovery's appearance and by Book and Tarka's attempt to attack them, Species 10-C was patient and curious about Discovery's peaceful overtures. Species 10-C also didn't use the DMA as a weapon intentionally; the anomaly was simply a device they employed to harvest the boronite they needed to power their protective hyperfield. Curiously, despite reaching an understanding with Species 10-C, the Federation delegates didn't attempt to ask them what they prefer to be called. They remain "Species 10-C" and it remains to be seen if the Federation will maintain contact with the extragalactic race or if Species 10-C will even join the Federation.

How Book And Discovery Saved Earth At The End Of Season 4

The USS Discovery faced a ticking clock as the DMA neared Earth, with Species 10-C, again, unaware of the damage their device could cause. But Species 10-C also rescued Book because they intercepted his transporter signal when Discovery tried to beam him aboard . Thus, Species 10-C was able to return Book safely, so the former courier was never dead. However, the same cannot be said of Dr. Tarka. Tarka was presumably killed when Book's ship exploded and he was unable to use his device to harness the hyperfield's energy to send him into the Multiverse, which was his goal all along and why Ruon was willing to risk a war between the Federation and Species 10-C. While anything can happen in Star Trek, Tarka is probably dead.

Once back with Michael and the Federation delegates, it was Book who successfully pleaded with Species 10-C to deactivate the DMA. Of course, the DMA destroyed Book's homeworld of Kwejian . As the person who lost the most because of the DMA, it was fitting that Book was able to make Species 10-C realize the devastation their Anomaly sowed in the Federation's galaxy. As a Kwejian, Book has powers that attune him to the emotions of living beings, and this allowed him to reach Species 10-C and convince them that their DMA was dangerous and hurt living beings. Species 10-C agreed not to use the DMA any longer and safely sent the USS Discovery through a wormhole back to their own galaxy.

Saru And President T'Rina Are Officially Star Trek's Newest Couple

Captain Saru (Doug Jones) and Ni'Var President T'Rina (Tara Rosling) were attracted to each other from their first meeting in Star Trek: Discovery season 3, but their slow-burn romance has finally become official and it was Saru's primary Discovery season 4 storyline . Although they shared several intimate moments in Star Trek: Discovery seasons 3 and 4, Saru was confused and disheartened when the Vulcan behaved cooly toward him during their First Contact mission with Species 10-C. However, Saru came to understand that T'Rina had to focus on her duties and responsibilities as President and diplomat during the crisis. After their First Contact with Species 10-C was a success, T'Rina and Saru finally decided to pursue romance. On a show with many love stories like Burnham and Book and Dr. Culber and Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), the Kelpien and the Vulcan are, at last, Star Trek: Discovery 's newest couple.

Related: Discovery Season 4 Finally Pays Off Burnham's Biggest Klingon War Lesson

Book's Punishment Compared To Burnham's From Discovery Season 1

Although Book was able to make Species 10-C stop using the DMA, the fact remained he went rogue and nearly plunged the Federation into a war with the extragalactic aliens. However, Book was only doing what he thought was right. In this way, Book echoes Michael, who also acted unilaterally to do what she thought was right but ended up sparking the Klingon War in Star Trek: Discovery season 1. However, as President Laira Rillak (Chelah Horsdal) said, "reasons do matter," and Book was spared a prison sentence. Instead, he was assigned to help refugees who were displaced by the DMA, although this separates him from Michael for the foreseeable future. Still, compared to the prison sentence Michael served in 2256, Book's lenient punishment is a sign that the 32nd century Federation has learned the vital lesson that "reasons do matter," compared to the 23rd century Federation . The similarities between Book and Michael are another powerful sign that they were made for each other.

Discovery Season 5 Will Explore Star Trek's 32nd Century Future

After facing down the back-to-back intergalactic crises of The Burn and the DMA and emerging victorious, the USS Discovery's crew finally earned rest and they disembarked for vacations. Discovery's heroes get to spend quality time on Earth for the first time in 930 years. However, Captain Burnham and Star Trek: Discovery will definitely return for season 5. While Star Trek: Discovery 's season 4 finale didn't end with a cliffhanger or an explicit setup for the next season, clues can glean what's next for Burnham and her crew.

