star trek next generation klingon

The Complete History of the Klingons in Star Trek's Next Generation Era

After the Star Trek heroes began the historical peace process, relationship of the Federation and the Klingons still weren't always allies or friends.

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The next generation introduced the klingon-federation alliance, deep space nine changed klingon and federation dynamics in an explosive way, the klingon and federation go to war against the dominion, the end of the 24th century brought a return to klingon and federation peace.

While Klingons are thought of as the biggest antagonists in the history of the Federation, the majority of Star Trek stories take place when they are at peace. The end of Star Trek: The Original Series era of films included the beginnings of an alliance initiated by Spock and Captain Kirk, though reluctantly. While peace was never easy or all that long-lasting, the Klingon Empire and Starfleet are just as often allies as enemies. Making peace with the Federation was always something controversial among the war-obsessed Klingons. Through multiple versions of treaties, alliances and agreements, some Klingon ship and its crew were always hassling some Starfleet or Federation target. However, the Romulan Star Empire's reemergence helped bring them closer together.

In 2344, a Klingon outpost on Narenda III was attacked by the Romulans. The USS Enterprise-C under Captain Rachel Garrett tried to help and was destroyed after a brief time-travel excursion changing Star Trek canon. This sacrifice led to very productive peace talks, which themselves came under attack by Romulans two years later. Ja'rod of House Duras betrayed the Klingons, but he blamed Mogh (Worf's father), whose son was sent away and was raised on Earth. Another prominent Klingon, Martok was given a field commission while fending off a Romulan attack. The most solid alliance between the Federation and Klingons came in 2349 when Riva (whose name came to mean "peacemaker") negotiated a lasting peace with Federation leaders, including Sarek, father of Spock.

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The treaty Riva negotiated led to a powerful political alliance between the Federation and the Klingons . The Empire was even described as being a tertiary part of the United Federation of Planets. However, errant Houses continued to attack Federation targets, and anti-alliance leaders like Korris emerged because they believed their leaders were traitors. Still, Starfleet and the Klingons participated in officer exchanges, and they even fought in some battles together, mostly against Romulans. Klingons assisted the USS Enterprise-D in trying to help Admiral Jarok defect, and provided a Bird of Prey for Picard and Data's covert mission to find Spock on Romulus.

Still, there were Klingons who chose the Romulans over the Federation. Ambassador Kell who worked with Sela (the daughter of an alternate timeline Tasha Yar ) to frame the Federation for the murder of a Klingon governor. While the peace with the Federation was maintained, it wasn't so for the Klingons themselves. A civil war broke out in the Empire deposing the longest ruler in Klingon history, K'mpec. Duras, son of Ja'rod, led a faction that wanted to break ties with the Federation and make the Klingons more warlike. He was killed by Worf in revenge for Mogh's death around 2367. After this, Worf's half-brother, Kurn, had to live in hiding as "Rodek"

Klingon women could not lead a house, so Duras's sisters Lursa and B'Etor put forth their half-brother Toral to stand against the more Federation-friendly successor to K'mpec, Gowron. However, the previous chancellor named Captain Picard as the "Arbiter of Succession," rejecting Toral's claim. The ensuing Civil War was fanned by Sela and her new Klingon Ally, General Movar. As the Enterprise and Starfleet tried to maintain a blockade of Romulan and Klingon space, quick-thinking by Data revealed the cloaked Romulan ships providing aid to House Duras. Gowron won the Chancellorship, and he was mostly friendly to the Federation .

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Under Gowron, the Klingons helped to engage the Borg, though it is unclear if they were aiding Starfleet or being attacked themselves. Also, in 2369 clerics at a monastery in Boreth cloned Kahless the Unforgettable , the legendary Klingon leader. This was to fulfill the prophecy that he would return from Klingon Heaven, Sto-va-kor. However, he became a "moral" leader while Gowron retained his position. When the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant was discovered near Bajor and Deep Space 9, relations grew tense, especially once the Dominion became a threat.

Before the outbreak of open hostilities, the Changeling Founders replaced General Martok with an imposter, who forced Gowron to antagonize the Federation, even ending the alliance. At the same time, the Klingon Empire invaded the Cardassian Empire, which Starfleet and the Federation opposed. Captain Benjamin Sisko convinced Gowron to end his campaign, but the alliance was not restored. The phony Martok's influence created tension between Starfleet and the Klingons, but Gowron's desire to appear in complete control made them think he was the Changeling imposter.

Eventually, the Klingons declared war on the Federation over territory on the shared galactic border. The two forces battled for weeks until Starfleet revealed the Changeling infiltration and return the true Martok. At the same time, the Cardassian Empire joined the Dominion. These reinforcements almost decimated the Klingon Fleet. Gowron and the survivors travel to Deep Space 9, where he rejoins the Khitomer Accords and allies with Starfleet to fight the Dominion in 2373.

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The Federation and Klingon alliance was effectively based out of Deep Space 9, with Captain Sisko and General Martok leading the forces . Each had to answer to their respective superiors, but the two leaders formed a bond. A year later, the Romulan Empire joined the alliance , after Sisko aided the Cardassian spy and tailor Garak in framing the Dominion for the death of a Romulan ambassador. The three-way alliance turned the tide of the war and put the Dominion on the defensive.

Eventually, the Dominion recruited the elusive Breen species into their Empire, and with them a weapon that drained power from starships. The Klingon fleet was the first to adapt to this weapon. However, instead of helping their allies, General Martok led these forces on an ill-fated offensive against the Dominion. This was a ploy by Gowron to sully Martok's reputation, lest he become a political rival. If he won the war without the help of Starfleet or the Romulans, it was Gowron's plan. If he failed, then Martok took the blame and Gowron's position was safe. Martok didn't fail.

Gowron eventually took over the command of the Klingon forces at Deep Space 9, sidelining Martok. Worf, an adopted member of Martok's house and the first Klingon in Starfleet, challenged Gowron in a fight to the death for leadership of the Empire . Worf won the battle and named Martok as the Chancellor of the Klingon Empire. Under his leadership, the alliance defeated the Dominion in a decisive battle on Cardassia Prime.

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Since the end of the Dominion War, the Klingons have kept mostly to their own territory . Starfleet intelligence estimated the Klingons would take a decade or more to recover from their losses of people and material from the Dominion War. Worf took a leave of absence from Starfleet to work with Martok, though he did return for select missions on the USS Enterprise-E until it was destroyed. By the first years of the 25th Century, Worf was both a member in good standing of the Klingon Empire and working as an intelligence contractor for Starfleet.

In the late 24th Century, a group of Klingons was part of former Starfleet cadet Nick Locarno's plan to create his own fleet, complete with Genesis Device. Beckett Mariner and the crew of the USS Cerritos were able to stop him. Otherwise, the Klingons have kept mostly to themselves. If they are still traveling space and picking fights, but not with Starfleet. In the 32nd Century ( where the USS Discovery time-traveled to from 2258), the galaxy had been decimated by "The Burn." This cataclysm destroyed most of the dilithium in the galaxy, which powered warp drives for all species.

The crew essentially found a planet made of dilithium, and the space-faring civilizations of the Federation and its adjacent territories returned to normal. However, the USS Discovery has not encountered any Klingons in that time period. It's possible after the Burn, they resorted to war, both with other species and within the Empire, again decimating their population. If not, the Klingon Empire continues to keep to itself and stay out of galactic affairs .

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

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Star trek: the 10 best klingon episodes.

Never one to pass up a fight, Klingons are some of the most fearsome aliens in the galaxy. These are the 10 best Klingon episodes from Star Trek.

