Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan had another plot twist up its sleeve
In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Admiral Kirk faced off against Khan Noonien Singh again with Khan battling for the Genesis device after his planet was detroyed and his wife was killed, something which he blamed Kirk for. But, originally, there was going to be an element of tragedy added to Khan’s desperate attempts to prevail against Kirk and the Federation.
According to Screenrant, a deleted scene from the movie introduced Khan’s son seen by Commander Chekov and Captain Terrell while they were exploring the ruins of Botany Bay. It was a brief scene that really didn’t amount to much, but the child returned at the end of the movie when Khan activated the Genesis Device. His son was captivated by the lights and sounds and ended up detonating the device, killing everyone aboard the USS Reliant and transforming the Mutari Nebula into the Genesis Planet.
No reason was given for the removal of Khan’s son from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
There were many suppositions given as to the reason for the deleted scene, but nothing exists to solidfy any of those ideas. Some think killing Khan’s toddler son would have made the movie too dark, especially with Spock’s death already planned. And introducing a new character only to kill him might not have set well with audiences, especially a child.
As it was, viewers had a difficult time with Spock’s death even though the film provided a ray of hope at the end. But killing a child might have been a bit much for any of us. For as much as Khan was an evil, crazed man, his son shouldn’t be caught in the crosshairs of his ego. Khan’s son would not have been destined to become like his father so there would have been another sense of loss for the movie.
No deleted scene exists and no special footage was released. The only image available of Khan’s son was in the 1982 edition of Stargazer Magazine which only proves that once upon a time, there was an idea for Khan to have a child. But it’s fortunate the producers chose to go down a different path.