Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s Hidden Connection To Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk

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Be warned, this article contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 6 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, titled “Come, Let’s Away.” The episode includes a surprising connection to the 2009 Star Trek reboot film starring Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk. Written by Kenneth Lin & Kiley Rossetter and directed by Larry Teng, the episode features the return of Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti), who seeks revenge against Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) and Starfleet Academy.

In the sixth episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, it was discovered that Nus Braka was working with the Furies. The Furies, dangerous creatures that are part alien and part human, had captured a group of Starfleet cadets on the abandoned ship, the USS Miyazaki. To rescue the cadets and bring them back to the Academy, the USS Athena had to disable the Furies’ hidden starship.

From the bridge of the USS Athena, Genesis Lythe and Darem Reymi devised a plan to locate the Furies’ secret ship—an idea that was primarily Genesis’s. Commander Lura Thok enthusiastically complimented Genesis’s insight, noting that, as a Dar-Sha, she could see Genesis used her observational skills with exceptional accuracy, comparing it to the keen vision of a hengra.

Starfleet Academy’s Secret Captain Kirk Star Trek 2009 Connection Explained

Jörg Hillebrand, a well-known expert on Star Trek: Picard season 3, noticed a connection between the hengra creatures from Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and a similar monster that chased James T. Kirk in the 2009 Star Trek movie. He shared this observation on social media, pointing out the clear link between the two.

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After being exiled from the USS Enterprise for mutiny by Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto), Jim Kirk found himself hunted by a huge predator called a hengrauggi across the icy plains of Delta Vega. This multi-eyed creature almost killed Kirk, but Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy), who was also stranded on the planet by Nero (Eric Bana), managed to drive it away.

Alex Kurtzman, an executive producer and co-showrunner of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, co-wrote the 2009 Star Trek film with Roberto Orci. Together with director J.J. Abrams, they created the alien species called the hengrauggi, possibly drawing inspiration from the monster in Abrams’ film Cloverfield. The comparison of Genesis’ eyes to a hengra suggests these creatures exist in Star Trek’s original timeline, specifically Delta Vega, just as they do in the alternate timeline created by Abrams.

Starfleet Academy Has 3 Intiguing New Star Trek Aliens To Explore

The series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has revealed a key detail about Lythe’s species, the Dar-Sha: their eyes possess remarkable accuracy, described as having “the precision of a hengra.” Aside from a unique feature of curved ridges instead of eyebrows, Genesis, as Lythe is known, appears largely human. She’s an exceptionally bright, motivated cadet and is well on her way to achieving her goal of becoming a Starfleet Captain.

The main cast of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy includes two new alien species: the Khionians, who resemble fish and include the character Darem Reymi, and the Kasqians, who are holographic beings. Among these new aliens, Series Acclimation Mil, or SAM (played by Kerrice Brooks), stands out as the most developed character, acting as an emissary for her people.

We first saw Darem’s natural appearance in the premiere episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, where Reymi explained that Khionians can survive in space without air for up to eight minutes. Beyond that, not much is known about the Dar-Sha or Khionians yet, but there’s plenty of opportunity to learn more as season 1 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy continues, and with season 2 currently being finished.

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2026-02-18 06:08