September 8 marked the anniversary of the primary Star Trek episode airing on tv, launching some of the profitable and iconic multimedia franchises of all time. For the franchise’s 59th anniversary, a scripted podcast specializing in the villain Khan Noonien Singh started airing on numerous podcast platforms, in addition to on the official Star Trek YouTube web page. As well as, the collection has solid Misplaced actor Naveen Andrews because the title function.
Andrews’ casting is a very important growth, as he’s solely the second actor of South-Asian descent to play the character, following a quick cameo by Desmond Stevens, who portrayed the kid model of Khan in a scene in Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds. Andrews can be the primary actor of Indian descent to play Khan Noonien Singh, who’s canonically Indian within the franchise and was recognized as “a Sikh from the northern area of India” in his very first look. Whereas Andrews would possibly solely be voicing Khan in an audio format, hopefully he’ll sometime get to embody the character in live-action and proper a mistake the franchise has made with Khan for the reason that starting.
The Origins of Khan in ‘Star Trek’
Khan first appeared within the Star Trek: The Authentic Collection episode “House Seed.” Performed by the legendary Ricardo Montalbán, Khan is a part of a genetically engineered superior race of tremendous troopers who try to beat the planet in what the franchise labels the Eugenics Wars. Khan solely appeared in a single episode of the unique collection, however would return within the 1982 characteristic movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, with Montalbán reprising his function. Khan’s standing within the critically acclaimed movie, in addition to his actions resulting in Spock’s loss of life, helped cement him as an iconic Star Trek villain.
Montalbán is phenomenal within the function of Khan, and far of the character’s lasting legacy is rooted in his efficiency. But he was born in Mexico to Spanish immigrant dad and mom, which means he’s not an genuine or correct decide for Khan’s Indian heritage. In 1967, Hollywood generally solid actors outdoors the ethnicity of the character, typically main non-white actors to painting a number of non-white ethnicities. It definitely was not a very good look, and seen by means of a contemporary lens, it’s problematic on many ranges. Nevertheless, on the time, it was largely about what number of non-white actors received work, since practically each function was centered on what was perceived because the default norm: white.
That is what makes Montalbán’s enjoying of Khan so difficult. He was a revolutionary actor in his personal proper for the time interval, breaking boundaries at a time when Hollywood provided only a few main roles to Latino actors. His depiction of Khan felt progressive on the time, however as occasions change, what was as soon as progressive turns into dated. Montalbán generally is a nice Khan who broke down boundaries for Latino actors. Nonetheless, it is usually price noting that it’s flawed to solid a Spanish actor to play an Indian character, simply as it might be flawed to solid an Indian actor to play a personality of Spanish descent. Star Trek is a franchise that regularly grows and evolves with the occasions, and one would suppose that within the twenty first Century, the franchise can be extra attuned to this. That wasn’t the case, nevertheless.
Whitewashing Khan in ‘Star Trek’
J.J. Abrams determined to make Khan the first antagonist for his 2013 movie Star Trek Into Darkness, the sequel to his 2009 reboot. The movie solid Benedict Cumberbatch within the function. Followers had already pegged it to be Khan, on condition that Benicio del Toro was the primary rumored actor for the villain. Casting an actor of Latino descent to play a Star Trek villain led many to imagine it might be Khan on this new timeline, they usually had been appropriate in that assumption. Regardless of followers figuring out years prematurely that Cumberbatch can be enjoying Khan, the film’s advertising and the primary half of the movie itself hold his identification a thriller.
When the movie lastly reveals that he’s Khan, it clearly raises the truth that they solid a white British actor to play the function of a personality who is meant to be from India. That is made worse by the truth that the film initially thought-about Puerto Rican actor Benicio del Toro to play Khan. The filmmakers by no means appeared to contemplate an actor of Indian descent, however as a substitute an actor who would remind audiences of Ricardo Montalbán. It nonetheless falls again on the uncomfortable notion of casting any brown-skinned actor to play different non-white ethnicities, which was dangerous in 1967 and unacceptable in 2013.
Then there may be the large whitewashing elephant within the room. Since that is alleged to be the identical Khan that Kirk finds in Botany Bay in Star Trek: The Authentic Collection, however in a unique actuality, the reason for why Khan not solely appeared so drastically completely different but additionally white was defined in a prequel tie-in comedian. The comedian reveals that Admiral Marcus, who found Khan in Botany Bay on this timeline, had Khan endure facial and vocal surgical procedure to hide his identification. In impact, the story reveals how Khan is actually whitewashed.
It is also not like they could not have solid an actor of Indian descent to play Khan. The present Khan actor, Naveen Andrews, starred in Misplaced, which was produced by Star Trek director J.J. Abrams and created by Star Trek Into Darkness author Damon Lindelof. He already had a working relationship with the artistic staff. The proper Khan was proper there.
The choice to solid Benedict Cumberbatch was extensively controversial. Star Trek Into Darkness co-writer Roberto Orci tried to defend the change, saying:
Mainly, as we went by means of the casting course of and we started honing in on the themes of the film, it grew to become uncomfortable for me to help demonizing anybody of coloration, significantly any one in all Center Japanese descent or anybody evoking that. One of many factors of the film is that we should be cautious in regards to the villain inside us, not another race.
This definitely is, on its face, an inexpensive protection. Not wanting to color an actor of coloration as a terrorist is an efficient name, however then it raises the query of why trouble making this villain Khan? It did not must be Khan, and Star Trek Into Darkness is commonly criticized for its determination to incorporate Khan as a result of the dramatic reveal of his identification within the film holds no significance for the primary characters, as they’ve by no means encountered him earlier than. It’s purely for the viewers.
If Star Trek Into Darkness wished to inform a narrative about Starfleet taking up terrorism, particularly a risk from inside, however wished to keep away from any significantly racially charged optics, they may have created their very own unique character and even retrofitted a earlier Star Trek: The Authentic Collection villain like Gary Mitchell (“The place No Man Has Gone Earlier than”) or Ben Finney (“Court docket Martial”), each of whom have ties to the Federation. The filmmakers as a substitute opted for Khan as a result of he was a widely known title, however did not take into account the broader implications of the story they had been telling. In an try to not painting a personality of South-Asian descent in a detrimental gentle, they finally whitewashed the character completely.
Genuine Casting for Khan in 2025
After Star Trek Into Darkness, the franchise’s stewards seem decided to appropriate many years of neglecting the character’s heritage by selecting extra genuine casting. This primary started in Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds with the reveal of La’An Noonien-Singh, a descendant of Khan, performed by Christina Chong. Chong is of each English and Chinese language descent. Then, within the episode “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” a baby model of Khan is performed by Desmond Sivan, who was the primary actor of South Asian descent to play the character.
This now brings us to Naveen Andrews voicing Khan in an audio drama, one set within the 20 years between Star Trek and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Khan was initially supposed to be a miniseries or animated undertaking, however was reformatted into an audio drama. Whereas it may not be the identical as seeing the actor play him on display, it’s a step in the fitting course. Hopefully, it would result in Andrews enjoying Khan in live-action, probably in Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds and even the upcoming Starfleet Academy, both by means of some time-travel or Holodeck mechanic.
Whereas Star Trek has developed a foul behavior of primarily doing in-universe remakes of common episodes from The Authentic Collection, as Unusual New Worlds‘ third season penultimate episode principally retreads the plot of the Kirk/Gorn episode “Area.”, the possibility to revisit Khan and inform an untold a part of his story feels too good to go up. It might need taken the franchise 58 years, however Star Trek has lastly solid an correct Khan Noonien Singh.