Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuts another Star Trek: The Original Series character

This post contains spoilers from the second season finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. 

What seems like a blink and you’ll miss it season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds came to an end today, but left viewers with a cliffhanger of cinematically-epic proportions. The crew of the USS Enterprise and the USS Cayuga find themselves in the crosshairs of the Gorn with Captain Batel trapped on the planet with human survivors. Though Captain Pike doesn’t know she’s alive, he heads to the planet along with a small crew contingent to find out, and that’s when we meet a familiar officer that we grew to know and love on Star Trek: The Original Series.

Lt. Junior Grade Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, played for over twenty-five years by James Doohan, makes his debut while on the planet hiding from the Gorn, and he soon finds himself back aboard the Enterprise. Played by Scottish actor Martin Quinn who is only twenty-nine-years old, this Scotty is a long way from being as knowledgeable as the legendary Mr. Scott. However, he quickly showed just how handy he was, having created a force field to protect himself from the Gorn.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is slowly bringing back beloved characters, but there is a limit to how many can return.

Last season, Strange New Worlds returned James T. Kirk, who will become the future Captain Kirk, to the franchise. Now that Scotty is back, who can we expect to see next? Possibly Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy eve if he isn’t the Chief Medical Officer aboard the Enterprise. Dr. McCoy and Dr. M’Benga knew each other on The Original Series so it’s a possibility McCoy could be introduced to the series.

But as far as anyone else goes, Ensign Chekov was only in his early twenties on The Original Series. He could only be brought back as a child, and while it’s possible to bring Lt. Sulu back, he, too, would most likely be a cadet, possibly an Ensign. The only other character that is instantly recognizable as a part of the crew even though she was only around for a few episodes is Yeoman Janice Rand. Grace Lee Whitney was thirty-six when she played the character so it would be possible to include a younger version of her, probably still at the Academy or on her first assignment.

That saiid, Lt. Sulu was the pilot of the Enterprise and Pike’s Enterprise has Lt. Ortegas, I can’t see a reason to bring him back early. And, honestly, I don’t think Yeoman Rand will be making an appearance, either unless there was some way she fits a future narrative. But I would be very surprised if Dr. McCoy doesn’t turn up at some point during the series.