Honorable to their core and always up for a fight, the Klingons were once a fearsome foe of the Federation before eventually joining as an ally. A mainstay of every  Star Trek   series thus far, the Klingons have proven to be one of the most fascinating races when they are the main focus of an episode.

RELATED: The 15 Best Episodes In Star Trek TV History, Ranked 

Whether it was their early appearances in  The Original Series or their dramatic turn on  Deep Space Nine , the Klingons have always been fan favorites. As heroes, and as villains, it is clear that  Trek  fans can't get enough of Kronos' native children.

House Of Quark (Deep Space Nine)

Despite being one of the most powerful aliens in  Star Trek , the Klingons are not without their sillier moments as well. The episode "House of Quark" from  Deep Space Nine  finds the Ferengi barkeeper in hot water after he accidentally kills a Klingon warrior, and is then required to marry his widow.

One of the best aspects of  DS9  was that the station forced together dozens of disparate alien cultures, and their customs would often clash. The series does an excellent job of exploring the complicated cultures of both the Ferengi, and the Klingons, and it makes for a hilarious episode when they collide. Like most aliens in  Trek , they reflect certain human qualities and they teach the audience a lesson about themselves.

Affliction (Enterprise)

The two-part  Enterprise   episode "Affliction", sought to answer a long standing question that fans had asked about the Klingons for years. Dr. Phlox is kidnapped by a band of Klingons and forced to work on a cure for a virus that has infected the home world. The virus is causing a genetic mutation that removes the Klingon's facial ridges.

The startlingly different look of the Klingons between  TOS and the feature films was a frequent bone of contention with fans. While most chalked it up to  TOS ' lack of budget, the creators of  Enterprise  hoped to settle the score once and for all. As an episode, it is an interesting look at pre-peace treaty Klingon society, and how their secretiveness is almost their downfall.

A Matter Of Honor (The Next Generation)

Star Trek: The Next Generation   gave fans their first close look at Klingons after they became an ally to the Federation. The episode "A Matter of Honor" sees Commander Riker take part in an officer exchange program that lands him on a Klingon ship. When the captain suspects that the Enterprise is plotting something, Riker must work to stop him from shattering the Klingon peace treaty.

Though they are allies, "A Matter of Honor" shows that there is still distrust in the hearts of older Klingons and humans. While it is difficult for them to let go of the past, Riker proves that the preservation of peace is the most important thing.

Errand Of Mercy (The Original Series)

The debut of the Klingons came in one of  The Original Series ' best episodes , and was a perfect introduction to the legendary alien race. "Errand of Mercy" sees the Enterprise crew in a heated debate with the leaders of the planet Organia. Situated in a strategic corridor of space, the Organian leadership is unconcerned about an impending Klingon invasion.

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Putting the Federation's morality to one of its greatest tests, Kirk must race to convince the Organians to resist Klingon occupation. Much to Kirk's chagrin, the Organians would rather pursue peace than fight against an occupying army. Though they are mortal enemies, the episode shows that humans and Klingons are not very different when they become desperate.

Sins Of The Father (The Next Generation)

Not only did  TNG  reintroduce Klingons as allies to the Federation, but it also put a Klingon character in an important role on the Enterprise. The episode "Sins of the Father" sees Worf's brother appear on the Enterprise and attempt to get him to help fight accusations against their father's honor.

Being one of the first episodes to deeply explore the Klingon social structure, "Sins of the Father" is a tense drama, with a healthy dose of political intrigue. At the middle of the story is Worf, whose emotional connection to his Klingon heritage is stretched to its limit by the unreasonable nature of his fellow Klingons.

Apocalypse Rising (Deep Space Nine)

The Dominion War arc from  DS9  spanned several seasons and was one of the best storylines in  Trek  history. "Apocalypse Rising" follows Captain Sisko as he is tasked with infiltrating the Klingon high command in order to expose Gowron as a changeling.

With relations between the Klingons and Federation on rocky ground, the episode has tremendous stakes. Add in the fact that Odo's allegiance to solids is still in question, and the episode is extremely tense. In times of war it is shown that everyone, not just the Klingons, can be easily emotionally manipulated by bad actors.

Reunion (The Next Generation)

Generally regarded as one of the best  TNG  episodes of all time , "Reunion" once again entangled the Enterprise in Klingon politics. When the leader of the Klingon high council dies, Picard is brought in to mediate the dangerous dispute over the vacant position. Meanwhile, Worf is reunited with an estranged lover and a child he didn't know he had.

With Worf's name being dragged through the mud because of his father's supposed bad deeds, he is torn between the two worlds he lives in. While Picard is doing his level best to mediate, an emotional fire is raging inside of Worf that sees his Klingon pride wounded by lies. Showing the brilliant writing of the series, the episode calls back to previously established information and further's Worf's emotional arc.

Redemption (The Next Generation)

Playing out in the background of  TNG  was a simmering conflict within the Klingon social structure, and it finally boiled over in the two-part episode "Redemption". With a civil war breaking out between the Klingons, Worf is torn between his duty to his people, and his duty to Starfleet. Worf goes away to fight, and the Enterprise crew discovers that the Romulans may have had something to do with instigating the war.

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The episodes see Worf walk away from his role on the Enterprise, and it was an emotional shock to potentially lose a beloved crew member. Weaving its narrative together seamlessly, there is a rich tapestry of story involving not one, but two of  Star Trek 's most fascinating alien species. Proving themselves to be the ultimate tricksters, the Romulans shine just as brightly as the Klingons do in the two-parter.

The Trouble With Tribbles (The Original Series)

While they only appeared in the series briefly, Tribbles are one of  Trek 's most beloved creatures. "The Trouble With Tribbles" finds Captain Kirk aboard a space station that carries an important grain shipment. Meanwhile, he must deal with an arrogant Klingon captain, and an invasion of furry little creatures that threaten to take over the station.

Cast once again as the villain, the Klingons make an indelible mark on a classic  TOS  episodes. Not possessing the same passion for animals as humans, the Klingon's part in the mystery is revealed by the hungry little Tribbles. Though it is a sillier episode, the Klingon's return to the series helped to permanently cement their place in  Star Trek  lore.

The Way Of The Warrior (Deep Space Nine)

Coming as one of the best episodes of  DS9 , "The Way of the Warrior" brought one of  TNG 's most beloved characters into the series. As tensions with the Klingons escalates, Sisko invites Worf aboard the station to suss out the true intentions of the Klingon task force that was installed on the ship.

While they have been allies for decades, it is clear that things between the Federation and Klingons are rocky at best. Reviving classic conflicts from  TNG , Worf is once again pressed into service as a moral ambassador for his race. Put under tremendous stress, Worf's emotions become a factor and tensions only rise higher as conflict seems inevitable.

NEXT: 10 Times Star Trek TNG Tackled Deep Issues 

• View history

K'Ehleyr , the daughter of a Human mother and a Klingon father , was an ambassador and special emissary of the Federation in the 2360s .

• 1 Biography
• 2.1 Appearances
• 2.2 Background information
• 2.3 Apocrypha
• 2.4 External link

Biography [ ]

K'Ehleyr described herself as being "trapped between two cultures" with bi-racial parents. Having the humor of her mother and the temper from her father, she preferred her Human side and exercised tight control of her Klingon tendencies. Her Klingon side nevertheless gave her strength, even if terrifying. ( TNG : " The Emissary ")

Though K'Ehleyr knew much about Klingon culture and fighting techniques, she never showed much respect for Klingon values, which was sometimes a cause of great fury for Worf. Consequently, she never taught Alexander about the Klingon way of living before her death. ( TNG : " Firstborn "; DS9 : " Sons and Daughters ")

In 2359 , she had a relationship with then Lieutenant Worf , but neither felt ready to engage in a deep relationship, so they separated.

