Star Trek Writers Break Down That Massive ‘Vulcan God’ Twist, New Section 31 Secrets, and More

Summary

• Revealing T’Lir as an Organian adds depth to the godly theme in IDW’s Star Trek series, enhancing the character’s identity and Trek lore.
• Exploring advanced beings’ interaction with humanity is core to Star Trek, setting up a grand, unified, and catastrophic story.
• Section 31’s mysterious involvement and upcoming revelations promise an incredible and interwoven tale in the Star Trek universe.

The Star Trek universe is adding new characters and resurrecting old ones in its quest to deliver “the best Star Trek story ever told,” and with its newest headline-making chapter, the IDW comic series is pulling no punches to achieve that goal.

With the latest issue of the series dropping more than one lore-changing bombshell in the true, ‘divine’ nature of Sisko’s Vulcan crew member T’Lir, a new twist in the shadowy operations of Section 31, and Captain Benjamin Sisko’s own mission from the Prophets, fans are reeling. So Screen Rant asked the writers themselves, Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, to break down the newest reveals.

Needless to say, there will be SPOILERS for Star Trek #19 ahead!

SR: One of the new series’ biggest mysteries has finally been solved: the true identity (and nature) of the Vulcan T’Lir. When did you decide to bring the Organians back into this story? What was it about their previous appearances in Trek?

Jackson Lanzing: Finally, it can be told! T’Lir has secretly been an Organian from the very first outline – if we were going to make this a story about “gods,” it was extremely important for there to be a character on the ship who represented what that word actually meant. Incarnating them in a Vulcan body was also extremely important to us, as Star Trek always feels more like Star Trek with a Vulcan in the room, but it also gave us a great stereotype to begin breaking down – either as T’Lir cries when they see the crystalline entities for the first time, or when they keep repeating their mantra to stay grounded and corporeal. The audience could slowly be let into the secret… so that by the time we got to this reveal, it felt like it didn’t invalidate the character you knew, but rather enhanced them.

Collin Kelly: That question of whether T’Lir is the person the audience has grown to care about – and how much their Organian identity means to them – is right at the center of what makes this story tick. They didn’t just *become* a fully adult Vulcan – they were born, they were raised, they’ve lived a full life, all with the memory of another life – another person – under their skin. To help clue the audience in, every issue of this arc will feature a page from T’Lir’s personal journal, one they were keeping when they were still one of the Organians that were actually on the planet to meet Kirk and Spock during that species’ first appearance in “Errand of Mercy.” In those, readers will find a full story for T’Lir… one that will have huge consequences as we get to the end of this arc.

SR: So with one gigantic twist comes another: a journey to the Pleroma, why Sisko is forbidden from attending, and even a search for Wesley Crusher… what made these strands of god-level Trek lore stand out for you to dig into, and find spaces within the existing timeline to further flesh out?

Jackson Lanzing: That interaction between advanced beings and evolved humanity is at the very core of what makes Star Trek, well, Star Trek. It’s been there since the first two episodes – “The Cage” tells us all about how technology might be used to dominate us and change our very reality, while “Where No Man Has Gone Before” asks us what it means for a human to achieve that kind of reality-warping power. We knew from the start that this would be the center of our run.

Collin Kelly: Exactly. These were plot lines that we have wanted to dive into since the very first outline – in fact, of all the stories we planned to tell, “Pleroma” is the tale most crucial to paying off the first arc and establishing momentum for what comes next. As for Wesley, we owe that entirely to PICARD – while we always knew that Wesley became a Traveler, the world only recently learned that the Travelers are ALSO part of the Supervisors, which we established in Star Trek: Year Five as the leadership of the time-and-space caretakers known as Aegis. Now, Aegis was our villain in Year Five – which folks can read in the extraordinary hardcovers IDW has begun releasing – but their context has changed after that story. Are they friend, foe, or something in between? With Beverly on our crew, and the blessing of Paramount, the opportunity to reunite mother and (first born) child was too good to pass up.

Jackson Lanzing: As for why Sisko *very specifically* isn’t invited to this gathering of Gods… read on.

Bringing in a new plot involving Section 31 is a bombshell on its own, but to name that character “Sloan,” and recruiting one of Sisko’s crew?! For the fans who already know the group’s deal, what about this new wrinkle do you want fans to be asking, speculating, or worrying about until the next issue?

Jackson Lanzing: As with everything Section 31, that is extremely classified. What I’ll note is the character’s not named Sloan – they just use Sloan’s authorization. Maybe he’s gained a certain notoriety among the Section 31 agent community? Maybe there are those who wish he’d been able to go further?

Collin Kelly: As for what’s going on with Section 31, fans might actually find more of a hint in the distant past than in their recent actions in the Dominion War…

SR: Your editor Heather Antos has teased that the next chapter of your Star Trek opus will go “beyond the human mind’s wildest imagination.” That’s a grand scope, so any further details or teases you can offer about where these next chapters fit into the larger Trek tapestry?

Collin Kelly: First you ask about Section 31, then you ask about secrets? Is this a set up!? What we can say is that this arc is the start of something incredible – not just for our book, but for the casts of Star Trek: Defiant and Sons of Star Trek as well. This line is truly telling an interwoven story – and the time is drawing near to reveal the secret shape of what’s to come.

Jackson Lanzing: You don’t tell a story about the fragile nature of spacetime without breaking a few realities. Strap in – there’s never been a Star Trek story as grand, as unified, or as catastrophic as the one we’re building to. You thought Day of Blood was a big event? You ain’t seen nothing yet.

Star Trek #19 is available now from IDW Publishing.