Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Star Trek: Khan episode “I Am Marla.” Listen to the episode wherever you consume podcasts, and read at your own risk!
While there’s no more new Star Trek left to enjoy on the 2025 TV schedule, the franchise has given fans an audio drama that might just be the best thing it has released all year. Star Trek: Khan is a story that bridges the gap between the TOS episode “Space Seed” and The Wrath Of Khan, and it adds some complexity and potentially new stories for Khan Noonien Singh.
Now, as the series nears its end, I’m so sad that this didn’t become a series like it was originally planned. This is especially true after the series revealed a major character we previously didn’t know about, and it really has me wondering and hoping if this audio drama is canon.
Star Trek: Khan Revealed He Had A Daughter With Marla McGivers
Khan’s relationship with Marla McGivers, the Starfleet officer who left the Enterprise to be with him after “Space Seed,” is a highlight of the recently released Star Trek: Khan. In recent episodes, we learned she was with child, which became a key part of the story when Marla was attacked by Ceti Alpha Eels while taking a bath in a hot spring.
Doctors were unable to remove the eels from her brain stem, at least without her losing their daughter, Kali, whom she was still pregnant with. Khan was willing to trade the child for the life of his lover, but she was not. She commanded doctors to keep her alive until the child was carried to term, even if it meant her death. Marla died, but her daughter lived.
Khan made no mention of a daughter when he reappeared in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I also believe that the revelation will be a surprise to Ensign Tuvok, Captain Sulu, and other Starfleet officers who hear the logs that were given to Doctor Rosalind Lear.
Obviously, there’s going to be some interest in what happened to Kali and where she is now. I would love to see her appear in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds or other shows from the TOS era and learn more, but will it actually happen? Is this whole story actually canon in the franchise’s lore?
Is Star Trek: Khan Considered Canon?
Prolific Star Trek screenwriter Kirsten Beyer co-wrote Khan with author David Mack, and was asked by TrekMovie.com about whether this series is canon. Beyer shared what she knew about the situation and why it doesn’t matter to her either way:
I don’t know the answer to that, yet. There are conversations I need to have with people because I could see arguments for both. But I don’t know where that’s going to fall. And I hope, ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Come to the story. Enjoy the story or don’t. It’s not going to contradict anything that we already know, that was previously established. But it is going to make it deeper and richer in ways I don’t think you can quite imagine yet.
I can understand why the question surrounding canon can be complicated, given the current state of things in Star Trek. Strange New Worlds is currently working on its final season, and while it did feature Khan in a time-traveling storyline, it takes place before the events of The Wrath of Khan. With no show to highlight this character or development, there’s really nothing to do but wait and see if an opportunity to highlight Kali presents itself.
It’s possible that Kali could get a nod in a lesson taught in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, perhaps being referenced by Robert Picardo’s EMH in a lesson about the Eugenics Wars. I think that would, at present, be the best reference we could hope for, unless Kali was somehow also left in stasis only to be brought back in the 32nd century. However, first, we’ll just have to learn whether the Khan audio drama is canon, and see if we may get some answers about where Kali is now as the series continues.
Star Trek: Khan releases new episodes on Mondays. I’m eager to see how the rest of this drama plays out, and would love it if voice actor Naveen Andrews would eventually appear in live-action as Khan.