K'Ehleyr about to beam over to the T'Ong

In 2365 , she traveled from Starbase 153 to the USS Enterprise -D on an urgent mission to intercept the Klingon sleeper ship IKS T'Ong , which was about to become active. The mission was considered so urgent and time-sensitive that K'Ehleyr agreed to be transported to the rendezvous with the capital ship in a Class 8 probe , capable of speeds of Warp 9, modified for space travel purposes. The Klingon vessel would have been unaware of the Federation-Klingon alliance , therefore posing a threat to Federation establishments in the Boradis system . While searching for the T'Ong , she renewed her relationship with Worf, but refused to marry him when he asked her. Due to this short renewal, however, she gave birth to a son a year later . On the mission, she tried to persuade Captain Picard to destroy the Klingon ship as soon as possible, but thanks to an idea of Worf's, this could be prevented: to convince the T'Ong 's crew of the Alliance, Worf posed as the captain of the Enterprise , with K'Ehleyr as his first officer . After the T'Ong 's crew had agreed to lay down their weapons, K'Ehleyr beamed aboard the T'Ong to prepare the crew for the 24th century while waiting for the IKS P'Rang . Before transporting over, Worf told her that he would never be complete without her. ( TNG : " The Emissary ")

K'Ehleyr dies in Worf's arms

In 2367 , she accompanied Klingon chancellor K'mpec , who had chosen Picard as Arbiter of Succession , to a meeting with the Enterprise . When she came aboard, Worf learned of his son Alexander for the first time. K'Ehleyr expressed her desire to become Worf's mate at this time, but he refused, saying that he did not desire to share his discommendation with her and Alexander. After K'mpec's death , she assisted Picard in the Rite of Succession , briefing him about Klingon rituals and tradition. As she therefore had much influence on the Rite, Gowron tried to bribe her with the command over a Klingon ship or a seat in the Klingon High Council , but she refused. Later, she discovered evidence that proved Duras was involved in the conspiracy that led to Worf's discommendation; on learning of her search through attempts to access Klingon High Council records he sealed, Duras attacked K'Ehleyr in her quarters and killed her. Worf transported to Duras' ship shortly later and killed him in vengeance. Afterwards, Worf claimed Alexander as his son and placed him in his adoptive parents' care on Earth . ( TNG : " Reunion ")

Alexander kept a picture of his mother next to his bed aboard the Enterprise . ( TNG : " Firstborn ")

In 2374 , Quark joked that Alexander must have gotten his looks from his mother's side of the family. ( DS9 : " You Are Cordially Invited ")

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• " The Emissary "
• " Reunion "
• " Firstborn " (picture only)

Background information [ ]

A costume sketch for K'Ehleyr by Durinda Rice Wood

K'Ehleyr was played by Suzie Plakson .

The role of K'Ehleyr was originally offered to actress Robin Curtis , but her commitment to another film project prevented her from taking the role. [1]

The script pronunciation guide for "The Emissary" notes that K'Ehleyr is pronounced "kay-LAHR". [2]

K'Ehleyr, Worf and Alexander promotional shot

According to a reference cut from the script of "The Emissary", K'Ehleyr met Worf on Samrin's Planet in 2359. When they were reunited six years later, K'Ehleyr was disappointed at how much Worf had changed since their initial encounter.

Ronald D. Moore commented regarding K'Ehleyr's death: " I am happy to pass the buck on this one to Michael Piller . It was his idea to kill K'Ehleyr during the story break because it would be a great dramatic turn and would provide Worf with ample reason to go stick a bat'leth into Duras' guts. " He also mentioned that bringing back K'Ehleyr had come up a number of times. ( AOL chat , 1997 )

Apocrypha [ ]

In Peter David 's Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series, Worf and K'Ehleyr first meet while Worf is attending Starfleet Academy .

In the novel A Time for War, A Time for Peace , K'Ehleyr became Federation Ambassador to the Klingon Empire not long after Alexander was born. When she was on Qo'noS , she always stayed at the Federation embassy. In fact, in the time that Alexander lived with her, he never set foot anywhere else on the planet.

A subtle reference was made to K'Ehleyr in the Q Continuum series, which featured the female Q , another character played by Suzie Plakson; when the two are first introduced, Picard found her features slightly familiar, but could not place exactly where he recognized her from. Additionally, in the Star Trek: Voyager episode " The Q and the Grey ", the same female Q, when told off by B'Elanna Torres over an engineering problem, says she's always liked Klingon females as they are "spunky."

In the Pocket TNG novel Diplomatic Implausibility placed K'Ehleyr's grave site as Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City ; by coincidence, Lt. Marla Aster , whose son Jeremy Aster became a member of Worf's family after her untimely death, is buried there as well.

The mirror universe novel Rise Like Lions introduced K'Ehleyr's mirror universe counterpart ( β ). K'Ehleyr joined the Terran Rebellion , becoming first officer of the Rebellion's Enterprise under the mirror Picard.

The Star Trek: Coda finale Oblivion's Gate saw mirror-K'Ehleyr meet Worf and Alexander of the "First Splinter" timeline when they retreated to the mirror universe to find allies to stop the Temporal Apocalypse. K'Ehleyr and Worf had a brief but passionate relationship before the final confrontation to save the multiverse, K'Ehleyr fighting alongside Worf and Alexander on the Borg-controlled alternate Earth and dying before the timeline was reset.

External link [ ]

• K'Ehleyr at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 2 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)
• 3 Star Trek: The Next Generation

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Published Mar 18, 2024

Remain Klingon: The Federation's Relationship with Klingons

tlhIngan maH. taHjaj.

StarTrek.com

The Federation's relationship with the Klingon Empire shifted dramatically from Star Trek: Discovery 's war to the Star Trek: The Next Generation era, which included Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's tumultuous storylines involving the species.

However, numerous parallels exist between key Klingon characters from Discovery 's first season and the species’ leading figures from the 24th Century. The two sets of Klingons can be subdivided into four categories that offer astounding connections between the time periods.

The Messiahs: T'Kuvma & Kahless (Clone)

"The Vulcan Hello"

T'Kuvma invoked the original Kahless' successful unification of the Empire as his rallying cry and went so far as to claim that he led as a reborn Kahless. Unsurprisingly, the Kahless clone revealed on Boreth also initially believed himself to be a reincarnated Kahless.

Societal hierarchies mattered little to these prophets. T'Kuvma bonded with Voq and appointed him Torchbearer . Kahless' clone admired Worf and wanted the Starfleet officer to stand at his side during his quest. While the two maintained vastly different attitudes about the Federation, both messiahs sought an honorable empire acting as a single entity.

"Rightful Heir"

Neither Klingon proved exempt from fallibility, as even L'Rell admitted to Admiral Cornwell that T'Kuvma's opinion that humans lacked courage was incorrect. Similarly, the cloning procedure left gaps in the new Kahless' memory and proved unable to perfectly recreate the original Kahless.

In the end, the two behaved as symbols for their people rather than genuine leaders. T'Kuvma perished in the Federation-Klingon War's first battle, but his mission lived on in Voq and L'Rell. Kahless' clone became a figurehead as Emperor, with Gowron holding the true power in the government.

The Outcast Believers: Voq & Worf

Voq's skin color and Worf's human upbringing made them outsiders to Klingon society, yet their belief in Kahless and their culture's traditions continued to thrive.

Voq described himself as a "son of none," whereas Worf found himself without a house after he refused to back Gowron's war against Cardassia and consented to altering his brother Kurn's memories and identity. Their interpretations of duty differed, but the outcasts valued the concepts as facets vital to their personas.

