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Why McCoy & Sulu Aren’t In Strange New Worlds’ Finale
The Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1 finale Enterprise crew looks very different compared to "Balance of Terror" - here's why the likes of McCoy and Sulu are missing, but Sam Kirk is still around. Set seven years before Star Trek: The Original Series, Strange New Worlds follows Captain Pike's Enterprise, and although some familiar faces are already in place (Spock, Uhura, Nurse Chapel, etc...) the classic crew is still very much in its gestation.
Strange New Worlds' most notable absentees (captain's chair aside, of course) are Dr. McCoy, Hikaru Sulu and Montgomery Scott, with their positions taken by Dr. M'Benga, Erica Ortegas, and Hemmer, respectively. Audiences can assume this trio gradually fly the nest sometime between Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: The Original Series, making way for their 1960s counterparts.
Thanks to some, in the words of Captain Pike himself, time crystal stuff, Strange New Worlds' season 1 finale ("A Quality of Mercy") takes place during Star Trek: The Original Series' timeline, retelling classic season 1 episode "Balance of Terror." The key difference is that Captain Pike never suffers his fateful radiation accident, so continues as captain of the Enterprise, leaving James T. Kirk to take command of the Farragut instead. "A Quality of Mercy" introduces even more familiar figures from the TOS era, with Scotty and ill-fated newlyweds Tomlinson and Martine all appearing on Pike's alternate Enterprise. So, what happened to the rest?
Where Are McCoy & Sulu In Strange New Worlds' Season 1 Finale?
It's strange that Strange New Worlds' season 1 finale would feature Scotty, Tomlinson and Martine on top of preexisting Star Trek: The Original Series characters like Spock and Uhura, yet Dr. McCoy and Lt. Sulu remain absent. In the chaotic wilds of Star Trek's spacetime continuum, any small butterfly could've affected the duo's career paths. Maybe when Pike skipped the cadet inspection and spared himself and Starfleet's youngsters a traumatic day out, for example, he visited a bar, met McCoy, and accidentally convinced the good doctor to become a veterinarian instead. With time travel, very little is certain.
Nevertheless, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds suggests the real reason McCoy and Sulu are missing from "A Quality of Mercy" is loyalty between captains and their crews. From the very beginning, Pike and Ortegas share a bond borne from past adventures the audience is yet to witness. Ortegas' actress, Melissa Navia, has even claimed Strange New Worlds season 2 will explore her character's friendship with Pike further, hinting toward some deep and meaningful backstory. Most likely, Ortegas remained at the ship's helm so long as Captain Pike was sitting behind her giving orders, but once Pike left Enterprise, the pilot stepped down too, leaving a vacancy for Sulu.
McCoy's absence in Strange New Worlds' season 1 finale is a little harder to explain, since Dr. M'Benga does appear on Kirk's Enterprise during Star Trek: The Original Series, albeit not as permanent chief medical officer. Question marks remain over whether M'Benga got demoted and replaced by McCoy in Star Trek's Prime timeline or - far more likely - left Enterprise to study Vulcan medicine before returning as a stand-in when McCoy wasn't available. In either case, it seems M'Benga was happy to stick around for Pike's sake in the "A Quality of Mercy" alternate timeline, once again demonstrating loyalty among Strange New Worlds' crew. Maybe it was Pike's Enterprise exit that inspired M'Benga to broaden his studies beyond Starfleet's flagship. Given their friendship, it's also plausible that McCoy would follow Kirk, and was actually among the alternate timeline Farragut's unseen crew.
Though hardly a famous face, Lt. Stiles is another "Balance of Terror" character not seen in Strange New Worlds' season 1 finale, with Jenna Mitchell handling his duties. Star Trek hasn't revealed enough about either to explain why Jenna appears on Pike's bridge and not Kirk's, but the switch does tease a general reshuffle of personnel when Enterprise's five-year mission under new leadership began. Some folks stayed; some did not.
Why Sam Kirk (& Others) Are In Strange New Worlds' Season 1 Finale
Strange New Worlds' season 1 finale absences are especially odd because a few characters present during "Balance of Terror" - Scotty, Tomlinson and Martine - do make cameos... but there is an explanation. By killing Hemmer earlier in the season, Strange New Worlds already set up Scotty's arrival. The chief engineer most likely served under Pike for a few years before staying aboard during the handover to Kirk. Tomlinson and Martine, meanwhile, could be on the Enterprise already in Strange New Worlds, beavering away in the background. Either that, or their Star Trek roles are so insignificant, a complete rewrite of time didn't affect them whatsoever...
The bigger question is why Sam Kirk remains among the Enterprise crew in Strange New Worlds' "A Quality of Mercy" timeline. Jim's brother joins Enterprise as a life sciences officer at Captain Pike's request, but is no longer aboard during Star Trek: The Original Series, working instead from a colony research station alongside his wife and children. If Captain Pike remains captain of the Enterprise, however, Sam Kirk boldly goes nowhere... which would be fine if the next captain wasn't Sam's own brother. Something definitely feels off about Sam staying aboard the Enterprise all while Pike is captain, but leaving as soon as his brother comes aboard.
Maybe the trauma of Pike's accident means Sam is haunted by Enterprise, regardless of who becomes her captain next. Or perhaps concern about working alongside family members pushed Sam Kirk onto a new path. Either way, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds proves how different the Kirk brothers' Starfleet careers could've been.
