Star Trek Showrunner Determined To Bring Back The Worst Character
While Star Trek is a franchise full of great characters, there is one that most of us can agree is just the worst: Sybok, Spock’s half-brother and the primary villain of the infamously awful film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Both Sybok and that movie were so poorly received that the franchise brushed his existence under the table for decades, but it looks like he may be poised for a comeback. Sybok was briefly glimpsed in Season 1 of Strange New Worlds, and both showrunners recently stated they would love to feature this character more extensively in the show.
The Return Of Sybok
In a recent interview, showrunner Akiva Goldsman confirmed that he “desperately wants” to feature Sybok in Strange New Worlds. Fellow showrunner Henry Alonso Myers is in full agreement, saying, “I do want him to be in the show very much.” While that may make some fans Spockishly raise their eyebrows in surprise, these showrunners laid the groundwork for the controversial character’s return way back in Season 1.
Teased In Season 1
The Strange New Worlds episode “The Serene Squall” features nonbinary baddie Angel managing to hoodwink Captain Pike and the rest of the Enterprise crew and take over the ship, but they had some rather unconventional goals. Rather than focusing on conquest or plunder, Angel wanted to free their lover from a Vulcan rehabilitation center and tried to coerce Spock’s fiancee, T’Pring, into doing just that. We eventually find out that Angel’s lover is Sybok, and the episode ends with a brief glimpse of Sybok from behind before the credits roll.
The Setup Will Be Paid Off Eventually
When fans began to ask why we didn’t see Sybok in Season 2, Goldsman confirmed that the villain’s cameo is one of those “setups that we know we want to pay off over time.” However, in the most recent interview, both Goldsman and Myers spoke as if bringing the character back was still on their bucket list regarding stories they wanted to tell. They might just be playing their cards very close to the vest, but it sounds like we shouldn’t expect to see Sybok in Strange New Worlds Season 3, premiering sometime in 2025.
Spock’s Secret Family
If (or perhaps that should be when) the show does bring Sybok back, the writers will need to really thread a narrative needle: when the half-Vulcan was introduced in Star Trek V, it was a complete surprise to Kirk, Spock’s closest friend, that his first officer had a sibling. Of course, Discovery introduced that Spock had a secret half-sister, and the TNG episode “Sarek” alluded to yet another Spock brother we had never heard of before.
Kirk’s Knowledge of Sybok
In other words, Spock keeping secrets about his family members is par for the course, but it might be hard to believe if the Enterprise has an entire major adventure involving Sybok and Kirk later has no knowledge of the half-Vulcan villain’s existence. After all, Pike would presumably file a record with Starfleet, though it might just be filed “top secret” along with Discovery’s earlier Mirror Universe trip. And in any given episode, Kirk seems to be making an inexplicable cameo, so you’d think that he’d hear about Sybok through shipboard gossip, if nothing else.
Strange New Worlds Has Earned Fan’s Trust
Still, we have faith in this show’s writers, cast, and crew: they made a crossover with the animated Lower Decks work and even pulled off a musical episode, both of which would have once seemed impossible. If any Star Trek show can transform Sybok into a compelling character without breaking franchise canon, it will be Strange New Worlds. Maybe his plot will even tie into his Final Frontier fanaticism, helping us to answer the decades-old question first posed by Kirk: what does God need with a starship?
Source: TrekMovie
