Spoiler Warning: Beware potential spoilers for the upcoming Star Trek: Khan audio drama. Spoilers are also present for Space Seed, The Wrath of Khan, Into Darkness, Lower Decks, and Picard.
For a franchise which could be just a couple of years away from total cancellation, Star Trek had a lot to say at this year’s Comic-Con event! We’ve already covered the big Starfleet Academy news, which included a trailer and introductions to the main cast, as well as Year One – a pitch for a Strange New Worlds successor series. This time, we’re finally getting around to talking about Star Trek: Khan – an audio drama which will be released next month.
This is Star Trek’s first ever official audio drama – billed, for some reason, as a “scripted podcast.” I’m calling it an audio drama (because that’s what seems to be the best fit) but you might also consider it akin to a radio play or even an audiobook. In any case, it’s audio only – which is something new for Star Trek. Obviously there have been Star Trek audiobooks before, and there are fan-made audio dramas, too. But this is the first time Paramount has really pushed a brand-new Star Trek story in this format, and it’s an interesting choice.
Obviously the main factor here is money. Nicholas Meyer – who originally pitched this idea a few years ago – envisioned it as a miniseries, which is also a format Star Trek doesn’t have much experience with. Even if you aren’t sold on Star Trek: Khan as a concept, I still think there’s merit in the miniseries approach, and I’d hope it’s something Skydance/Paramount might consider in the future if and when a suitable story comes along. If Khan is a success, perhaps more audio dramas will be in the offing, too.
It’s been a while since we talked about this project, so let me bring you up to speed. Khan is set on the planet Ceti Alpha V in between the events of Space Seed – in which Khan awoke in the 23rd Century after years in suspended animation – and The Wrath of Khan. When the project was still little more than a rumour, I discussed it here on the website. This was in early 2021, and I said then that I felt this project – which was going by the working title Ceti Alpha V – looked set to tell the least-interesting chapter of Khan’s life. What could we learn from this story that we didn’t already know or couldn’t reasonably infer from Space Seed, The Wrath of Khan, and even Khan’s appearance in Into Darkness?
When Khan switched from being a televised miniseries to an audio drama… I felt that was probably for the best. At Paramount’s “Star Trek Day” event in 2022, Nicholas Meyer took to the stage to announce that his project had been reworked into an audio drama. And I noted at the time that he didn’t exactly seem thrilled about that! Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but I noted in the Khan trailer that Meyer is no longer credited as one of the podcast’s writers, instead simply getting a “based on a story by” credit. Maybe Meyer was disappointed that his Ceti Alpha V idea didn’t proceed on television as he’d hoped. Or maybe changes were made to his original idea – which I doubt would’ve included Sulu and Tuvok!
In any case, Nicholas Meyer’s core idea is going ahead, but not in the format he intended and not with a script he penned. Personally, I think that’s worth being aware of; Meyer is a Star Trek legend. He wrote The Wrath of Khan, The Undiscovered Country, and also worked on The Voyage Home – three of the films fans rate most highly. It’s quite possible that, without Meyer’s work on The Wrath of Khan in particular, Star Trek would have struggled in the 1980s – and the franchise as we know it could very well not exist today. So to know that he had a script written, but his work has been changed substantially enough that he’s no longer credited as a writer… it gives me pause, at least.
Let’s be positive, though, and talk about some of the things from the Khan trailer that I actually found interesting!
Firstly, the idea of a frame narrative is a fun one – and it’s also something that, because of the characters involved, could really only work in this audio format. Well alright, I guess it would’ve worked in animation, too! But bringing back George Takei to voice Sulu and Tim Russ to play Spock, with the frame narrative presumably set aboard the Excelsior… that’s a really fun idea. Both Takei and Russ have been back in modern Star Trek; Takei reprised his role of Sulu in Lower Decks, and Russ played a significant role in Season 3 of Picard.
I often see fans lamenting that we don’t know much about Star Trek’s “lost era;” i.e. the years in between The Undiscovered Country and The Next Generation. While probably right at the beginning of that time period, it seems as if Khan’s frame narrative will be set in the “lost era,” which is something kind of neat. I doubt we’ll get much of an exploration of the wider state of the galaxy! But it’s still nice to see a project being potentially set after The Undiscovered Country.
Tuvok’s inclusion is also a pretty deep cut to a single Star Trek episode! In 1996, Flashback was one of two stories created to celebrate Star Trek’s thirtieth anniversary. It delved into Tuvok’s backstory, depicting his time serving under Captain Sulu’s command aboard the USS Excelsior, and it was a pretty fun crossover. We got to see an expanded role for Janice Rand, picking up her story aboard the Excelsior, too, and another character from The Undiscovered Country – Dimitri Valtane. Though its “memory virus” storyline wasn’t the strongest, it’s still a fun episode, and we got to see some interaction between Tuvok and Sulu, as well as a brief moment with Janeway and Sulu, too.
It makes me feel so incredibly old to think that the 30th anniversary celebrations were almost 30 years ago! But I’m glad that Star Trek’s writers and creatives haven’t forgotten about Flashback; it’s a fun way to return to this era, an unexpected pair of legacy characters to include in a story like this one, and it might just give us a bit more information about Sulu’s time in the captain’s chair. I really like this part of Khan, even though it likely won’t be in focus all that much.