Thanks to Ni'Var and United Earth rejoining, the Federation is growing stronger. When Captain Burnham spoke to United Earth's President, she noted how much is left of the galaxy there is to explore. Star Trek: Discovery 's 32nd-century setting allows it to write all-new canon but, thus far, the past two seasons have been focused on season-long threats. After the success with Species 10-C, Burnham's desire to explore could signal that the USS Discovery will finally spend more time seeking out new life and new civilizations. Star Trek: Discovery season 4 was noticeably less action-oriented and featured a greater focus on moral and ethical dilemmas in the classic style of Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation . Star Trek: Discovery season 5 may let Captain Burnham and the USS Discovery boldly explore to see who and what's out there in the 32nd century.

Next: Discovery's 10C Plan Uses Star Trek's Original Message

Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 is available to stream on Paramount+.

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Stacey abrams explains her ‘star trek: discovery’ season 4 finale cameo.

Abrams, who appeared in the final moments of "Coming Home" as the United Earth president, said the storylines in 'Discovery' speak to "why we do the work we do in politics."

By Abbey White

Abbey White

Associate Editor & News Writer

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In the season four finale of Star Trek: Discovery , “Coming Home,” voting rights advocate and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams makes an out-of-this-world cameo.

In only her second TV appearance following a guest spot on ABC’s Black-ish , Abrams made her Star Trek franchise debut as the United Earth president. Abrams, who has been vocal about being a fan of the shows, said in a behind-the-scenes video posted to her Twitter on Saturday that she wanted to be a part of the show, regardless of the role.

“Whatever the story was, I wanted to be a part of it because watching Michael Burnham come into her power as captain, watching this party-crew reclaim itself — not only in a new era but in a new space that is so reminiscent of what they remembered but so different — that, to me, speaks of why we do the work we do in politics,” she said. “It’s about giving people hope and giving them a better life and creating this vision of what is possible.”

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During the three-minute clip, which also featured brief interviews with star Sonequa Martin-Green, showrunner Michelle Paradise and the episode’s director and series EP Olatunde Osunsanmi, Abrams discusses the experience of prepping for the role in terms of hair, makeup and costuming. Abrams also explained that her love for the franchise is based on the fact “that it is not one thing.”

“It is so many different shows, and it’s so many different vantage points. It has this idealized notion of what can be but a very grounded understanding of how hard the work will be to get there,” she said. “What has been so remarkable about every iteration of the show is that they take that same construct, but they do it so differently and so well that you never get bored with the journey.”

There's a lot of work to do. Are you ready for that? https://t.co/zW1iluAW2z #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #UnitedEarth #OneGeorgia pic.twitter.com/vgcZPtoVRd — Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) March 19, 2022

In an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment , Paradise explained how the team hid Abrams’ cameo from the public, noting that a few “precautions” were taken, though nothing drastic.

“We did take precautions on the day. Not listing her name specifically on the call sheet — normally, a performer’s name will be listed on the call sheet next to their character name. We didn’t do that in case any paperwork happened to get out,” she said. “We weren’t doing CIA-level things, but it was very important to all of us that we keep that lock[ed] down so the audience could experience that reveal in the moment.”

Paradise, who also wrote the season four finale, said that after reaching out to Abrams’ team, she agreed to a Zoom call with her and co-creator and EP Alex Kurtzman, where they pitched her the role.

“It was pretty overwhelming, I’ll be honest. Alex and I were both really taken aback,” Paradise recalled. “She was so kind and thoughtful, and just great. We were both absolutely thrilled to get to talk to her and pitch her the idea. Once she said she wanted to do it, we pinched ourselves a bit.”

As for whether Abrams might appear again, Paradise told Yahoo! that she’s “confident” Abrams will be busy with other things but that “it would be an absolute thrill to be able to do that again on any level.”

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