Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 1 - "The Broken Circle"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2's premiere finally provides a sequel to Star Trek: Discovery season 1's Klingon War that shows the aftermath of that devastating galactic conflict. In Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 1, "The Broken Circle," Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) steals the USS Enterprise and leads it into disputed Klingon space to answer a distress call from La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong). The Starship Enterprise's crew uncovers a conspiracy by a war-profiteering syndicate to re-ignite the Klingon War and stops it. But Strange New Worlds also shows the cost of the Klingon War in ways Star Trek: Discovery did not.
The Klingon War was the central storyline of Star Trek: Discovery season 1. The Klingons, led by their self-styled Messiah, T'Kuvma (Chris Obi), sought to assert their warrior identity by subjugating the United Federation of Planets. Spock's adoptive sister, Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), committed mutiny against her own Captain, Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), in an ill-fated attempt to prevent the war. The Federation-Klingon War of 2256-2257 was devastating for the Alpha Quadrant, and killed a hundred million Federation citizens. An alliance between Burnham and L'Rell (Mary Chieffo), who became Klingon Chancellor, brought the war to an end. However, Star Trek: Discovery season 2 moved onto the Red Angel storyline before jumping to the 32nd century and delivered little in the way of a follow-up to the Klingon War.
Strange New Worlds Finally Deals With Discovery's Klingon War
Strange New Worlds season 2's premiere finally showed the grim aftermath of Star Trek: Discovery's Klingon War. La'an Noonien-Singh summoned the Starship Enterprise to Cajitar IV, a dilithium mining planet where many of the war's survivors live. Control of Cajitar IV alternates between the Federation and the Klingons on a 30-day cycle, but a syndicate made up of Klingons and ex-Starfleet soldiers wanted to take over the planet's mining to sell dilithium to both sides of a renewed Klingon War. Strange New Worlds season 2 takes place in 2259, only 2 years since the war ended, and the scars have not healed.
The Klingon War also has a personal cost to many crew of the USS Enterprise. Although Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) was ordered to keep the Enterprise out of the Klingon War, many of the newer crew are war veterans, including Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), Dr. Jospeh M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush). M'Benga and Chapel are forced to relive their trauma from fighting in the war when they are taken prisoner by the syndicate's Klingons and fight their way to freedom. The syndicate also rebuilt a Federation Crossfield Class starship which the Enterprise ultimately destroyed. For Spock, blowing up a starship of the same class as the USS Discovery is, in a way, like losing Michael Burnham all over again, but this time on the Vulcan's orders.
How Strange New Worlds Changed Discovery's Klingon War
Strange New Worlds season 2's premiere also made some significant changes to Star Trek: Discovery's Klingon War. The most significant is reverting the Klingons back to how they appear in Star Trek: The Next Generation rather than their widely disliked revamp by Discovery. Strange New Worlds also wisely circumvents any explanation for the switch that would further convolute Star Trek canon. However, there is no mention of L'Rell and whether she remains Klingon Chancellor. The idea of Klingons and Starfleet working together also plants the seed for an even greater conspiracy to prevent peace between Klingons and the Federation in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
A bombshell dropped by Strange New Worlds season 2's premiere is that Starfleet has a drug that allows humans to match the strength and stamina of a Klingon. Dr. M'Benga and Nurse Chapel both resort to the stimulant to fight and defeat the Klingons, and they both used the drug to survive the war. The Klingons are likely to return in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 so perhaps the series will clarify what M'Benga's drug is and show what else resulted from Star Trek: Discovery's Klingon War ending.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.