Will Captain Pike's first officer be sent to prison? Have we really seen the last of
Chief Engineer Hemmer? And when will James T. Kirk show up again? These are just some
of the questions left unanswered at the end of Season 1 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Captain Pike's tough-as-nails first officer Number One holds near-legendary status in Star
Trek history. Previously only seen in the original series episode "The Menagerie," which used clips
from the unaired original pilot episode, fans have always been fascinated by the character.
Strange New Worlds finally reveals Number One's real name, Una Chin-Riley,
and gives us her backstory as a genetically modified Illyrian.
In the episode Ghosts of Illyria it's said that because of the Federation's
ban on genetic tampering, people like Number One are barred from serving in Starfleet.
As such, her Illyrian heritage has been kept a closely guarded secret.
When Captain Pike learns her true nature, he vows to never reveal it because she is
the finest first officer in the fleet. Yet, somehow, the information gets out.
In the season finale, Pike's colleague and lover Captain Batel beams aboard the
Enterprise with a security detail and arrests Number One for the crime of being an Illyrian.
We're curious about what will happen now, and who leaked the information to Starfleet. The fact
that franchise canon has never mentioned her could suggest she spends the rest of her days in prison.
Either way, it would seem that Number One's fate will be a major story heading into Season 2.
Hard-nosed Enterprise security chief La'An Noonien-Singh's last name hints at a frightening
lineage. In Ghosts of Illyria, we learn that one of her ancestors is none other than Ricardo
Montalbán's villainous Khan. But it was La'An's tragic backstory that added pathos to the series.
In Memento Mori we learn La'An was rescued as a child by Number
One from a Gorn breeding planet after the Gorn killed her family.
La'An uses her experience with the Gorn to defeat a swarm of Gorn ships in the episode.
Then in All Those Who Wander she gets a measure of revenge by killing three Gorn
hatchlings and rescuing a young girl. Perhaps reminded of her own ordeal,
La'An takes a leave of absence to help the child locate her family. But will she return?
We know actor Christina Chong will be back for Season 2. But will we follow her quest to reunite
the girl with her family or see her return to a different Starfleet ship? Chong has revealed to
Cinema Blend that she has filmed scenes with James T. Kirk actor Paul Wesley, stating:
"I can't speak on story, but I can say that Paul Wesley is very funny,
and I love working with him."
The alternate future Pike glimpsed in the season finale does show La'An serving as a commander
aboard Kirk's ship. This may suggest La'An eventually finds a home on the U.S.S. Farragut.
The cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 combined old favorites like
Captain Pike and Mr. Spock with exciting new characters like chief engineer Lt. Hemmer.
The series' most distinct alien officer and biggest breakout character, Hemmer is
an Aenar — an offshoot of the Andorians — who possesses a form of precognition and telepathy.
By the end of the first season, however, Hemmer sacrifices himself to save the
rest of his shipmates. His death leaves the ship without a chief engineer. Is it
possible that Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott will make his debut next season?
Or are we due for another new character to work miracles in the engine room?
"I like this ship! You know, it's exciting!"
Actor Bruce Horak, who plays Hemmer, has said he's not done with the series in several interviews.
Whether this means Hemmer's telepathy allowed his consciousness to survive like
Spock's in Star Trek III or that he will somehow be resurrected,
perhaps the next chief engineer will still be Hemmer.
Though fans were excited to see Pike, Spock, and Number One in Strange New Worlds,
anticipation reached another level when Paramount announced that James T. Kirk would be in Season 2.
According to canon, Pike and Kirk met only briefly. The Strange New Worlds
Season 1 finale snuck actor Paul Wesley into the role for a "what if" story that
took place in the future, but Kirk's role for Season 2 remains a mystery.
We know Kirk is currently a young lieutenant serving aboard the U.S.S.
Farragut. One possibility is that Season 2 may involve dual stories
set aboard the Enterprise and Farragut, with Kirk receiving a recurring role.
Based on the original Star Trek we know Kirk and Spock knew each other for years,
so it's likely Spock will get some serious screen time with his future Enterprise captain.
However it shakes out, Wesley impressed as Kirk in his appearance in A Quality of
Mercy. Unless Paramount's announcement was a ruse to hide the finale's plot,
we should get plenty more of him next season.
Since Strange New Worlds is set nearly a decade before Star Trek:
The Original Series, it was definitely unexpected to see actor
Celia Rose Gooding playing Cadet Nyota Uhura on the bridge of the Enterprise.
Throughout Season 1, Uhura evolved from a fresh-faced cadet to a strong,
capable officer-in-training, growing close to
chief engineer Hemmer while rotating through every division on the ship.
But Uhura's dilemma persisted — does she really want to serve in Starfleet?