"Sins of the Father"

Though unique, each warrior's story retains striking coincidences. These outcast believers maintained special bonds with L'Rell and Martok, two commoners who ascended to prominence. Voq and L'Rell fell in love and stood as T'Kuvma's most loyal followers.

Worf gained Martok's respect and earned a place in the House of Martok. In an odd twist, Voq and Worf also found a home and familial friendships as security officers in Starfleet; although Voq's affinity for Burnham and the Discovery 's crew stemmed from Ash Tyler's personality.

The Opportunists: Kol & Duras/Gowron

"The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry"

Kol's desire for power superseded all else, including acting with honor. Seeing the Ship of the Dead 's cloaking technology as a means to entice other Klingon houses to pledge their loyalty to him, Kol showed no hesitation or regret when he decided to steal the vessel from Voq.

L'Rell learned that Kol murdered many of her friends, despite the fact that they acquiesced to his command. The devious leader even intended to use Burnham's capture in the Discovery episode "Into the Forest I Go" to bring T'Kuvma's remaining followers into line under his rule.

"Reunion"

Duras displayed his own ruthless behavior by covering up his father's treachery during the Khitomer massacre, sending assassins after Kurn and Picard, sullying Worf and the House of Mogh, dishonorably poisoning Chancellor K'mpec, colluding to kill Gowron with Romulan explosives, and murdering Ambassador K'Ehleyr.

While less obvious, Gowron's affinity for control manifested in various ways. Gowron downplayed the Federation assistance he received during the Klingon Civil War in order to bolster to his legacy, perceived the Kahless clone as a threat to his position, exhibited jealousy over General Martok's victories in the Dominion War, and intentionally sent Martok's forces against impossible odds to ruin the general's favorable standing in the empire.

Kol, Duras, and Gowron valued their political standings to the point that they employed disreputable methods to retain their personal influence.

Interestingly, the outcast believers Voq and Worf stood firmly against these three leaders. Voq willingly succumbed to L'Rell's species alteration procedure in order to counter Kol's corruption. Disguised as Ash Tyler, Voq's mission to place sensors on the Ship of the Dead with Burnham ultimately led to Kol's death from the U.S.S. Discovery 's barrage. Worf's role proved more direct, as he challenged Duras and Gowron on separate occasions and dealt fatal blows to the opportunists.

The Commoners: L'Rell & Martok

"Battle at the Binary Stars"

When confronted with the prospect of leading the Klingon Empire after Mirror Georgiou planted a bomb inside Qo'noS, L'Rell described herself as a nobody. Tyler reminded her that she never desired to rule, yet encouraged her to accept the proposal.

General Martok hesitated to challenge Gowron, believing that the High Council would never accept a commoner from the Ketha lowlands as their chancellor. Worf intervened, defeating Gowron on the House of Martok's behalf and relinquishing the powerful position to the general. With the assistance of outcast believers, L'Rell and Martok reluctantly accepted the burden to guide the empire.

"Tacking into the Wind"

While less significant, it is interesting to note that L'Rell and Martok both bore facial scars and were at one point captured by their respective foes.

In another fascinating parallel, neither of them held any affinity for the House of Kor. Kol betrayed Voq, felt no allegiance to T'Kuvma's vision, and planned to execute L'Rell.

Meanwhile, Kor's disdain for houses without noble blood caused him to prevent a young Martok from receiving an officer's commission. Martok's resentment lasted well into the Dominion War, when an aging Kor sacrificed his life to halt Jem'Hadar ships from pursuing the general's forces. No such reconciliation occurred between L'Rell and Kol, as the two despised one another until Kol's death.

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This article was originally published on September 2, 2018.

Jay Stobie (he/him) is a freelance writer, author, and consultant who has contributed articles to StarTrek.com, Star Trek Explorer, and Star Trek Magazine, as well as to Star Wars Insider and StarWars.com. Learn more about Jay by visiting JayStobie.com or finding him on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms at @StobiesGalaxy.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1 through 4 are currently streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. In Canada, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel. Seasons 1 to 4 of Star Trek: Discovery is also available to stream on SkyShowtime. Star Trek: Discovery is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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A Matter of Honor

• Episode aired Feb 4, 1989

Under an Officers Exchange Program, Riker serves aboard a Klingon ship, whose aging captain seeks an unwarranted bloody retaliation for suspected Enterprise treachery. Under an Officers Exchange Program, Riker serves aboard a Klingon ship, whose aging captain seeks an unwarranted bloody retaliation for suspected Enterprise treachery. Under an Officers Exchange Program, Riker serves aboard a Klingon ship, whose aging captain seeks an unwarranted bloody retaliation for suspected Enterprise treachery.

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Did you know

• Trivia Brian Thompson was hired for his role, and then let go without notice before it was filmed. When he sought out a reason why, he was told that he was too large to fit into the costume Christopher Lloyd had worn for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) . He quickly volunteered to make any necessary alterations himself.
• Goofs In Coming of Age (1988) , in which several young students fight for a place in Starfleet Academy, the Benzite Mordock gains the honor of becoming the first of his race to enter Starfleet. In this episode, less than a year later, Mendon, another Benzite, appears, not as an already graduated Starfleet ensign but as an officer from the Benzite fleet (in the same sort of exchange program as with Riker and the Klingon ship). Mendon is unfamiliar with Starfleet procedures. He instead continues to quote how it is done in his own fleet and, early on, how much better their way is, which would likely not have happened if he had attended the Academy.

Tactics Officer : [about the two female Klingons on board the Pagh] They are inquisitive. They would like to know how you would endure.

Commander William T. Riker : Endure what?

Lt. Klag : Them.

Commander William T. Riker : [looks at the women] One or both?

• Connections Featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Shades of Gray (1989)
• Soundtracks Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

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• May 31, 2021
• February 4, 1989 (United States)
• United States
• Official site
• Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 45 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Were you part of the Klingon Empire in another life? Then this Star Trek: The Next Generation Klingon Symbols Tote Bag is perfect for you. Spacious enough to hold your daily essentials, this tote bag features a variety of Klingon symbols to create a stylish, versatile tote.

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A Complete History of Star Trek's Klingons in The Original Series Era

Quick links, the origin of the klingon empire in star trek, the klingon empire acquires warp drive and a new level of war, starfleet and the klingons engaged in hot and cold war, the klingons vs. captain james t. kirk and how he brought peace.

Star Trek has six decades of history behind the scenes, but the aliens and characters in the narrative go back millennia. Despite being created on a whim for Star Trek: The Original Series , the history of Klingons is one of the most fully realized in the universe. Even though much of it was defined after that first show, how the Klingon Empire took shape is important.

The Klingons were created by Gene L. Coon as a surrogate power for the Soviets to the Federation's United States of America. When the Cold War ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the final film with The Original Series ' cast was in production. It told the story of how the Federation made peace with its most iconic enemies. The Khitomer Accords mark a significant point of transition in what it meant to a Klingon. Even though antagonism continued into the 24th Century, the way the Empire (as created by Kahless the Unforgettable) found a way to accept the peace-loving Federation is a remarkable Star Trek story. It's made better with Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds adding new details to this part of the timeline.

The Planned Opening for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Was a Disaster

The Klingons shared genetic markers, found in Vulcans and Romulans that point to a single humanoid ancestor more than four billion years in the past. This progenitor race seeded planets with unknown technology that encouraged the evolution of creatures with a head, two arms and two legs. Klingons, however, could trace their origins back to large reptilian or insectoid predators with exoskeletons and redundant organs .

