Naveen Andrews was tasked with the enormous responsibility of picking up the beloved mantle of Khan Noonien Singh from the late Hollywood legend, Ricardo Montalban. Andrews, who won a Screen Actors Guild award for his ensemble’s indelible work on the television drama Lost, portrays a loving and compassionate side of the Augment villain in the Star Trek: Khan podcast the likes of which no Trekkie has ever seen from the character.
Make no mistake, Khan's ruthlessness also remains and is exuded perfectly by Andrews. Nevertheless, Trek icon George Takei feels that Khan succeeded in the first place thanks to Montalban himself. Takei said in an interview with StarTrek.com:
"The character of Khan, to a large extent, was created by this charismatic actor, Ricardo Montalban, who brought so much of his actor's imagination and his physicality that Khan became a singular menace. One of the best antagonists we've had on Star Trek. Montalban made the character as fiercely determined, unrelenting, and as frightening and as monstrous as he was in Star Trek, both the TV episode and the feature film."
Montalban, who won a Primetime Emmy (Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Series) for his unforgettable work in How the West Was Won, first portrayed the genetically-enhanced villain Khan in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Space Seed” (1967).
Montalban would later reprise the role in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) cementing his legacy as the greatest Trek villain in history — and that’s saying something given all the Klingons, Romulans, and Borg inhabiting creator Gene Roddenberry's science fiction universe.
Nevertheless, Andrews has been given the opportunity to shed new light on Khan during his exile on Ceti Alpha V, and the podcast concentrates most its storytelling on that specific period of time between “Space Seed” and The Wrath of Khan.
This allows Andrews to portray the genuine passion and love the leader of the Augments has for his people, his wife, Marla McGivers, and their daughter Kali. But is this revelation of his so-called softer side enough to expunge all the horrors and atrocities the character of Khan has committed during his time as the preeminent Trek baddie?
Share your thoughts and comments concerning Ricardo Montalban's indisputable Star Trek legacy with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages. Have you listened to the Star Trek: Khan podcast yet?
If so, what do you think of Naveen Andrews’ incredible performance? No one will ever accomplish what Montalban achieved with the character — sorry, Benedict Cumberbatch — but Andrews' performance is not to be missed.
New episodes of Star Trek: Khan drop every Monday through Nov. 3.
Live long and prosper, Trekkies!