Uhura makes it clear she may not want to remain on the Enterprise, unsure if this
is the right path for her. But thanks to her friendship with engineer Hemmer — and,
ultimately, his sacrifice — it seems Uhura may have finally decided to stay.
However, will she be awarded a full rank of ensign, an "acting ensign" provisional title,
or could she return to Starfleet Academy? We do know she'll be back on the Enterprise
by the time Kirk takes command, but what happens in the meantime is anyone's guess.
Sonequa Martin-Green's Michael Burnham wasn't the first lost Spock sibling to be retconned
into the franchise. Way back in 1989, the fifth Star Trek feature film introduced us to Sybok,
the illegitimate son of Spock's father Sarek. He's a Vulcan who rejected logic and became a fanatic
devoted to finding God at the center of the galaxy. The film was met with
plenty of jeers and no subsequent Star Trek series or film dared to mention Sybok again.
"No! No! It's not possible!"
All that changed in Strange New Worlds when the episode The Serene Squall revealed Sybok is being
held in the Vulcan rehabilitation facility where Spock's betrothed T'Pring serves.
Spock notes that he has been told to avoid contact with his half-brother at all costs,
and the ominous reveal seems to imply that the villainous Vulcan may yet return.
It has even been rumored among fans that Sybok could become the behind-the-scenes villain of
Season 2. The fact that the episode never shows his face seems like a strange creative choice if
he wasn't set to return in some fashion. This way, any actor could step into the role, and with Sam
Witwer campaigning for the part on Twitter, another appearance could be on the horizon.
Pulled from a pair of appearances on the original Star Trek series, Strange New Worlds made minor
character Dr. M'Benga a series regular, and the Enterprise's chief medical officer.
Expanding on the little-explored role, we learn his first name is Joseph and that
he has a daughter named Rukiya who is suffering from a terminal disease. M'Benga's relationship
with his daughter provides some of the most touching and heartfelt moments in Season 1.
Strangely, in his two appearances from the 1960s, Dr. M'Benga actually serves under Dr. McCoy,
who is in charge of sickbay when Kirk commands the Enterprise.
What happens to M'Benga to bump him from the commanding doctor aboard the flagship of the
Federation to a supporting surgeon? We know M'Benga risked the lives of the Enterprise
crew in Ghosts of Illyria by not revealing that his daughter was being held in the transporter.
Could this have been a violation of regulations that gets M'Benga
demoted? Or is there another incident lined up for a future episode that sees
M'Benga either forcibly removed from his role or voluntarily stepping down?
With Season 2 already filmed, we may not have to wait long to find out,
though there's nothing to say that the change in rank takes place anytime soon.
In the 1990s, Star Trek was one of the first franchises that had multiple projects side
by side, with both movies and TV shows running together. Still, while a few characters moved
back and forth, few proper crossovers actually materialized. With Marvel, DC, and others pushing
interconnected franchises, could Strange New Worlds finally see a major Star Trek crossover?
When asked about future crossovers, franchise overlord Alex Kurtzman told Deadline Podcast:
"I think crossovers are can be really, really exciting. But they have to exist for a reason."
Strange New Worlds seems perfectly set up for such an event, as it's set on the
franchise's most beloved starship and has a cast of fan-favorite classic characters.
What could be more exciting than Jean-Luc Picard traveling back to the days of Captain Pike or
Ethan Peck's Mr. Spock traveling to a parallel universe and meeting Zachary Quinto's Spock?
No matter what form a crossover might take, there's no doubt it would be a major event that
would pull in massive viewership figures. And with Paramount and CBS now officially
merged after years of separation, there's no longer any legal reason it can't be done.
Will that happen during Strange New Worlds Season 2? We hope so.
Star Trek: The Original Series will be just six years away when Season 2 of Strange New
Worlds begins, so the series may begin to include more characters we've seen before.
It already features Spock, Uhura, Nurse Chapel, and M'Benga, but there's still
room for plenty of old favorites. James T. Kirk is set to play a regular role in
the second season but we don't know when he'll take over from Christopher Pike.
Likewise, Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov, and even Yeoman Rand could have predated Kirk's
time in the captain's chair. Scotty could be next in line to take over engineering
after the death of Lt. Hemmer, but is it also possible that a younger
Dr. McCoy could join the sickbay staff on his way to taking over for M'Benga?
It's not just the main cast members either. The Star Trek franchise is full of recurring roles,
side characters, and prominent one-offs that fans would love to see again. Gary Mitchell,
Elizabeth Dehner, Carol Marcus, and Matt Decker could all make appearances on Strange New Worlds.
The most common adversary on the original Star Trek and beyond,
the ruthless, war-loving Klingons have long plagued the Federation.
But in the first season of Strange New Worlds, the Klingons barely get a mention.
Re-introduced in Star Trek: Discovery with a controversial new look,
it's possible that the producers simply wanted to give the Klingons a breather. Or maybe they
needed some time to figure out what to do with them after the divisive reaction among fans.
