# Star Trek: Khan (audio drama series)

Star Trek: Khan is an upcoming American audio drama series directed by Fred Greenhalgh and written by Kirsten Beyer and David Mack, based on a story by Nicholas Meyer. It is part of executive producer Alex Kurtzman's expanded Star Trek Universe. The series explores Khan Noonien Singh during the nearly 20 years that he is stranded on the planet Ceti Alpha V between the events of the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Space Seed" (1967) and Meyer's film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).
Naveen Andrews stars as Khan, with Wrenn Schmidt also starring. Work on the project, which originated as a three-episode television miniseries written by Meyer, was first revealed in June 2017. That version did not move forward due to the cost of producing such a short series. Kurtzman revealed plans to expand the Star Trek Universe into scripted podcasts in May 2022, and Meyer announced Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V that September. In November 2023, the series was being expanded from Meyer's three-episode plan. Voice recording was completed by the end of February 2025, when the main cast and crew were announced along with the shortened title Star Trek: Khan.
The nine-episode series is set to premiere on all major podcast streaming platforms in 2025.

## Premise

The series explores the nearly 20 years between the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Space Seed" (1967) and the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) when the genetically modified warlord Khan Noonien Singh and his followers are stranded on the planet Ceti Alpha V by Captain James Kirk of the USS Enterprise. It is billed as the untold and "recently unearthed" story of how Khan went from a "beneficent tyrant and superhuman visionary" to the monstrous figure on a quest for vengeance in The Wrath of Khan.

## Cast and characters

* Naveen Andrews as Khan Noonien Singh: A genetically modified warlord from the 20th Century. After being awoken from suspended animation in the 22nd Century by Captain James Kirk in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Space Seed" (1967), Khan is exiled on the planet Ceti Alpha V. The series explores what happens to Khan over the following 20 years, leading to him swearing vengeance against Kirk in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).
* Wrenn Schmidt as Marla McGivers: An historian serving on the USS Enterprise when it discovers Khan during the episode "Space Seed". McGivers becomes enthralled with Khan and opts to leave Starfleet, joining him on Ceti Alpha V where the pair get married. McGivers dies on the planet before the events of The Wrath of Khan, an event that can be explored in the series.

## Production
### Development

After joining the CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2024) as a consulting producer and writer, Nicholas Meyer revealed in June 2017 that he was also working on a second, unrelated Star Trek project. Meyer previously wrote and directed the films Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). In May 2018, Meyer referred to the project as a "stand-alone Star Trek-related trilogy", and said it was on hold due to the heated relationship between companies CBS and Viacom. As Viacom is the parent-company of Paramount Pictures, the studio behind the Star Trek films, CBS was not able to use content from those films at that time, and Meyer's project was rumored to be a prequel to The Wrath of Khan. The next month, after becoming sole showrunner of Discovery, Alex Kurtzman signed a five-year overall deal with CBS Television Studios to expand the Star Trek franchise beyond Discovery to several new series, miniseries, and animated series. This included a limited series based around the character Khan Noonien Singh and his storyline in The Wrath of Khan, in which he was portrayed by Ricardo Montalbán. Terry Matalas discussed becoming showrunner of the series with Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman, before he joined the series Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023) instead.
The project was still on hold in November 2018, when Meyer revealed that it was a three-episode miniseries titled Ceti Alpha V, named for the planet that Khan and his followers live on before the events of The Wrath of Khan. He was unsure then if the project would be moving forward, and said CBS was concerned with how expensive the series would be to produce relative to its short running time. In August 2019, Viacom announced that it was merging with CBS, bringing the film and television sides of the Star Trek franchise under the control of one company, ViacomCBS, for the first time since they split in 2006. ViacomCBS announced in September 2020 that CBS All Access would be expanded and rebranded as Paramount+ in March 2021. In February 2021, Kurtzman said a new series was unlikely to be added to Paramount+'s slate of Star Trek Universe series until one of the existing five came to an end. A month later, Meyer said the project had originally been suggested to him by Kurtzman and he had thought it was a great idea that he was excited to pursue. He was still interested in making the project, but expressed concern at potentially having to extend it beyond the three episode plan which he felt would make it like the television series Gilligan's Island (1964–1967). In May 2022, Kurtzman said there were discussions about the Star Trek Universe expanding to other media such as video games and dramatic podcasts, and a month later Meyer said he was negotiating a deal to turn Ceti Alpha V into a podcast that he would write and possibly direct.
At a Star Trek Day event on September 8, 2022, Meyer officially announced the scripted podcast as Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V, with Kurtzman, Aaron Baiers, Trevor Roth, and Rod Roddenberry as executive producers. It was set to premiere in early 2023, but no more news was released by November of that year. Meyer said the project had "a kitchen filled with cooks", it was being expanded to nine or ten half-hour episodes, and "whatever timeline we had went out the window some months ago". He added that casting would begin and a composer would be hired once some "behind-the-scenes issues" were resolved, and there was a chance that the podcast could lead to a television or film version if it was successful. In February 2025, the project was re-confirmed as an audio series titled Star Trek: Khan. Longtime Star Trek writers Kirsten Beyer and David Mack had written the series based on Meyer's story, with Fred Greenhalgh directing, Robyn Johnson as supervising producer, and Realm as the production studio and distributor. Beyer, Greenhalgh, and Molly Barton were added as executive producers by then. Mack said he and Beyer were "tasked with developing the series from the core elements of Nick's story" and wrote the scripts in early 2024. He confirmed that the series would consist of nine half-hour episodes.

### Writing

The story takes place between the events of the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Space Seed" (1967) and The Wrath of Khan. At the end of the former, Khan and his genetically modified followers are exiled on the planet Ceti Alpha V by Captain James Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Kirk challenges Khan to turn the Eden-like planet into a utopia, but this does not go well. By the end of the story, Meyer wanted the audience to "weep for [Khan]. I hope that you understand where he's coming from and what his destiny is" leading into the events of The Wrath of Khan. He said the story was about how Khan copes with the challenges he faces on Ceti Alpha V. Khan's exile was previously covered in Greg Cox's Eugenics Wars novel series (2001–2005), but Mack said Meyer had a "completely different take" on the story which he and Beyer hoped would be surprising for fans.

### Casting and voice recording

Casting was underway by late August 2024, when Meyer expected voice recording to begin within a year. Recording was completed by the end of February 2025, when Naveen Andrews was announced as the voice of Khan and Wrenn Schmidt as the voice of Marla McGivers. Andrews replaced Ricardo Montalbán from "Space Seed" and The Wrath of Khan, while Schmidt replaced Madlyn Rhue who portrayed McGivers in "Space Seed".

## Release

In February 2025, the series was announced to be premiering on all major podcast streaming platforms later that year. It was previously set to premiere in early 2023.