Star Trek Is About To Change Your Favorite Original Series Characters

Kirk is the most famous Star Trek character of them all, and his characterization in Strange New Worlds has mostly lined up with what we know of him from The Original Series. While the showrunners are being cagey, it sounds like Kirk being different in the third season of SNW will be confined mostly to only a single episode. According to showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers, the fourth episode will be a “Hollywood murder mystery,” and the story offers “a very unique version of Kirk, one that we have not seen on the show before.”

These showrunners claim that Kirk isn’t the only Star Trek character who will act differently, with Myers saying, “All of our actors get to do things that we’ve never seen them do.” He claims that the drive behind this episode is the desire “to create a different genre within ours” and clarifies that “It’s not somebody having a dream.”

Reading between the lines, we may get something similar to “The Elysian Kingdom,” a Season 1 episode where an alien entity forced the characters to live out a fairy tale, complete with temporary new personalities for the crew.

When it comes to the beloved Star Trek character Scotty, though, it sounds like changes to his personality will be far more permanent. Martin Quinn (introduced as Scotty in the Season 2 finale) will take a larger role in Season 3, bringing this franchise icon to life, but Myers is quick to point out that ”This is a Scotty you have not seen before.” He has plenty of upcoming experiences that help shape him into “who he becomes in The Original Series.” 

The character is “younger” and is “going through a lot,” but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be a big bummer. In fact, Myers says, “It’s been really fun to see him interact with our characters and kind of learn who he is going to be.” To that point, actor Ethan Peck promises that “there’s a lot of fun things to do between Spock and Scotty.”

While it sounds like these Star Trek showrunners have an interesting plan to change things up with these classic characters, they are definitely taking something of a gamble. Historically, fans of this franchise don’t like major changes to characters, which is why there was such pushback to making Burnham Spock’s adopted sister in Discovery.

Of course, many fans enjoyed how the reboot films gave us younger, slightly different versions of The Original Series crew, so Strange New Worlds may give us a Kirk and Scotty who are recognizably different but still growing into the characters popularized by, respectively, William Shatner and James Doohan.

As big fans of The Original Series, we can’t help but think “the more the merrier” with these wonderful characters. It’s been great fun seeing the show flesh out TOS supporting characters like Chapel and M’Benga while adding new dimension to mainstays like Spock. It’s only fitting for this Paramount+ flagship show to “boldly go” where Star Trek has never gone before with Scotty and everyone else, and we can’t wait to see where it–and our favorite characters–go next.

Source: TrekMovie