Will a Star Trek: Strange New Worlds character erase herself from the timeline?
By Chad Porto
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is nearing the completion of season three. When it drops, we'll finally know how the season two cliffhanger with the Gorn ends, and we can't wait. Yet, there seems to be one small note in the storyline that only a few people are keeping an eye on; what is going to happen to La'an Noonien Singh?
She took center-stage in a few episodes in season two, namely the third episode, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", where she goes back in time to mid-2000s Toronto to stop the assassination of her ancestor Khan Noonein Singh. She would end up traveling back with James T. Kirk, but not the Kirk she knew. Instead, he was from a different timeline, one where Khan never rose to power.
In her journey to save the despot, she falls for Kirk, before he's ultimately killed. When the timeline is restored, so is Kirk, but minus any time he spent with La'an. This becomes crucial in the episode Subspace Rhapsody, where against the urging of an agent from the Department of Temporal Investigations, La'an tells Kirk that she has feelings for a different version of him.
It sets up a major plot point that will surely have ramifications at some point. It also brought up the idea that something may happen to La'an. After all, we've never heard of her before, so it may be due to her not existing in the history books when the larger Star Trek universe finally takes shape.
After all, why does no one ever mention the ancestor of Khan who served loyally in Starfleet? It may be due to the fact that she technically never did. Going against the Department of Temporal Investigations seems like a bad idea and while we're not entirely sure if they would nerf someone from existence, we do know that you don't cross them.
However, what if La'an's heart is so broken that she isn't punished, but in a way, promoted? What if in looking for relief of her heartbreak, she is offered and accepts a position in the Department, thus having her impact on the timeline erased to some degree?
It would make sense why we've never heard of her outside of the show, and why she was never one of Kirk's true love interests.
Though, that said, we'll have to see if Star Trek has a grander story for her going forward.