Warning: SPOILERS For Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 9 – “Terrarium”Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ executive producers confirm that they retconned the Gorn and how it affects Captain James T. Kirk’s (William Shatner) legendary fight with the Gorn in Star Trek: The Original Series season 1’s “Arena.”
At the end of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 9, “Terrarium,” a Metron (Dariush Zaheh) reveals that they manipulated the Gorn and Lieutenant Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia). The Metron have a bizarre interest in experimenting with humans and the Gorn, and how they interact with each other.
TrekMovie spoke to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers about season 3. Goldsman and Myers confirm that “Terrarrium” suggests that the memories of the Gorn have been “tampered with by the Metron,” and that there may be another encounter between Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: The Original Series. Read their quotes below:
Akiva Goldsman: “There’s a suggestion that the memories of the Gorn are being tampered with by the Metron. And that they may be tampered with again in the future. So, the idea being that potentially, there has been another encounter between what we just saw [in ‘Terrarium’] and ‘Arena.’ And as a result of that encounter, all memory of the Gorn has been wiped.”
Henry Alonso Myers: Myers: “Part of what we try to do is set up a future us problem and suggest to the viewers that there are stories you have not yet seen. We have set up the idea that there are stories you have not yet seen that will tell you the story. If you keep watching our show, you will get to experience those stories. That’s the goal.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Gorn Retcon Explained
Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers previously told TrekMovie, “We’ll chase an idea that ‘Arena’ could feel brand-new by the time we get to ‘Arena.” The Metron’s continued experiments with the Gorn and humans is that idea. The Metron seem to have a vested interest in understanding humans and the Gorn, and having them understand each other.
Goldsman and Myers suggest that there could be another story set between Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 and Star Trek: The Original Series season 1 that wipes humans’ memories of the Gorn.
This would explain why Captain Kirk, Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and the USS Enterprise crew who had multiple encounters with the Gorn in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seem to have no memory of those prior incidents in TOS‘ “Arena.”
However, Akiva Goldsman also told TrekMovie that after Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, “I am done with the Gorn,” indicating that this next story about the Metron may not happen in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seasons 4 and 5.
Our Take On Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Retconning The Gorn
Like the Metron themselves, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers are playing with Star Trek: The Original Series‘ canon, but their retcon may be the only way to reconcile how much Strange New Worlds has changed the Gorn.
If the third story involving the Metron, Starfleet, and the Gorn doesn’t take place in the remaining seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, then it’s possible Myers and Goldsman are saving this story if their spinoff about Captain Kirk (Paul Wesley) in command of the USS Enterprise, dubbed Star Trek: Year One, happens.
However, after three seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds that heavily featured the Gorn, I echo Akiva Goldsman’s sentiments of wanting to be done with the alien reptiles. Star Trek: Year One, years from now, would be a fine way to continue Goldsman and Myers’ Gorn retcon.
