Ricardo Montalban’s Khan Noonien Singh is arguably Star Trek’s most iconic villain, and Khan and his family continue to affect Star Trek stories. Khan first appeared in Star Trek: The Original Series season 1, episode 22, “Space Seed,” when Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the USS Enterprise found Khan’s ship floating in space. The genetically enhanced Khan had been a powerful tyrant on Earth during the late 20th century. When Khan’s reign fell and the Eugenics Wars began, he and his followers escaped on the SS Botany Bay, cryogenically freezing themselves for a long journey with no particular destination in mind.
Khan returned in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan seeking revenge, but Captain Kirk defeated him once again, though not without great personal cost. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is the newest Star Trek property to feature a connection to Khan. Khan’s descendant, Lt.La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) serves on the USS Enterprise of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). Because of Khan’s tyrannical reign in Earth’s history, everyone knows the name Noonien-Singh, and La’an sometimes struggles with the legacy of her last name. With the introduction of La’an, Strange New Worlds has expanded the Noonien-Singh family tree and provided more details about Khan’s complex history.
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6 Ricardo Montalban & Desmond Sivan As Khan Noonien Singh
The exact circumstances surrounding Khan’s birth remain unknown, but Star Trek has suggested the future tyrant was created rather than born. In the 1990s, Khan ruled a quarter of Earth’s population from his power base in the Indian subcontinent. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” altered this timeline and La’an Noonien-Singh encounters the young Khan in 21st-century Toronto. At this point in history, the genetically engineered child is being held at a top-secret facility within the Noonien-Singh Institute for Cultural Advancement. As revealed in Star Trek: The Original Series, Khan will eventually become a powerful tyrant who rules over much of Earth. Although Strange New Worlds changes the timeline of these events, history still seems to follow a similar path.
When Captain Kirk and his crew happen upon Khan’s ship in Star Trek: The Original Series’ “Space Seed,” they are familiar with his history. They bring him aboard the Enterprise anyway, only to discover that Khan has not given up his power-hungry ways. He recruits historian Lt. Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rhue), to help him take over the ship, although she eventually sides with Kirk. Kirk is ultimately able to stop Khan, but he will later regret stranding Khan and his people on Ceti Alpha V. Khan seeks revenge against Kirk in Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan, setting off a chain of events that results in the death of Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Khan is later killed, with the status of any children he may have had unknown.
5 Madlyn Rhue As Khan’s Wife Marla McGivers
When Khan was awoken on the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Original Series’ “Space Seed,” USS Enterprise historian Marla McGivers gave into her romantic attraction to Khan. Although McGivers initially agreed to help Khan with his plans to take over the Enterprise, she later had second thoughts, saving Captain Kirk’s life and helping him retake the ship. Despite this, McGivers still would have faced a court martial if she had stayed on the Enterprise, but Kirk gave her the option to join Khan and his people on Ceti Alpha V. While Ceti Alpha V was initially habitable for humans, the neighboring planet later exploded, causing Ceti Alpha V to become barren and inhospitable. Khan and his genetically enhanced followers were able to survive, but McGivers, unfortunately, was not.
4 Christina Chong As Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds introduced Khan’s descendant, Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh, who serves the security chief of the USS Enterprise commanded by Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). As a child, La’an was bullied because she shares Khan’s infamous surname, and she worries that she could become dangerous due to genetic augmentations she has inherited. Perhaps because of the time between Khan’s existence and La’an, most of the enhanced genetic abilities seem to have diminished. Although La’an is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, she has not displayed any kind of superior strength or abilities.
La’an may be the last Noonien-Singh at the moment, as she lost her entire family to the Gorn when she was a child. While La’an and her family were living on a colony ship, it was attached by the Gorn, and the young La’an was the only person who survived. After she was rescued by Starfleet, she went on to attend Starfleet Academy and quickly climbed the ranks to the position of chief of security on the Enterprise. La’an has become an invaluable member of the Enterprise crew, and her knowledge of the Gorn has helped in their battles against the dangerous reptilians. La’an has a perfect Starfleet record, but she sometimes struggles to make interpersonal connections.
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3 Cameron Roberts As Manu Noonien-Singh
In Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 4, “Memento Mori,” La’an allows Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) to mind-meld with her to learn more about the Gorn. Because of the trauma La’an had experienced, she had suppressed many of her memories from the Gorn attack. Through the mind meld, La’an remembers that her brother, Manu, had figured out that the Gorn communicated through flashes of light. This information helps the Enterprise crew trick one of the Gorn ships into firing on the other. While not much has been learned about Manu, he clearly cared deeply about his sister, ultimately sacrificing himself in order to keep La’an safe.
2 Ronu & Sa’an Noonien-Singh
Even less has been revealed about La’an’s parents, Ronu and Sa’an. They were on the SS Puget Sound when the colony ship was attacked and were taken to the Gorn nursery planet with the rest of the colonists. The memories La’an revisits in “Memento Mori” suggest that she and her brother had already lost their parents by that point. Ronu, La’an’s father, was a direct descendant of Khan Noonien Singh, although it’s unclear whether he possessed any special abilities. La’an recalled her father once told her that “not believing you’re gonna die is what gets you killed,” a message La’an did not fully understand until she contemplated why she was the only survivor of the Gorn attack.
1 Young Khan’s Unidentified Family
In Strange New Worlds’ “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” La’an and an alternate universe Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) travel back in time to 21st century Toronto where La’an meets the young Khan. Because of various temporal conflicts, Star Trek’s original Prime timeline has been altered, with Khan now set to rise to power in the 21st century rather than the 20th. La’an saves the life of the young Khan, and then asks him if there are others like him. The boy points to a photograph on the wall showing him and six other young children.
Presumably, Khan and the other children in the photo have all been genetically enhanced, and at least some of them will grow up to be tyrants who compete for power in the devastating Eugenics Wars. It remains unclear if Khan has parents or any family beyond the other children being raised alongside him. Even decades after the character’s introduction, Khan remains one of Star Trek’s most complex and infamous villains, but La’an has the chance to change the legacy associated with the name Noonien-Singh.
Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are available to stream on Paramount+.
