Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 3 – “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” has altered the Star Trek timeline, and a curious side effect is Khan Noonien-Singh (Desmond Sivan) is now Canadian. In “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) and an alternate reality version of Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) time-traveled to 21st-century Toronto to stop an attack that would alter the timeline. La’an discovers the target of a Romulan assassin named Sera (Adelaide Kane) was her ancestor, Khan, who is just a young boy.
Star Trek: The Original Series established in the season 1 episode “Space Seed” that Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) and his genetically engineered followers fled Earth in 1996 aboard the SS Botany Bay. A product of eugenics, Khan came to rule a quarter of the Earth before the Eugenics Wars of 1992-1996 overthrew him. According to Star Trek Into Darkness, Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) was created by a selective breeding program in 1959. This would also hold in Prime Timeline canon as well since Khan’s history predates the creation of the alternate Kelvin Timeline in 2230 as established by J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek 2009 movie. Khan’s origins are also suspected to be Sikh from the northern region of India, according to his future wife, Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rhue).
Why Khan Is Now Canadian In Strange New Worlds’ New Star Trek Timeline
According to Sera in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the Temporal Wars and various meddlings with Earth’s timeline have changed the original course of history. Khan’s creation and heyday in the 1990s has been altered by time “pushing back” and, as a result, Khan has now been born in 21st-century Toronto. This makes Khan Canadian, although his ethnicity appears to properly be of South Asian origin. While it’s possible Khan was born in India, the fact that the Noonien-Singh family owns an Institute for Cultural Advancement with a genetics lab in Toronto would indicate Khan was created there, and his country of birth is now Canada in Strange New Worlds‘ revised Star Trek timeline. This is hammered home by drawings of the Toronto skyline on the wall in Khan’s bedroom.
Khan now being Canadian appears to be the result of production changes early in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2. “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” was once slated to be the season 2 premiere of Strange New Worlds, but production of the episode was pushed back due to COVID-related reasons, so it became the third episode of season 2 instead. There was also talk of filming “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” in New York City before the decision was made to shoot in Toronto, which is where production of Strange New Worlds is based. Therefore, Khan missed his chance to possibly be an American who was born in New York City instead of a Toronto-born Canadian
Will Star Trek Deal With Strange New Worlds’ Khan Timeline Changes?
According to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman, the season 1 premiere actually already established the timeline change when Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) showed Earth’s World War III to the people of Kiley 279. Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3 now confirms that Khan’s creation and the Eugenics Wars have been pushed forward to the 21st century, which is an effort by Strange New Worlds to maintain Star Trek as an “aspirational future” and to make these events more relevant. However, such major changes will have ripple effects on existing movies and TV shows.
Hopefully, there is a greater plan in place for all of Star Trek on Paramount+, not just Strange New Worlds, to address the new changes to the timeline. Star Trek: Discovery season 3 confirmed the Temporal Wars introduced in Star Trek: Enterprise happened, and Strange New Worlds has now shown the results in the timeline pertaining to Khan. Perhaps dealing with the results of the changes in the timeline, including the new 21st-century origin and Canadian citizenship of Khan Noonien-Singh, will be a massive story that can span all of Star Trek beyond Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.