It’s one thing for an audio drama to come out, but a Star Trek series about Khan Noonien Singh would likely fail.
Star Trek has had a long line of successful series and films. The franchise has a unique ability to capture the human spirit across a multitude of situations. We’ve seen women coming to terms with having to give up their hopes and dreams to lead their people through an impossible situation, all the way to a father just trying to find a way to recover from a great loss.
We’ve seen all sorts of grand, remarkable, human-based stories that allow fans of all ages to connect with these larger-than-life personalities. And while Star Trek has the ability to get it right with so many different types of characters, it may be asking too much to do it with a villain like Khan Noonien Singh.
Star Trek is creating an audio drama about Khan during his time stranded in Ceti Alpha V, and there is talk that it could be made into a show or film for Paramount+, but we have three big reasons why any major project of the sort would fail.
Three reasons why you can’t make a successful show about Khan Noonien Singh
No one can replace Ricardo Montalban
If you’re going to try and make a show about Khan Noonien Singh, you have to remember that it wasn’t the character that captivated the audience, but it was the portrayal of the character by Ricardo Montalban, a Spanish-Mexican actor, who brought the character to life in Star Trek: The Original Series, before reprising the role again in the film, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Replacing Montalban is essentially impossible at this point and it isn’t worth the headache of trying.
You can’t make a genocidal maniac sympathetic.
Strange New Worlds tried to make Khan sympathetic, but considering he’s a homicidal maniac who wants to kill everyone who isn’t augmented like himself, there’s really no point in making a show about him. Nothing good ever came from trying to make genocide-wanting people look sympathetic. And you need to make him somewhat sympathetic because what kind of show wants an unlikeable main lead?
What’s the point of a Star Trek show if it doesn’t feature Starfleet as the centerpiece?
Star Trek is as much about Starfleet as it is about the captain and the ship. If you don’t have all three elements, you really don’t have a Star Trek show many people want to watch.