Star Trek 4 should focus on bringing back characters, not debuting new ones

One of the biggest questions around Star Trek 4, aside from whether or not it'll get made, is 'who is going to be in it?'. We know that the surviving main cast will be present, assuming it gets made. Yet, beyond them, we're not sure. There are a lot of characters that we've met over the last few years that we'd like to see return to some degree.

There's Gaila from Star Trek 2009, Carol Marcus from Star Trek: Into Darkness, and Jaylah from Star Trek: Beyond. Not to mention side characters like Keenser, rumored characters like George Kirk, and characters played by rising stars like Navigation Officer Darwin (played by Aisha Hinds).

There are plenty of names to pull from, so much so that bringing in some new character from the original series for the sake of it seems pointless. Dare we say even a bit gauche? We have so many characters that had a one-off outing in this film franchise already, what's the point of just bringing in another classic character for the sake of it?

Especially when Strange New Worlds has already done that same concept and done it better. Every classic character they've brought in has added some heft and weight to the character's history. We know people like Uhura and James Kirk all the better because of their addition to Strange New Worlds.

Same with Nurse Christine Chapel and Doctor M'Benga. They've done a great job with them. Yet, if you force them into the script for Star Trek 4, they'll serve very little purpose to the overall plot. Maybe in 2013, you could get away with that, as Alice Eve's turn as Carol Marcus was enjoyable, but largely uninspired as she didn't stick around.

That was ok in 2013, because what else was there to judge it off of.

Now, however, we have Strange New Worlds. We have a new standard for storytelling. We have a new belief on how characters should be introduced and used. Simply plopping them into a script is no longer good enough. We need more out of them. Especially if one of them is going to serve as the (for lack of a better term) replacement for Pavel Checkov.

With the tragic passing of Anton Yelchin almost a decade ago, there's uncertainty over what'll happen to his character, Checkov. Does he get recast? Will he be written off? Will another character enter to do his job?

Who knows, but if you shoehorn a classic character into his role, do little with them, and then just forget about them, you're not only doing a disservice to Yelchin and his impact on the franchise but the classic character you brought in just for the sake of bringing them in.