The Klingon homeworld Qo'noS was ruled by Malor in the 10th Century CE on Earth. A common warrior, Kahless led a revolution that became the founding myth for the Klingon Empire. Legends of his battles were shared among Klingons into the 24th Century. He eventually killed Malor in single combat and founded the Klingon Empire. Kahless became a god-like figure in the culture, inspiring wars and warriors for millennia . There were a number of ruling dynasties and civil wars, continuing once Klingons took to the stars.

Four hundred years after Kahless united Qo'noS, the Hur'q species from the Gamma Quadrant sacked their homeworld. This started a period of uncertainty about war as a way of life. During the Second Dynasty, General K'Trelan killed the Imperial Family, installing more democratically minded Klingons in power. They claimed to be members of the Imperial houses to gain the respect of those bloodlines, but eventually they returned to their warlike ways.

Star Trek: Discovery's Klingons Were More Accurate Than the TNG-Era

The Klingons acquired warp drive sometime in the Earth's 20th Century, and they turned their attention on the galaxy at large. While they still warred with each other, there were new planets to conquer and people to fight. Vulcans, who also were new to warp drive, encountered Klingons who opened fire on them. Until diplomatic relations were officially opened, Vulcans would fire first on any Klingon ship, eventually called "the Vulcan Hello." Klingons traveled the stars, warring and exploring, including sending a vessel into the Delta Quadrant.

In the 2150s, a Klingon crash-landed on Earth and was shot by a farmer. Dr. Phlox, a visiting alien, saved his life, and the NX-01 Enterprise was launched taking the Klingon back to Qo'noS. Captain Archer helped this Klingon maintain his honor and relations between humans and Klingons were off to an amiable start, but this didn't last. The NX-01 Enterprise helped refugees flee the Klingons by engaging them in battle. This led to Captain Archer being wanted as an enemy of the state. He was put on trial on Qo'noS and sentenced to the Rura Penthe colony. He escaped, leading to multiple hostile encounters with them throughout the Star Trek: Enterprise series.

In 2154, tyrannical, genetically augmented humans attacked the Klingon Empire, but the Enterprise was able to avert war. However, a Klingon scientist tried to use the augment DNA to create superior Klingon warriors . Instead, a deadly virus broke out, and Dr. Phlox was kidnapped to help cure it. He was successful, but the treatment led to the Klingons losing their distinctive cranial ridges. The Klingons then withdrew from Federation territory, until the Klingon-Federation war.

Why Uhura Speaks Klingon in Strange New Worlds, but Not Star Trek VI

The Klingons weren't seen in what would become Federation space for much of the late 22nd and early 23rd Centuries. They had again entered into a period of infighting and civil war, as any house sought to rule. When Starfleet did encounter the Klingons, there were open hostilities. There was a raid on a planet called Doctari Alpha and a battle at a planet called Donatu V. The Klingons resorted to spiritual studies, usually based on the Kahless myth, though a sect studied time travel at the Borleth Monastery .

In 2256, T'Kuvma, a unique-looking Klingon spiritual leader , united the great houses on the ancient Sarcophagus Ship. He provoked a war with the Federation at the Battle of the Binary Stars, dying at the hands of Michael Burnham. General Kol, who originated Klingons' use of cloaking technology, took control. The war raged for a year, with the Klingons nearly defeating the Federation . When General Kol was killed and the Sarcophagus Ship destroyed, things only got worse. Eventually, Section 31 developed a plan to destroy the Klingon Homeworld, but Michael Burnham prevented it from reaching fruition. Instead, she gave control of the hydrobombs to L'Rell.

A less war-hungry acolyte of T'Kuvma she was able to continue his mission of uniting the warring factions on Qo'noS. She even allied her fleet with the Federation to stop a rogue AI that threatened all life in the Alpha Quadrant. The Timekeepers at the Borleth Monastery also helped Starfleet solve the mystery of the "Red Angel," and helped Captain Christopher Pike fix the timeline after he tried to prevent his future debilitating accident. Time itself needed James Kirk and Spock to take the helm of the Enterprise. However, the tenuous peace wouldn't last for long.

What Made Worf a Better Klingon Warrior on Star Trek: The Next Generation?

A new war broke out between the Federation and the Klingons in 2257, but it was short-lived. When the USS Enterprise and General Kor's fleet arrived at Organia, the powerful beings that lived there forced them to negotiate an end to hostilities. The Treaty of Organia ended the war, but there were still clashes and battles throughout the sector. Klingons armed pre-warp species, as did Kirk and the Enterprise crew, albeit reluctantly. A Klingon who went by the name Arne Darvin was surgically altered to look human, and almost carried out a terrorist bombing on a starbase.

After a little more than a decade of relative peace, a rogue Klingon commander named Kruge took a Bird of Prey to the newly-created Genesis planet. There he destroyed the Starfleet science vessel studying it and killed David Marcus, the son of James Kirk. He defeated the Klingons, killing all but one of them, and stole the Bird of Prey. Another rogue Klingon Captain named Klaa tried to battle Kirk and the Enterprise, but Klingon Ambassador Korrd ordered Klaa to save him from the God of Sha Ka'Ree. With the destruction of the moon Praxis in 2293, the Klingon homeworld was threatened and peace finally had a real chance.

Chancellor Gorkon knew the Klingon Empire wouldn't survive unless it made peace and accepted help from the Federation. A conspiracy of Starfleet officers, Romulans and Klingons (including General Chang) assassinated Gorkon and framed Captain Kirk for it. He was sent to Rura Penthe, escaping with the help of Spock and the Enterprise. They arrived at the peace summit just in time to save the Federation president. Captain Kirk's heroics led to the signing of the Khitomer Accords and all-but the end to open hostility between the Klingons and the Federation . While not completely allies with the Federation, the Klingons and Starfleet were no longer at war.

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

Created by Gene Roddenberry

First Film Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Latest Film Star Trek: Nemesis

First TV Show Star Trek: The Original Series

Latest TV Show Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Cast Nichelle Nichols, Scott Bakula, Kate Mulgrew, Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Avery Brooks, Deforest Kelley, James Doohan

TV Show(s) Star Trek: Animated, Star trek, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Lower Decks, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Prodigy, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Lower Decks

This Obscure 'Next Generation' Character Will Return in 'Star Trek: Section 31'

Michelle Yeoh's Philippa Georgiou will meet an interesting familiar face.

The Big Picture

• Paramount+ reveals cast member Kacey Rohl will play Rachel Garrett in the upcoming Star Trek: Section 31 movie.
• Originally planned as a series, the film follows Michelle Yeoh's Philippa Georgiou in her work for Section 31.
• Rachel Garrett captained the USS Enterprise-C in the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise."

Details on Paramount+'s upcoming Star Trek: Section 31 movie have so far been as top-secret as its namesake Starfleet spy agency. But now we know one of the characters who will encounter Michelle Yeoh 's Philippa Georgiou - and she's an important part of Star Trek history. A new feature in Variety goes behind the scenes of the filming of the streaming-original film, which recently wrapped filming , and reveals that previously-announced cast member Kacey Rohl ( Hannibal ) will be playing Rachel Garrett, a character who captained the USS Enterprise-C in the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise".

Little else is known about the upcoming film; it was originally planned as a series, but with Yeoh's busy schedule following her groundbreaking Best Actress Oscar win for Everything Everywhere All At Once , it was compressed into a single standalone film. It will follow Georgiou's work for the shadowy Starfleet intelligence agency Section 31, following her return to the 23rd century in the third season of Star Trek: Discovery . In addition to Yeoh and Rohl, it will also star Omari Hardwick , Sam Richardson , Sven Ruygrok , Rob Kazinsky , Humberly Gonzalez , James Hiroyuki Liao , Joe Pingue , Miku Martineau , and Augusto Bitter .

