Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 is coming in June, and fan expectations are high. Strange New Worlds Season 1 was beloved by critics and audiences alike, and the cast has not shied away from claims Season 2 will outdo it. I'm definitely hoping that's the case, given some of the wild things teased already. In this case, I'm specifically wondering if we might see an appearance from Khan Noonien Singh.
Yes, the infamous villain of Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan played by the late Ricardo Montalbán could possibly make an appearance in Strange New Worlds Season 2. Dive with me deep into the waters of speculation as I lay out a compelling argument that we just might see Khan at a certain point in the season.
The Strange New Worlds Season 2 Trailer Teased Potential Time-Travel To Our Present Day
CinemaBlend previously reported the speculation that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will have a time-travel episode based on a scene shown in the trailer. Paul Wesley's James Kirk and Christina Chong's La'an are seen inside of a popular Canadian clothing store, and while they're talking, a man in a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey is seen walking by in the background. Now, it's possible this could just be an entire planet based on Canada in the 2020s, but let's not dismiss that Kirk and La'an could be sent back to our present-day on Earth.
"Big whoop," a veteran Star Trek fan might say. They may know, of course, that Khan left Earth with other Augments in 1996 via the Botany Bay following the Eugenics Wars, and, based on that, would be about as far as any human could be from Canada in 2023. Of course, if you watched any Star Trek past the original series when it aired or with your Paramount+ subscription, the actual reality of that statement is highly in question.
Strange New Worlds Season 1 (And Other Shows) Complicated The Timeline In Which Key Star Trek Events Happened
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds potentially changed up the timeline in which key events like the Eugenics Wars occurred, and we know that from the series premiere. When Pike showed another civilization a timeline of Earth's events before the wars that forever changed humanity, he showed a shot of the real-life Capitol riots that occurred in 2021. It seemed odd to show such a modern shot considering the Eugenics War happened throughout the '90s and drastically deviated from our current timeline.
Henry Alonso Myers addressed timeline inconsistencies in Strange New Worlds in an interview with CinemaBlend. Myers mentioned that other shows already messed up the Eugenics war timeline with their episodes, such as Voyager's "Future's End." Picard Season 2 also addressed this, with showrunner Terry Matalas explaining on Twitter a theory that the previously stated times of the Eugenics War and World War III are guestimated because actual records from the era are lost:
We discussed endlessly. We came to the conclusion that in WW3 there were several EMP bursts that kicked everyone back decades. Records of that 75 year period, the 90s on were sketchy. Maybe Spock was wrong? No easy way to do it if you want the past to look and feel like today. https://t.co/wmXdifAynVMarch 26, 2022
So it seems like modern Trek writers are on board with the idea of pushing back the timeline for the Eugenics War and World War III, which means that we should forget the past and who said what.
Could La'an And Kirk Be On Earth The Same Time As Khan?
With all we've discussed above, I think it's reasonable to assume Khan Noonien Singh is on Earth at the same time Kirk and La'an are. Now, whether either character will cross paths with him is another story. We do know, however, that Kirk was familiar with Augments, and La'an is a direct descendent of Khan despite not acting like him. With those connections laid out, is this a fated meeting that potentially could be why they're in the past in the first place? We can only wait and find out!
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premieres Season 2 on Paramount+ on Thursday, June 15th. Regardless of who or what happens in the upcoming seasons, we can only hope that Season 2 is as great as cast members like Melissa Navia promised.
