Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Finale Confirms The Fate Of Several Beloved Characters
by Devin Meenan · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
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This article contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Season 4 Episode 10 "Tomorrow's Enterprise."
When a prequel introduces characters who didn't appear in the original series, the natural assumption is they'll die before the end. It's the easiest workaround to explain why they were absent in chronologically-later works, and why no one mentioned them. But will "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" do that? The Season 4 finale, "Tomorrow's Enterprise," offers a glimpse one year into the future. Jim Kirk (Paul Wesley) has taken over as captain and the main cast of "Star Trek: The Original Series" has mostly come together.
But what about pilot Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) and Security Officer La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong)? Are their fates written in the stars? Well, Ortegas fans can breathe easy — she's fine! She has left Enterprise, though, and is now working as a flight instructor at Starfleet Academy. Captain Kirk calls her back to the ship, temporarily, to fly Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Scotty (Martin Quinn) on a mission to observe a black hole.
La'an, though? She's nowhere to be seen. Present day Uhura, thrust into the future, offhandedly mentions La'an to Captain Kirk. He goes quiet then changes the subject. That's ominous, to put it mildly, especially considering "Strange New Worlds" has been setting Kirk and La'an up as a couple when we know that won't work out in the long run. Perhaps it was just a bad breakup, but Kirk seemed more like he'd been reminded of someone he lost. If La'an dies, that could also explain why there was such a big shakeup in the crew structure, especially Captain Pike (Anson Mount) departing.
The odds of La'an suffering a grim fate in "Strange New Worlds," which Season 4 has already foreshadowed, now look even higher.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds sets up Dr. M'Benga's position from TOS
Unlike Ortegas and La'an, Dr. Joseph M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) is an established "Star Trek" character, albeit a previously-obscure one. He appeared in two episodes of the original "Star Trek" — "A Private Little War" and "That Which Survives," played by Booker Bradshaw. "TOS" M'Benga was depicted as one of the doctors on Bones McCoy's (DeForest Kelley) staff, and a particular expert in Vulcan physiology.
If you're only a casual Trekkie, it'd be easy to mistakenly assume that M'Benga is an original "Strange New Worlds" character, too. The series has added a lot to M'Benga's character, but it also created a big question mark; if he was Enterprise's chief medical officer in the past, why is he working under McCoy during the original series?
In "Tomorrow's Enterprise," future Uhura mentions M'Benga is currently on Vulcan, and speculates that he's going to request a permanent transfer. That would explain why M'Benga is an expert on Vulcan medical science during the original series, when "Strange New Worlds" hasn't depicted him as one. The series has depicted M'Benga as someone who struggles with emotional and anger issues; he's a veteran of the Klingon War, which turned him from a healer into a killer. Perhaps he turns to Vulcan teachings of logic to help quell the rage he still carries.
Dr. Boyce (Brian Markinson) is shown running sick bay in the one-year-ahead future, but Uhura speculates it'll be Bones taking over for M'Benga. McCoy does not appear in the episode, but Thomas Jane has been cast to appear as Bones, presumably in "Strange New Worlds" Season 5. Whether the show will also have time to set up M'Benga's interest in Vulcans remains to be seen.