Who is Rachel Garrett?

In "Yesterday's Enterprise", which aired in 1990 as part of The Next Generation 's third season, the 24th-century Enterprise-D finds itself confronted with its long-thought-destroyed predecessor, the Enterprise-C , captained by Rachel Garrett ( Tricia O'Neil ). Somehow, the Enterprise-C being thrown into the future has altered the future; instead of the relatively peaceful galaxy familiar to the show's viewers, the Federation is embroiled in a desperate war with the Klingon Empire . The crew soon realizes that the Enterprise-C must respond to a Klingon distress call in its own timeline, even though it means the ship will be destroyed by the Romulans ; Garrett is soon killed in an ambush by the future Klingons, forcing helmsman Richard Castillo ( Christopher McDonald ) to take over the ship with Enterprise-D security officer Tasha Yar ( Denise Crosby ), leading it to its fate in the past. Ultimately, the Enterprise-C 's sacrifice averts war with the Klingons and restores the Enterprise-D 's future to its rightful state, while Garrett and her crew are remembered as heroes. However, the Enterprise-C 's legacy later came back to haunt the Enterprise-D ; Yar survived and bore a half-Romulan daughter, Sela, who would become one of the crew's recurring foes.

"Yesterday's Enterprise" is considered to be one of The Next Generation 's finest episodes. Collider's Liam Gaughan deemed it to be the best episode of season 3 , calling it a "fascinating look at a darker version of the setting we know and love" while also serving as a proper sendoff for Tasha Yar, who had been unceremoniously killed off in the show's first season.

Star Trek: Section 31 is now in post-production, and has not yet set a release date . Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Set almost 100 years after Captain Kirk's 5-year mission, a new generation of Starfleet officers sets off in the U.S.S. Enterprise-D on its own mission to go where no one has gone before.

The Future of ‘Star Trek’: From ‘Starfleet Academy’ to New Movies and Michelle Yeoh, How the 58-Year-Old Franchise Is Planning for the Next Generation of Fans

“I can’t believe I get to play the captain of the Enterprise.”

“Strange New Worlds” is the 12th “Star Trek” TV show since the original series debuted on NBC in 1966, introducing Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a hopeful future for humanity. In the 58 years since, the “Star Trek” galaxy has logged 900 television episodes and 13 feature films, amounting to 668 hours — nearly 28 days — of content to date. Even compared with “Star Wars” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Star Trek” stands as the only storytelling venture to deliver a single narrative experience for this long across TV and film.

In other words, “Star Trek” is not just a franchise. As Alex Kurtzman , who oversees all “Star Trek” TV production, puts it, “‘Star Trek’ is an institution.”

Without a steady infusion of new blood, though, institutions have a way of fading into oblivion (see soap operas, MySpace, Blockbuster Video). To keep “Star Trek” thriving has meant charting a precarious course to satisfy the fans who have fueled it for decades while also discovering innovative ways to get new audiences on board.

“Doing ‘Star Trek’ means that you have to deliver something that’s entirely familiar and entirely fresh at the same time,” Kurtzman says.

The franchise has certainly weathered its share of fallow periods, most recently after “Nemesis” bombed in theaters in 2002 and UPN canceled “Enterprise” in 2005. It took 12 years for “Star Trek” to return to television with the premiere of “Discovery” in 2017; since then, however, there has been more “Star Trek” on TV than ever: The adventure series “Strange New Worlds,” the animated comedy “Lower Decks” and the kids series “Prodigy” are all in various stages of production, and the serialized thriller “Picard” concluded last year, when it ranked, along with “Strange New Worlds,” among Nielsen’s 10 most-watched streaming original series for multiple weeks. Nearly one in five Paramount+ subscribers in the U.S. is watching at least one “Star Trek” series, according to the company, and more than 50% of fans watching one of the new “Trek” shows also watch at least two others. The new shows air in 200 international markets and are dubbed into 35 languages. As “Discovery” launches its fifth and final season in April, “Star Trek” is in many ways stronger than it’s ever been.

“’Star Trek’s fans have kept it alive more times than seems possible,” says Eugene Roddenberry, Jr., who executive produces the TV series through Roddenberry Entertainment. “While many shows rightfully thank their fans for supporting them, we literally wouldn’t be here without them.”

But the depth of fan devotion to “Star Trek” also belies a curious paradox about its enduring success: “It’s not the largest fan base,” says Akiva Goldsman, “Strange New Worlds” executive producer and co-showrunner. “It’s not ‘Star Wars.’ It’s certainly not Marvel.”

When J.J. Abrams rebooted “Star Trek” in 2009 — with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldaña playing Kirk, Spock and Uhura — the movie grossed more than any previous “Star Trek” film by a comfortable margin. But neither that film nor its two sequels broke $500 million in global grosses, a hurdle every other top-tier franchise can clear without breaking a sweat.

There’s also the fact that “Star Trek” fans are aging. I ask “The Next Generation” star Jonathan Frakes, who’s acted in or directed more versions of “Star Trek” than any other person alive, how often he meets fans for whom the new “Star Trek” shows are their first. “Of the fans who come to talk to me, I would say very, very few,” he says. “‘Star Trek’ fans, as we know, are very, very, very loyal — and not very young.”

As Stapf puts it: “There’s a tried and true ‘Trek’ fan that is probably going to come to every ‘Star Trek,’ no matter what it is — and we want to expand the universe.”

Every single person I spoke to for this story talked about “Star Trek” with a joyful earnestness as rare in the industry as (nerd alert) a Klingon pacifist.

“When I’m meeting fans, sometimes they’re coming to be confirmed, like I’m kind of a priest,” Ethan Peck says during a break in filming on the “Strange New Worlds” set. He’s in full Spock regalia — pointy ears, severe eyebrows, bowl haircut — and when asked about his earliest memories of “Star Trek,” he stares off into space in what looks like Vulcan contemplation. “I remember being on the playground in second or third grade and doing the Vulcan salute, not really knowing where it came from,” he says. “When I thought of ‘Star Trek,’ I thought of Spock. And now I’m him. It’s crazy.”

To love “Star Trek” is to love abstruse science and cowboy diplomacy, complex moral dilemmas and questions about the meaning of existence. “It’s ultimately a show with the most amazing vision of optimism, I think, ever put on-screen in science fiction,” says Kurtzman, who is 50. “All you need is two minutes on the news to feel hopeless now. ‘Star Trek’ is honestly the best balm you could ever hope for.”

I’m getting a tour of the USS Enterprise from Scotty — or, rather, “Strange New World” production designer Jonathan Lee, who is gushing in his native Scottish burr as we step into the starship’s transporter room. “I got such a buzzer from doing this, I can’t tell you,” he says. “I actually designed four versions of it.”

Lee is especially proud of the walkway he created to run behind the transporter pads — an innovation that allows the production to shoot the characters from a brand-new set of angles as they beam up from a far-flung planet. It’s one of the countless ways that this show has been engineered to be as cinematic as possible, part of Kurtzman’s overall vision to make “Star Trek” on TV feel like “a movie every week.”

Kurtzman’s tenure with “Star Trek” began with co-writing the screenplay for Abrams’ 2009 movie, which was suffused with a fast-paced visual style that was new to the franchise. When CBS Studios approached Kurtzman in the mid-2010s about bringing “Star Trek” back to TV, he knew instinctively that it needed to be just as exciting as that film.

“The scope was so much different than anything we had ever done on ‘Next Gen,’” says Frakes, who’s helmed two feature films with the “Next Generation” cast and directed episodes of almost every live-action “Trek” TV series, including “Discovery” and “Strange New Worlds.” “Every department has the resources to create.”

