{"id":219088,"date":"2025-12-31T02:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T02:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/219088\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T02:06:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T02:06:08","slug":"star-trek-star-hits-back-at-new-shows-klingon-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/219088\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Trek Star Hits Back At New Show’s Klingon Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Star Trek<\/a> is about to launch a new TV series, and it should surprise no one who has been a fan of the franchise that there is already \u201ccontroversy\u201d surrounding the new show\u2019s take on classic established lore. There are a lot of ways that fans get riled up when it comes to Star Trek, but few are as hot-button as the Klingon race. With so much deep lore (and real-life subculture) devoted to Klingons, it\u2019s always hard for new Star Trek projects to put their own stamp on the characters \u2013 and Starfleet Academy<\/a> is proving to be no different. <\/p>\n

Recent trailers and promos for Starfleet Academy have introduced Jay-Den Kraag, a Klingon cadet played by actor Karim Dian\u00e9. However, whereas fans are used to seeing Star Trek\u2019s Klingon characters showing off fury in battle or looking grim and\/or disgruntled in Starfleet\u2019s ranks, Jay-Den Kraag is proving to be a different sort of beast. <\/p>\n

This particular Klingon character doesn\u2019t just want to join Starfleet: he wants to become a medical officer. That compassionate, altruistic streak, combined with footage of Kraag smiling (smiling!), has already made some Star Trek fans react like the franchise is crumbling in front of us. However, Karim Dian\u00e9 feels differently. <\/p>\n

Klingons Are Healers Too (Not Just Killers)<\/p>\n

\"\"Paramount+<\/p>\n

The newest Star Trek Klingon spoke to SFX Magazine<\/a> about taking on the role and the fan reactions. When asked if he thought Jay-Den Kraag was breaking new ground for Star Trek, Karim Dian\u00e9 actually had a rebuttal that many fans should consider: \u201cAbsolutely not. I feel like this may be the first time that we\u2019re seeing onscreen a Klingon who is this different. But from what I understand, the Klingons \u2013 like any community \u2013 don\u2019t just have warriors. Healers have always been there.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a pitch-perfect response from Dian\u00e9: if Klingons are a warrior race, then there certainly needs to be some side of their culture based in healing techniques. Warriors need wounds repaired; healers know the body and its weakest points better than anyone, an expert at fixing pain and injury doesn\u2019t exclude a Klingon healer from being able to turn it all around and use that knowledge to cause damage and pain, if ever necessary. That exact kind of range may very well end up being a part of a Starfleet Academy episode, focused on Kraag (and we\u2019d be into it). <\/p>\n

In general, Star Trek has been adding more and more layers of nuance, complexity, and range to the Klingons \u2013 going all the way back to Michael Dorn\u2019s Worf in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Dorn has been a one-man showcase for the deep internal conflicts within a Klingon, and there should really be no debate about the range those characters can have. The character design? Sure, we can debate that all day. But a compassionate Klingon who isn\u2019t afraid of having friends and smiling isn\u2019t that big of a deal. <\/p>\n

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will stream on Paramount+ starting on January 15th. You can discuss all things Star Trek on the ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Star Trek is about to launch a new TV series, and it should surprise no one who has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,3282,57251,51828,93834,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-219088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-paramount","12":"tag-regular-news","13":"tag-star-trek","14":"tag-star-trek-starfleet-academy","15":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}