Sulu was present, of course, during the events of Space Seed and The Wrath of Khan, which makes his inclusion here a neat little thread of continuity. Takei first played Sulu all the way back in 1966; to think he’s still involved with the character – and the Star Trek franchise – all these years later… it’s fun and also exceptionally sweet. Fans have been asking to see more of Captain Sulu for a long time; I remember on message boards and forums in the 1990s, a “Captain Sulu show” was often brought up as fans discussed fantasy Star Trek projects. Obviously Khan isn’t the same, but it’s not a million miles away, either, thanks to Takei’s involvement.
This is also potentially one of the last Star Trek projects to include a significant role for a performer from The Original Series, and I think we should acknowledge that. We’ve had Walter Koenig’s voice in Picard, archival recordings of a few characters in Short Treks and Prodigy, and Takei in Lower Decks as previously noted. But time moves ever onwards, and these opportunities are becoming scarce. Whether we ultimately like or dislike Khan, I think we can at least appreciate George Takei’s involvement and that we got one more adventure with Hikaru Sulu.
Naveen Andrews, best-known for his role on the TV series Lost, will take on the role of Khan. And this could be one of the best casting decisions in a long time! Andrews is a fantastic actor, and while we didn’t hear that much from him in the trailer, what little there was sounded fantastic. This feels like a truly inspired casting decision, and whatever the story may ultimately be, I’m certain that Naveen Andrews’ portrayal is going to be one of the highlights.
So there are positives as we look ahead to Khan’s release next month. Revisiting Sulu, entering the “lost era,” Tuvok’s return, and getting a new take on an iconic character by a fantastic actor… those are all points in the production’s favour. I also like the idea of Star Trek leaning into audio dramas and different kinds of projects as a way to potentially keep the franchise alive in the years ahead. If there isn’t the budget to commit to a full TV show or film, a radio play like this could be a great option to preserve Star Trek and ensure new stories are still able to be produced.
The main image shown off in the trailer – which looks like it could also be the “cover art” for the podcast – shows Khan holding a small vial. Inside that container is what looks like a small Ceti eel – the mind-controlling earwig-like creatures that Khan used on Chekov and Captain Terrell in The Wrath of Khan. The film made it clear that Khan already knew all about these creatures, so perhaps part of the audio drama will depict Khan and his crew studying them.
Not every alien in Star Trek requires a deep dive, and as with Khan himself, I think we know enough about the Ceti eels from the film to understand what they are, how they operate, and why Khan would be so fascinated by them! But I’m always up for an exploration of Star Trek’s alien life, and perhaps there could be a way to connect Khan’s time on Ceti Alpha V and/or the Ceti eels to other parts of Star Trek. Making those kinds of connections could be fun, and just exploring the anatomy of the Ceti eels could also be interesting if it’s handled well.
With all of that being said, nothing in the Khan trailer really convinced me that I was wrong in my earlier assessment: that this audio drama won’t be telling the least-interesting chapter of a story where we’ve already seen the beginning, the end, a prequel, a reimagining, and basically all of the good parts. There’s a real danger that what we’ll get will be akin to the Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries over in the Star Wars franchise: the absolute worst kind of tacked-on story that feels like cheap fan-fiction. Khan could, perhaps, even prove harmful to Space Seed and The Wrath of Khan if – just as an example – we get some kind of storyline that sees Khan leave the planet, track down Kirk, and battle him in a one-on-one duel.
Furthermore, the trailer added another element which I hadn’t previously considered could be part of a Khan story, and it’s really making me concerned. In the trailer, the new character of Dr Lear says that “the logs I retrieved on Ceti Alpha V only confirm my belief that Khan was much more than a mad tyrant.” But… Khan *is* a mad tyrant; that’s who he is. He’s a narrative warning against eugenics and genetic engineering by showing how badly wrong it could go. And in 2025, when we’re seriously considering the possibilities of artificial intelligence and inventing a sentient life-form that could be intellectually superior to humanity… there’s a message in Khan’s story that’s still incredibly relevant.
I’m worried that Khan will go out of its way to humanise this villainous character – and in doing so, rob him of what made him so powerful, so intimidating, and such a good character in the first place. We don’t need a story about how Khan was actually a misunderstood “nice guy” who just wanted what’s best for his friends. Maybe that’s how Khan saw himself, in part, but it isn’t how we as the audience need to see him. And we don’t need a story told partly from his perspective to understand who he is, how he thinks, or why he behaved the way he did. All of the necessary pieces to understand Khan were present in Space Seed and The Wrath of Khan, and were added to on somewhat in Into Darkness.
It can be fun, sometimes, to flip the script and look at things from the villain’s point-of-view. And some Star Trek stories are all about that – presenting the Federation as being in the wrong, showing why hostile aliens act the way they do, and so on. That’s been present going all the way back to The Original Series. But some villains are just villains – and trying to soften them, present their side of the story, or show them as being “in the right” ruins not only the character, but the story, too. And I am genuinely worried that this attempt to present Khan as a more complex, nuanced, and dare I suggest human individual won’t actually add much to Star Trek – and risks seriously undermining one of its best stories.