By the time Season 2 of Strange New Worlds rolls around, it will have been four years since we've
seen a Klingon in live action, and it may be time to bring them out for a new adventure.
On the Star Trek after-show The Ready Room it's been seriously implied that
they could indeed be coming back for the second season of Strange New Worlds.
Babs Olusanmokun who plays Dr. M'Benga mentioned his character has a bitter
relationship with the honor-bound alien race that will be explored next year,
so perhaps we may see them right out of the gate.
But the question remains, which Klingons we will see? The ridged-forehead Klingons of Discovery?
Or the bronze-toned, smooth-headed Klingons of The Original Series?
If we had to wager money, we might even bet on seeing a new version of Kang,
Kor, or Koloth, those three Klingon warriors who menaced Kirk in The Original Series.
Spock's betrothed T'Pring got a sizable recurring role in Season 1 of Strange New Worlds. In the
original Star Trek episode Amok Time we learn it was T'Pring's resentment of Spock's career
in Starfleet that was partially to blame for ending their betrothal.
We also learn that while Spock was serving on the Enterprise,
T'Pring was involved with a Vulcan named Stonn, who she wished to marry. In Strange New Worlds,
we learn Stonn is a colleague of T'Pring's at the Ankeshtan K'til Retreat,
a Vulcan criminal rehab colony on the third moon of Omicron Lyrae.
Stonn only gets a single line of dialogue in this appearance,
but It's still a major reveal that could lead to a bigger role for Stonn in Season 2.
Is it possible we could see the beginnings of his relationship with T'Pring which will cause
her to reconsider her commitment to Spock? With Sybok possibly being set up as a major villain,
a trip back to Ankeshtan K'til and the return of Stonn seems like it's in the cards.
If you're a longtime fan of the Star Trek franchise,
you may have noticed a pattern in the first season of Star Trek:
Strange New Worlds where the series did their own versions of classic episodes.
There was the iconic "Prime Directive" episode where the crew must decide whether
to reveal themselves to a pre-warp society. We also saw a "disease on the ship" episode,
a "fantasy come to life" episode, and a "monster on the ship" episode.
The season finale even did a time travel story in classic Star Trek fashion.
But there are still plenty of classic stories Strange New Worlds hasn't done yet.
Perhaps in Season 2 we'll see a "crew member on trial" episode. In fact, with Number One in
custody of Starfleet Security at the close of the cliffhanger finale, that one seems likely.
We might also see the age-old "omnipotent being" episode, with the Enterprise encountering
an all-powerful alien life form like Q, Trelane, or the Organians that toys with
the crew. While these tropes and time-tested stories may be cliched and a little formulaic,
Strange New Worlds has found refreshing ways of putting a modern spin on them.
We're looking forward to seeing what classic tropes they could trot out next.
Episode 8 of Strange New Worlds Season 1 gave us perhaps our most puzzling and
unexpected Easter egg. In "The Elysian Kingdom" we finally get a good look at the storybook that Dr.
M'Benga has been reading to his daughter, and the author is none other than Benny Russell.
First appearing in a vision the Bajoran Prophets gave Captain Benjamin Sisko
in the acclaimed Deep Space Nine episode Far Beyond the Stars,
Russell was a fantasy author from the 1950s who wrote stories set in the Star Trek universe.
There has always been a lingering suggestion that perhaps there was more to Sisko's vision
than being simply a dream, but most fans had brushed it aside as a mere fanciful thought.
Now, with Strange New Worlds declaring that Benny Russell was a real author in-universe, we have
more questions. Was this just a throwaway gag to amuse producers and set-dressers? Or does it
suggest that Sisko, who lived Russell's life for a brief period, experienced something more profound?
"What if all of this is the illusion?"
We're starting to wonder the same thing ourselves.
By returning to an ensemble format, Strange New Worlds
satisfied our wish to see the franchise give the spotlight to its wider cast.
The first season spent time exploring Captain Pike, Number One, and Mr. Spock's story arcs.
But there were episodes centering on security chief La'An and Dr. M'Benga,
while major B-stories were given to Nurse Chapel and Chief Engineer Hemmer. In fact, we arguably
learn more about Uhura in the episode Children of the Comet than we did in all of Star Trek:
The Original Series. Sadly, one major cast member was absent from the party: Lt. Erica Ortegas.
Captain Pike's operations officer, Ortegas is a navigator and weapons officer,
and she was always active in any scene where the ship saw action. Actor Melissa Navia got some fun
scenes when off-duty and offered a few cracking one-liners, but, unfortunately, she didn't get an
episode devoted to her. Could Season 2 see the series finally give the spotlight to Ortegas?
Fans who love her go-get-em attitude are certainly hoping that's the case, and so are we.