The STAR TREK: KHAN Podcast Was Originally Envisioned as a TV Series
When Star Trek: The Original Series first aired, Khan Noonien Singh was just one of many villains the crew of the Enterprise encountered. Played by Ricardo Montalbán in the 1967 episode “Space Seed,” Khan seemed destined to be a one-off antagonist.
That changed in 1982 when Montalbán returned in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, cementing Khan as one of the franchise’s most iconic villains. Years later, Benedict Cumberbatch would even take on the role in Star Trek Into Darkness.
Now the story of Khan has returned once again in Star Trek: Khan, a scripted podcast series that digs into the years between Space Seed and The Wrath of Khan. But here’s the interesting part, it wasn’t supposed to be a podcast at all.
In fact, the original concept from Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer was to tell this story as a TV miniseries.
Meyer envisioned three episodes that would explore Khan’s exile on Ceti Alpha V. But according to co-writer Kirsten Beyer, who developed the podcast with David Mack, translating Meyer’s idea into modern Star Trek canon wasn’t as straightforward as it seemed. She explained:
“I think, though, that there were a couple of issues initially, which mainly had to do with the fact that when Nick first made Wrath of Khan, there were like 80+ hours of Star Trek in existence.
“Now there's like 900 and, for better and worse, I have all that in my head. So I could understand instantly how certain things that he was doing and ways that he was playing with the story were gonna actually have massive impacts that rippled out into what now exists that he's unaware of, and that are gonna sort of take people out of the story.”
When The Wrath of Khan hit theaters, the franchise was relatively small, consisting of The Original Series, the animated show, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Today, there are countless hours of lore spread across multiple shows and films. As someone who has written Star Trek novels, comics, and episodes, Beyer knew fans would be quick to spot contradictions.
“Because you never want your readers or your fans watching a story and being like, ‘Wait, that's not what I already think I know. How am I supposed to make sense of these two things together? Because that takes them out of the story and you've lost them, kind of. So needing to do that was a big part of it.”
The story of Star Trek: Khan picks up right after Space Seed, when Khan, Marla McGivers, and the other Augments were exiled to Ceti Alpha V. Over the next two decades, the planet is devastated when Ceti Alpha VI explodes, turning their new home into a wasteland. Marla dies during this period, leaving Khan broken long before his fateful encounter with Captain Kirk.
The podcast also includes a framing story that brings in familiar Star Trek faces. George Takei returns as Hikaru Sulu, and Tim Russ reprises his role as Tuvok, helping tie Khan’s story into the larger Star Trek universe. As Beyer put it:
“And also, it was my notion from the very beginning that we were gonna need to set to tell not only the story of Khan, but find a way to speak to its relevance to the broader Star Trek universe and history.
“And that is where the framing story comes from, giving some characters the perspective that the audience has. Which is, ‘Ok, we remember where Khan started. We know how it ended in Wrath of Khan. We think we know this guy,’ And then we take them on the journey.”
Beyer described Meyer’s vision as a “tragedy” that shows “this man who was terribly misunderstood by history and take us through the series of events that led to that happening.” That vision remains at the heart of the podcast, with Naveen Andrews voicing Khan and Wrenn Schmidt as Marla.
The first episode of Star Trek: Khan is streaming now on podcast platforms, with new episodes dropping every Monday through November 3. For those keeping up with the broader franchise, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is set to finish its third season in 2025, while Starfleet Academy will premiere in early 2026 on Paramount+.
Via: Cinemablend