This was always going to be a potential pitfall – and it’s one of the reasons why I was never keen on the Khan idea when it was first pitched. But hearing this new character in the trailer talking about there being “more to the story,” and how Khan was “so much more” than what we’ve seen… it’s really making me nervous about the direction the audio drama is going to take. If Dr Lear ends up as a kind of villain – perhaps someone who’s fallen for Khan’s posthumous propaganda – then maybe we can look on this narrative thread more kindly. But if the story’s going to try to present Khan sympathetically, and Dr Lear as being right about him all along… where does that leave Tuvok and Sulu?
I doubt a lot of Trekkies would be thrilled if Sulu’s return is turned into some kind of story about how *he’s* the one in the wrong, how he and Tuvok unfairly judged Khan, and how Khan was really just a big misunderstood cuddle-buddy. That… that wouldn’t be great. And while I could be completely wrong, the tone of the trailer – and Dr Lear’s comments in particular – seem to be hinting at a story which could go in that kind of direction.
What I will say on that side of things, though, is that Starfleet does bear some responsibility for what happened to Khan and the Botany Bay survivors. After marooning them on Ceti Alpha V, it seems as if Starfleet just abandoned them to their fate. Worse, Starfleet doesn’t even seem to have kept proper records of the Ceti Alpha system, despite the dangers Khan and his augments were known to pose. How else do we explain the crew of the USS Reliant being totally unaware of the Botany Bay until after beaming down to Ceti Alpha V? In the eighteen years Khan and his people were stranded, not one Starfleet vessel visited to check up on them.
If there’s any room for nuance in Khan’s story, it’s here. Starfleet was either incompetent or downright malicious in its treatment of Khan and his people, stranding them on a hostile planet – uninhabited by sentient life, yes, but with a complete ecological system of its own – and then abandoning them. No one cared enough to check in on them, even though surely the Ceti Alpha system was close enough to Federation space that something as major as the destruction of an entire planet would have been noticed.
(Speaking of which, why could no one aboard the USS Reliant count to six?)
Then there’s Kirk’s role. The trailer mentioned Kirk by name – though he better not actually appear in the production; god help us if he does – and I guess we’re going to see more of Khan’s revenge obsession in the years before The Wrath of Khan. If we take our criticism of Starfleet and pin it on one person, could this audio drama focus in on Kirk’s role? Maybe Kirk neglected to tell Starfleet about Khan and what happened during Space Seed. Maybe no one except for the Enterprise crew ever knew that the augments were marooned there. If that’s the case, maybe Khan’s desire for revenge takes on a slightly different feel. If Kirk had logged what happened correctly, maybe someone would have swung by the Ceti Alpha system to check on Khan.
That’s just a theory, though I think it shows how difficult it may prove to thread the needle on this kind of “mid-quel” story. Anything we learn about Khan, Kirk, or anyone else has to fit with Space Seed and The Wrath of Khan, and mustn’t tread on their toes. That’s not an easy thing to do… and there are examples from other franchises – and from within Star Trek – showing just how badly things can go wrong when attempting this kind of story.
Returning to Dr Lear, her statement that “monsters are made, not born” is another line I’m concerned about. This ties into what we were talking about; how the story could be an attempt to show Khan’s perspective and how Starfleet and Kirk were the ones in the wrong. Obviously Khan believes that – we knew that during The Wrath of Khan. But do we actually need a full audio drama dedicated to explaining that idea in more detail? And can it be done without detracting from Khan’s characterisation in those earlier stories? I’m afraid I’m still not convinced.
So let’s wrap things up.
Star Trek: Khan will premiere on the 8th of September – Star Trek Day. It’ll run for nine episodes, with the finale airing in early November. I plan to tune in, even though I’m not really sold on the premise, nor on some of what we saw in the trailer. At this stage, I don’t intend to review individual episodes, but I’ll hopefully be able to write up a review of the full audio drama once it’s aired. Check back in November for that!
I wouldn’t have given the green light to this project, either in this audio form or as its original miniseries pitch. But I’m not writing it off just yet, and there are reasons to be hopeful… or at least a bit less pessimistic! I often say that “no one asked for this” is a terrible argument, and often the best productions are those that “no one” seemed to be interested in at first. It’s with that attitude that I plan to approach Star Trek: Khan, and I’ll do my best to give it a fair shake despite my misgivings.
I hope this has been interesting! I think we’ve finally covered all of the big Comic-Con news, now. If you haven’t checked in for a while, I’m back to writing weekly Strange New Worlds episode reviews – we’re almost halfway through Season 3 already, if you can believe that! And there’s more Star Trek content to come here on the website in the weeks ahead.
See you on Ceti Alpha V!
Star Trek: Khan will premiere as a scripted podcast/audio drama on multiple podcast platforms on the 8th of September 2025, with further episodes to follow weekly. Star Trek: Khan, and all other properties discussed above, are the copyright of CBS Studios, Paramount Global, and/or Skydance. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Trekking with Dennis 