A new science lab set for Season 3, for example, boasts a transparent floor atop a four-foot pool of water that swirls underneath the central workbench, and the surrounding walls sport a half dozen viewscreens with live schematics custom designed by a six-person team. “I like being able to paint on a really big canvas,” Kurtzman says. “The biggest challenge is always making sure that no matter how big something gets, you’re never losing focus on that tiny little emotional story.”

At this point, is there a genre that “Strange New Worlds” can’t do? “As long as we’re in storytelling that is cogent and sure handed, I’m not sure there is,” Goldsman says with an impish smile. “Could it do Muppets? Sure. Could it do black and white, silent, slapstick? Maybe!”

This approach is also meant to appeal to people who might want to watch “Star Trek” but regard those 668 hours of backstory as an insurmountable burden. “You shouldn’t have to watch a ‘previously on’ to follow our show,” Myers says.

To achieve so many hairpin shifts in tone and setting while maintaining Kurtzman’s cinematic mandate, “Strange New Worlds” has embraced one of the newest innovations in visual effects: virtual production. First popularized on the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian,” the technology — called the AR wall — involves a towering circular partition of LED screens projecting a highly detailed, computer-generated backdrop. Rather than act against a greenscreen, the actors can see whatever fantastical surroundings their characters are inhabiting, lending a richer level of verisimilitude to the show.

But there is a catch. While the technology is calibrated to maintain a proper sense of three-dimensional perspective through the camera lens, it can be a bit dizzying for anyone standing on the set. “The images on the walls start to move in a way that makes no sense,” says Mount. “You end up having to focus on something that’s right in front of you so you don’t fall down.”

And yet, even as he’s talking about it, Mount can’t help but break into a boyish grin. “Sometimes we call it the holodeck,” he says. In fact, the pathway to the AR wall on the set is dotted with posters of the virtual reality room from “The Next Generation” and the words “Enter Holodeck” in a classic “Trek” font.

“I want to take one of those home with me,” Peck says. Does the AR wall also affect him? “I don’t really get disoriented by it. Spock would not get ill, so I’m Method acting.”

I’m on the set of the “Star Trek” TV movie “Section 31,” seated in an opulent nightclub with a view of a brilliant, swirling nebula, watching Yeoh rehearse with director Olatunde Osunsanmi and her castmates. Originally, the project was announced as a TV series centered on Philippa Georgiou, the semi-reformed tyrant Yeoh originated on “Discovery.” But between COVID delays and the phenomenon of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” there wasn’t room in the veteran actress’s schedule to fit a season of television. Yeoh was undaunted.

“We’d never let go of her,” she says of her character. “I was just blown away by all the different things I could do with her. Honestly, it was like, ‘Let’s just get it done, because I believe in this.’”

If that means nothing to you, don’t worry: The enormity of the revelation that Garrett is being brought back is meant only for fans. If you don’t know who the character is, you’re not missing anything.

“It was always my goal to deliver an entertaining experience that is true to the universe but appeals to newcomers,” says screenwriter Craig Sweeny. “I wanted a low barrier of entry so that anybody could enjoy it.”

Nevertheless, including Garrett on the show is exactly the kind of gasp-worthy detail meant to flood “Star Trek” fans with geeky good feeling.

“You cannot create new fans to the exclusion of old fans,” Kurtzman says. “You must serve your primary fan base first and you must keep them happy. That is one of the most important steps to building new fans.”

On its face, that maxim would make “Section 31” a genuine risk. The titular black-ops organization has been controversial with “Star Trek” fans since it was introduced in the 1990s. “The concept is almost antagonistic to some of the values of ‘Star Trek,’” Sweeny says. But he still saw “Section 31” as an opportunity to broaden what a “Star Trek” project could be while embracing the radical inclusivity at the heart of the franchise’s appeal.

“Famously, there’s a spot for everybody in Roddenberry’s utopia, so I was like, ‘Well, who would be the people who don’t quite fit in?’” he says. “I didn’t want to make the John le Carré version, where you’re in the headquarters and it’s backbiting and shades of gray. I wanted to do the people who were at the edges, out in the field. These are not people who necessarily work together the way you would see on a ‘Star Trek’ bridge.”

For Osunsanmi, who grew up watching “The Next Generation” with his father, it boils down to a simple question: “Is it putting good into the world?” he asks. “Are these characters ultimately putting good into the world? And, taking a step back, are we putting good into the world? Are we inspiring humans watching this to be good? That’s for me what I’ve always admired about ‘Star Trek.’”

Should “Section 31” prove successful, Yeoh says she’s game for a sequel. And Kurtzman is already eyeing more opportunities for TV movies, including a possible follow-up to “Picard.” The franchise’s gung-ho sojourn into streaming movies, however, stands in awkward contrast to the persistent difficulty Paramount Pictures and Abrams’ production company Bad Robot have had making a feature film following 2016’s “Star Trek Beyond” — the longest theaters have gone without a “Star Trek” movie since Paramount started making them.

First, a movie reuniting Pine’s Capt. Kirk with his late father — played in the 2009 “Star Trek” by Chris Hemsworth — fell apart in 2018. Around the same time, Quentin Tarantino publicly flirted with, then walked away from, directing a “Star Trek” movie with a 1930s gangster backdrop. Noah Hawley was well into preproduction on a “Star Trek” movie with a brand-new cast, until then-studio chief Emma Watts abruptly shelved it in 2020. And four months after Abrams announced at Paramount’s 2022 shareholders meeting that his 2009 cast would return for a movie directed by Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”), Shakman left the project to make “The Fantastic Four” for Marvel. (It probably didn’t help that none of the cast had been approached before Abrams made his announcement.)

The studio still intends to make what it’s dubbed the “final chapter” for the Pine-Quinto-Saldaña cast, and Steve Yockey (“The Flight Attendant”) is writing a new draft of the script. Even further along is another prospective “Star Trek” film written by Seth Grahame-Smith (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) and to be directed by Toby Haynes (“Andor,” “Black Mirror: USS Callister”) that studio insiders say is on track to start preproduction by the end of the year. That project will serve as an origin story of sorts for the main timeline of the entire franchise. In both cases, the studio is said to be focused on rightsizing the budgets to fit within the clear box office ceiling for “Star Trek” feature films.

Far from complaining, everyone seems to relish the challenge. Visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman says that “working with Alex, the references are always at least $100 million movies, if not more, so we just kind of reverse engineer how do we do that without having to spend the same amount of money and time.”

The workload doesn’t seem to faze him either. “Visual effects people are a big, big ‘Star Trek’ fandom,” he says. “You naturally just get all these people who go a little bit above and beyond, and you can’t trade that for anything.”

In one of Kurtzman’s several production offices in Toronto, he and production designer Matthew Davies are scrutinizing a series of concept drawings for the newest “Star Trek” show, “Starfleet Academy.” A bit earlier, they showed me their plans for the series’ central academic atrium, a sprawling, two-story structure that will include a mess hall, amphitheater, trees, catwalks, multiple classrooms and a striking view of the Golden Gate Bridge in a single, contiguous space. To fit it all, they plan to use every inch of Pinewood Toronto’s 45,900 square foot soundstage, the largest in Canada.

But this is a “Star Trek” show, so there do need to be starships, and Kurtzman is discussing with Davies about how one of them should look. The issue is that “Starfleet Academy” is set in the 32nd century, an era so far into the future Kurtzman and his team need to invent much of its design language.

“For me, this design is almost too Klingon,” Kurtzman says. “I want to see the outline and instinctively, on a blink, recognize it as a Federation ship.”

