Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Showrunners Discuss That Big Khan Surprise, And What Makes It Special For All Audiences
Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 episode "Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow." Read at your own risk!
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds made some major changes to the universe's timeline in the Season 2 installment "Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow," and as we predicted, the changes came with a surprise appearance from Khan Noonien Singh. The character made famous on the big screen by Ricardo Montalbán was back again, but in a way that we'd never seen him before. After the reveal, the showrunners shared some insight with CinemaBlend regarding that surprise appearance, and what makes it special for all audience members.
This Khan, played by younger actor Desmond Sivan, was only a child when his descendant, La'an, met him after traveling back in time to Toronto in the 21st century. CinemaBlend spoke to showrunners Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman about the reveal, which effectively confirmed the Eugenics War and World War III won't happen until decades after the original series previously stated, and Goldsman talked to me about the beauty of the reveal, and how it's something that works for all audiences regardless if a viewer is a Trek veteran or new to the franchise. In his words:
So if you know, you know, right? You’re like, ‘Oh fuck, that’s Khan.’ But if you don’t know, it’s a little boy, right? And so the story doesn’t require you [to know Khan], but it is extra special if you do. And that’s what we always try to do. We try to make the story work without canonical knowledge. But with canonical knowledge, we think it’s deeper or sometimes just funnier or more special.
One goal of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, according to Akiva Goldsman, is to make the franchise's lore both accessible and deep at the same time, depending on who is watching with their Paramount+ subscription. Viewers unfamiliar with the films would at least understand enough about La'an's background to know Khan is a big deal, and hardcore fans would understand how tempting it'd be for La'an to take the offer of a fresh start at life.
Khan is the latest major Star Trek villain to show up in Strange New Worlds, though obviously with the twist of him being much younger. Henry Alonso Myers said that detail was part of the reason it was so enticing to both bring that character back while also featuring the Augment once again. Here's how he put it:
And that one, no one’s ever seen Khan like that. This is a Khan that you’ve never seen on television before. That was exciting to us.
Will we see more more recognizable villains returning in the future? Fans of the original series were thrilled in Season 1 when it was revealed that the new villain Angel was the lover of Spock's half-brother and The Final Frontier villain Sybok.
Considering Star Trek: Strange New Worlds brought back Khan and even recast Captain Kirk, it's natural to wonder if anyone is off limits in this universe. I had to put that question to Henry Alonso Myers, especially after seeing that reveal, and got a pretty definitive answer.
I think it’s fair in saying no one is off the table.
If it wasn't obvious by now, it would appear that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has the green light to pull in just about any character provided they can explain it logically. This even includes characters from shows in the future, as we'll see Boimler and Mariner from Lower Decks wind up on the Enterprise later in Season 2. I'm excited to see who else may show up, and if another Khan appearance could happen in future seasons.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams new episodes on Paramount+ on Thursdays. Catch up on what has been a great season so far, and be sure to check out what other great shows are up on the platform to stream.
