What Happened To Captain Kirk’s Body? Strange New Worlds Left Behind A Star Trek Mystery

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” left behind a mystery of what happened to the body of Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley)? An alternate reality version of Captain Kirk and Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh were sent back in time to 21st century Toronto to stop a Romulan attack that would irrevocably alter Star Trek’s Prime Timeline. Sadly, Kirk did not survive the mission because he was killed by a Romulan time-traveler named Sera (Adelaide Kane).
The Captain Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3 was very different from the Prime Timeline’s Lt. James T. Kirk and the previous alternate reality version of Captain Kirk played by Paul Wesley. In “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” Kirk came from a timeline where the Romulans destroyed 21st century Toronto, which sparked a forever war between Earth and Romulus. James Kirk was born in space on the USS Iowa and was a soldier in the United Earth Space Fleet, which was mired in a losing war with the Romulans. Freed from his role in the war, however, Captain Kirk found great joy in the past of the Earth he never knew, and his enthusiasm endeared James to La’an Noonien-Singh. La’an fell in love with Kirk, but she immediately lost James to Sera’s assassin’s bullet.
Strange New Worlds Created A Mystery About Captain Kirk’s Body
However, Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3’s ending created a big mystery of what happened to Captain Kirk’s body after La’an returned to her proper time. Sera shot and killed Kirk before they entered the secret areas of the Noonien-Singh Institute for Cultural Advancement. Kirk died in La’an’s arms, but she had no time to grieve because Sera forced her into the institute at gunpoint, eventually arriving in the room where the young Khan Noonien-Singh (Desmond Sivan) lived. La’an and Sera then fought, and the Romulan self-disintegrated after La’an shot her. But while this left no trace of the Romulan time-traveler, what about Kirk?
La’an left Khan’s room and time traveled back to the 23rd century to learn that Star Trek Prime Timeline was back on course. But that means Captain Kirk’s corpse was left behind at the entrance of the Noonien-Singh Institute. No doubt, the Toronto police would have arrived, and it’s even possible that it may have been the same cops who tried to arrest Kirk earlier in the episode. However, Kirk carried no identification on him. Since James won’t be born for another 300 years, Kirk would have just been a John Doe sent to the morgue. No one in the 21st century could know this was Captain James T. Kirk, from an alternate reality, no less. It’s likely Kirk’s body would have been disposed of, and World War III or the Eugenics Wars would have wiped out any reminder of James T. Kirk in Toronto.
Will Star Trek Resurrect The Original Captain Kirk?
Strange New Worlds killing off Kirk and leaving behind a mystery about his body the unanswered questions about Kirk’s corpse created by Star Trek: Picard season 3. The body of the Prime Timeline’s Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) was revealed to be stored in Section 31’s black site, Daystrom Station, in Picard season 3. Kirk died in Star Trek Generations, but his corpse was retrieved from Veridian III and is now held in Daystrom Station under the auspices of Project Phoenix.
The possibility of resurrecting Captain Kirk seems to be something Star Trek on Paramount+ is keeping in its back pocket. Bringing back the original Kirk would likely require some kind of CGI deep faking to mimic William Shatner at the age Captain Kirk was when he died, or possibly even how he appeared in Star Trek: The Original Series. But if and when Star Trek brings Captain Kirk back to life, it would likely be in the 25th century of Star Trek: Picard, while the alternate reality Captain Kirk of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a lost casualty of time traveling to 21st century Toronto.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.