The recent teaser trailer for Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is not only exciting, but it also reminds us that Strange New Worlds is very much a prequel to the original Star Trek from 1966. With that comes a lot of overlap in characters between the two shows, with numerous TOS characters appearing in the main cast or as guest stars on SNW.
There are so many TOS characters across its 79 official episodes, however, that there is plenty of room to explore even more. While obvious untapped characters to feature might be the likes of Chekov, Sulu, or Dr. McCoy, it would be exciting to see some other characters from TOS appear. Perhaps some who have not received as much attention over the past 60 years.
Janice Rand
When Star Trek first started in 1966, Yeoman Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) was initially presented as a fairly major character. Early advertisements for the show featured Whitney alongside William Shatner (Captain Kirk) and Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock) as part of a trio, since the dynamic of Kirk, Spock, and DeForest Kelley’s Dr. McCoy had not yet crystallized.
Unfortunately, what can be politely described as problems with NBC network executives led to Grace Lee Whitney’s tenure on Star Trek being cut short and Yeoman Rand being written out of the show. Although Whitney was brought back as Rand in cameos in subsequent movies and as a guest star in the Voyager episode, “Flashback,” Rand has been sorely underutilized on-screen.
Strange New Worlds has the opportunity to change this. Being set around 10 years before TOS, we could see a Janice Rand who may not even be in Starfleet yet or is in the lower ranks of enlisted personnel. This could show us why Rand chose to enter Starfleet and give us our first substantial look into the life of an enlisted member of Starfleet since Chief O’Brien.