The time period was first introduced on Season 3 of “Discovery,” when the lead character, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), transported the namesake starship and its crew there from the 23rd century. “It was exciting, because every time we would make a decision, we would say, ‘And now that’s canon,’” says Martin-Green.

“We listened to a lot of it,” Kurtzman says. “I think I’ve been able to separate the toxic fandom from really true fans who love ‘Star Trek’ and want you to hear what they have to say about what they would like to see.”

By Season 2, the “Discovery” writers pivoted from its dour, war-torn first season and sent the show on its trajectory 900-plus years into the future. “We had to be very aware of making sure that Spock was in the right place and that Burnham’s existence was explained properly, because she was never mentioned in the original series,” says executive producer and showrunner Michelle Paradise. “What was fun about jumping into the future is that it was very much fresh snow.”

That freedom affords “Starfleet Academy” far more creative latitude while also dramatically reducing how much the show’s target audience of tweens and teens needs to know about “Star Trek” before watching — which puts them on the same footing as the students depicted in the show. “These are kids who’ve never had a red alert before,” Noga Landau, executive producer and co-showrunner, says. “They never had to operate a transporter or be in a phaser fight.”

In the “Starfleet Academy” writers’ room in Secret Hideout’s Santa Monica offices, Kurtzman tells the staff — a mix of “Star Trek” die-hards, part-time fans and total newbies — that he wants to take a 30,000-foot view for a moment. “I think we need to ground in science more throughout the show,” he says, a giant framed photograph of Spock ears just over his shoulder. “The kids need to use science more to solve problems.”

Immediately, one of the writers brightens. “Are you saying we can amp up the techno-babble?” she says. “I’m just excited I get to use my computer science degree.”

After they break for lunch, Kurtzman is asked how much longer he plans to keep making “Star Trek.” 

“The minute I fall out of love with it is the minute that it’s not for me anymore. I’m not there yet,” he says. “To be able to build in this universe to tell stories that are fundamentally about optimism and a better future at a time when the world seems to be falling apart — it’s a really powerful place to live every day.”

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• 2024 Spring Entertainment Preview

Star Trek: Discovery is finally free to do whatever it wants

Imagining the future of the future

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It’s a truth universally acknowledged that even among the greatest television shows in Star Trek history, most of them take two seasons to stop being kind of bad. Never has that been more true or more excruciating than in the case of Star Trek: Discovery .

Polygon is looking ahead to the movies, shows, and books coming soon in our Spring 2024 entertainment preview package, a weeklong special issue.

Often it felt like what Discovery was really doing in its early seasons was discovering what didn’t work. Strong performances from a great cast? That works. A Klingon design that absolutely nobody liked ? Definitely not. But despite the stumbles, Discovery season 1 had still averaged C’s and B’s with reviewers, and had built an audience and a subscriber base for Paramount Plus. On the strength of Disco ’s first season, Paramount greenlit Star Treks Picard , Lower Decks , and Prodigy , three new shows covering a huge range of ages and nostalgic tastes. And spinning out of Disco ’s second season, which introduced familiar , nostalgic characters and a brighter, more Star Trek-y tone, Paramount produced Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , inarguably the best new addition to the franchise since 1996.

Star Trek: Discovery crawled so that the rest of modern Trek could run... and then it started to walk. The show’s third season saw the USS Discovery and crew in the place that should have been their starting blocks: the bleeding future edge of Star Trek’s timeline. Thanks to season 3’s groundwork, season 4 became the first time that Discovery had a status quo worth returning to. In its fifth and final season, Star Trek: Discovery is finally free — free in a way that a Star Trek TV series hasn’t been in 23 years.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is such an elder statesman of the television elite that it’s easy to forget that it was daring. The show’s triumph wasn’t just that it featured a new cast of characters, but also its audaciousness in imagining the future of the future — and making that future unmistakably different . The Original Series showed a racial and national cooperation that seemed fantastical in its time, with an alien crewmember to denote the next frontier of embracing the other . Next Generation saw that bet and raised it, installing a member of the Klingon species, the Federation’s once-feared imperialist rival state, as a respected officer on the bridge of Starfleet’s flagship.

Next Generation ’s time period — one century after Kirk’s Enterprise — wasn’t a nominal choice, but a commitment to moving the story of Star Trek forward. From the show’s foundations, Gene Roddenberry and his collaborators, new and old, set a precedent that the Federation would evolve. Therefore, in accordance with the utopian themes of the franchise, old enemies would in time become friends. Next Generation embraced The Original Series ’ nemeses and the rest of ’90s Trek saw that bet and raised it again, pulling many of Next Gen ’s villains into the heroic fold. Voyager welcomed a Borg crewmember and disincorporated the Borg empire; Deep Space Nine gave the franchise the first Ferengi Starfleet cadet, and brokered a Federation-Klingon-Romulan alliance in the face of an existential threat.

But Discovery — at least until it made its Olympic long-jump leap 900 years into the future — couldn’t move Star Trek forward. So long as it was set “immediately before Kirk’s Enterprise,” hemmed in by the constraints of a previously established era of Star Trek history, it could graft on new elements (like Spock’s secret human foster sister) but it couldn’t create from whole cloth (like a galaxy-wide shortage of starship fuel that nearly destroyed the Federation). Like its predecessor, the ill-fated Star Trek: Enterprise of the ’00s, it was doomed to hang like a remora on the side of the events of The Original Series , or, if you’ll pardon another fish metaphor, doomed like a goldfish that can only grow as large as its half-gallon fishbowl will allow.

Discovery ’s later, free seasons in the 32nd century have shown the Federation at its most vulnerable, a subtler echo of Picard ’s own season 1 swing at fallen institutions . (Fans of Voyager and Deep Space Nine know that this is an extremely rich vein of Trek storytelling.) In its third season, Discovery solved a galaxy-wide fuel crisis that had shattered the community of the Federation. In its fourth it fought for a fragile new Federation alliance and its millennia-old ideals.

And those seasons have also boldly committed to the idea of imagining the future’s future — 900 years of it. The centuries-old rift between Vulcans and Romulans is long healed, Ferengi serve as captains in Starfleet, the work of Doctor Noonien Soong has brought new medical technologies to the fore.

Even still, Discovery hasn’t been truly free in its third and fourth seasons. Star Trek: Picard was out there, forming new past elements of a post- Next Gen / Voy / DS9 era that Discovery had to abide by. And, after all, the show still had to make sure there was something for its own next season to come back to.

But now — with Prodigy and Picard finished, and Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks locked into their settings of Star Trek’s established past, and Starfleet Academy and Section 31 not yet in production at the time that its final season would have been written — Discovery has reached the final final frontier for a Star Trek show. If you’re a Star Trek fan, that should excite you.

Not since Deep Space Nine in 1999 and Voyager in 2001 has a Star Trek series had the freedom to wrap up its run with the Federation in any state it wants to. With franchise flagship Next Generation at an end, and Voyager restricted to the Delta Quadrant only, Deep Space Nine used its last seasons to throw the Federation into all-out war, making sweeping changes to the established ficto-political norms of ’90s Trek. Voyager used its finale to do what Captain Picard never could: defang the Borg (mostly).

We don’t know exactly what Discovery will do with that freedom. Season 4 directors have talked about reaching “ into the past to get further into the future ,” and likened it to Indiana Jones. Official news releases have said the crew will “uncover a mystery that sends them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries.” But speculating on what that means would be beside the point.

Discovery , the show about an intergalactically teleporting starship, can finally, actually, go anywhere. It’s been almost a quarter of a century since a beloved Star Trek series was so free to boldly go. Let’s hope they’re very bold indeed.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 premieres with two episodes on April 4 on Paramount Plus.

Spring 2024 entertainment preview

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