Posted in: Audio Dramas, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: Nicholas Meyer, Star Trek: Khan Ceti Alpha V

Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V Update: Casting Underway & More: Meyer

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer shared an update on the Star Trek: Khan - Ceti Alpha V audio drama - including that casting is underway.

It's hard to believe it's almost been two years since Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer announced a prequel audio drama set between the events of The Original Series season one episode "Space Seed" and the 1982 film that saw Captain James T. Kirk's (William Shatner) rival Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) seeks revenge for marooning him and his fellow augments to the once-inhabitable Ceti Alpha V when neighboring planet Ceti Alpha VI explodes, it throws the planet off its orbit, turning it to a desolate desert wasteland. Meyer announced at Star Trek Day 2022 his intentions to close that gap in the audio drama Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V, which chronicles the survival of himself and his crew of the Botany Bay alongside his wife and co-conspirator Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rhue), the former Starfleet lieutenant who helped Khan hijack the U.S.S. Enterprise before her guilty conscience helped retake the ship. He recently updated TrekMovie.com while promoting his latest novel, Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram from Hell.

Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V: Nicholas Meyer Provides Update

After "Space Seed," Kirk gives McGivers a choice: face a court-martial or join Khan on Ceti Alpha V, picking the latter. We find out in TWOK that she was among those who died, presumably following the cataclysmic event fueling Khan's drive for revenge. As far as where production is on Ceti Alpha V, Meyer reminded fans, "It's alive. I'm thinking [recording will start] within the next year. They're casting." He's written three one-hour episode scripts for a TV miniseries, and those "form the nucleus" for the audio drama podcast, expecting it will end up being nine or ten episodes in length.

When it came to Ceti Alpha V's origins, Meyer revealed it came in the form of a conversation with Star Trek franchise gatekeeper and executive producer Alex Kurtzman, who brought the franchise back on TV starting with Discovery, which ended its run earlier in 2024. Aside from the 2009 J. J. Abrams soft reboot with the Kelvin universe timeline, the Prime Universe recasts The Original Series characters with new actors, starting with Ethan Peck as Spock on season two of Discovery. Along with Anson Mount's Captain Christopher Pike and Rebecca Romijn's Commander Una Chin-Riley, the trio became the nucleus that became Strange New Worlds.

Set before TOS, SNW centers on the pre-Kirk Enterprise while slowly introducing TOS characters. Aside from Peck taking on the role made famous by Leonard Nimoy, we also have Celia Rose Gooding playing a younger version of Nyota Uhura, originally played by Nichelle Nichols; Jess Bush plays the Majel Barrett-Roddenberry role of Nurse Christine Chapel, a recurring character on TOS; and introduced in season two was Martin Quinn's Montgomery Scott, originally played by James Doohan. We haven't been introduced to SNW Bones and Sulu, originally played by DeForest Kelley and George Takei, but perhaps that will change in the upcoming season.

The only other depiction of an adult Khan was 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness which saw Benedict Cumberbatch as the Kelvin version of the character. For more information on his sixth Sherlock Holmes novel and Trek-related appearances, you can check out the report.

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