Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3’s Surprising Death Toll Revealed

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Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds features a lot of deaths – surprisingly, numbering in the thousands. Despite the fun and adventures Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and his crew on the USS Enterprise had, they couldn’t avoid significant losses.

Despite some Star Trek fans finding season 3 a bit too different and straying from what makes Star Trek special, it’s mostly known for taking creative risks with different television genres.

Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is known for its fun and quirky moments – like the playfully over-the-top ‘Wedding Bell Blues’ and ‘Four-and-a-Half Vulcans,’ even including a dance between Spock and La’an – rather than for a high number of character deaths.

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, death was a frequent occurrence. While the episodes “Wedding Bell Blues” and “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans” didn’t feature any deaths, one episode saw thousands of characters perish. Here’s a complete list of who died throughout the season.

Many Gorn

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 1 – “Hegemony, Part II”

The third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds began with a thrilling escape as Lieutenant La’an Noonien Singh, Lieutenant Erica Ortegas, Dr. Joseph M’Benga, and Lieutenant Sam Kirk battled their way out of a Gorn ship, eliminating numerous Gorn with their phasers.

It’s unknown exactly how many Gorn were defeated during the escape to the shuttle, but one Gorn nearly killed Lieutenant Ortegas. La’an quickly shot and killed that Gorn with her phaser. Erica Ortegas lost a lot of blood piloting the damaged shuttle back to the Enterprise, but thankfully she recovered.

Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) appeared to be succumbing to a dangerous Gorn infection. However, thanks to the quick thinking of Lt. Spock and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), they were able to keep her alive through the end of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3.

Bytha & Klingons

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 3 – “Shuttle To Kenfori”

In a recent episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Captain Pike and Dr. M’Benga journeyed to the dangerous planet Kenfori. Their mission: to find a rare Chimera blossom, hoping it could save Captain Batel’s life by preventing her transformation into a human-Gorn hybrid.

M’Benga and Pike unknowingly entered a deserted Federation laboratory with a dark secret: it created zombies, even Klingon ones. At the same time, Bytha (Christine Horn) and two Klingon allies arrived on Kenfori, determined to get revenge on Dr. M’Benga for the death of her father, Ambassador Dak’Rah (Robert Wisdom), as seen in season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Captain Pike and Dr. M’Benga were the only ones who made it off Kenfori alive. Bytha and her followers were overcome by the Klingon zombies, and Bytha gave her life to allow the Starfleet officers to reach the Enterprise. Kenfori was already overrun with the undead when they arrived, and Bytha’s group added to the growing number of zombies.

Tony Hart, Lee Woods, Sunny Lupino, Joanie Gloss

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 4 – “A Space Adventure Hour”

Despite a murder mystery in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 4, “A Space Adventure Hour,” no one truly died. The events unfolded within a holodeck simulation, where Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh was playing a detective character. Even though the safety features were turned off, the deaths weren’t real, which was a relief.

La’an investigated the murder of Tony Hart, a studio executive in Hollywood. The prime suspects were those involved with the recently canceled science fiction show, The Last Frontier. As she pursued the killer, three more people connected to the show were murdered: actor Lee Woods (played by Melissa Navia), producer Sunny Lupino (Rebecca Romijn), and powerful agent Joanie Gloss (Celia Rose Gooding).

The killer turned out to be Lt. Spock, but he wasn’t real—he was a holographic character within the program. La’an managed to get out of the holodeck without any injuries, but the incident effectively ended Starfleet’s idea of putting holodecks on starships in the 23rd century. That technology wouldn’t appear until the 24th century, as seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

N’Jal

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 5 – “Through The Lens Of Time”

The latest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, “Through the Lens of Time,” brought back high-stakes danger. A team including Nurse Christine Chapel and Dr. Roger Korby (Cillian O’Sullivan) discovered an ancient temple on the planet Vadia Nine, only to become trapped in a prison created by a dangerous alien race known as the Vezda.

N’Jal, who acted as a go-between for the M’Kroon and Starfleet, was the first to fall victim in “Through the Lens of Time.” He discovered the evil hidden within the temple and was killed by its defenses while trying to warn others. Fortunately, the quick thinking of Nurse Chapel’s team prevented them from sharing N’Jal’s fate.

Ensign Dana Gamble

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 5 – “Through The Lens Of Time”

Okay, so Ensign Dana Gamble, played by Chris Myers, really stood out to me in episode 5 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 – he became the second casualty, and his story was pretty intense. He got blinded by a damaged artifact while exploring this ancient temple on Vadia Nine. They beamed him back to the Enterprise to try and help, but what nobody realized at the time was that he’d actually been infected by something called the Vezda. It was a really unsettling moment, and set up a lot of tension for the rest of the episode.

Okay, so this episode really got to me. We meet Ensign Dana Gamble, a bright, eager young doctor fresh out of training and thrilled to be on his first away mission. It’s heartbreaking, because he doesn’t make it back the same. Turns out, he’s essentially eaten by this creature, the Vezda, but not before the Vezda gets into his mind and uses his memories to trick Dr. M’Benga and the others. It’s a clever deception, but ultimately, it just underscores the tragedy – Dana Gamble died on that planet, Vadia Nine, and what came back to the Enterprise wasn’t really him.

7,000 Scavengers

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 6 – “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail”

Episode 6 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, titled “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail,” featured the highest number of deaths in the season. This episode also marked a significant moment in Star Trek history, as Lieutenant Commander James T. Kirk (played by Paul Wesley) took command of a starship as acting Captain for the very first time.

While serving as acting captain of the USS Farragut, Kirk successfully rescued the Starship Enterprise after it had been captured by the Scavengers. These mysterious pirates absorbed technology to power and improve their huge ship. Kirk took a big risk, but it paid off – he freed the Enterprise and destroyed the Scavengers’ vessel.

Kirk was devastated to find out his rescue mission resulted in the deaths of 7,000 Scavengers. The situation became even more troubling when the crew of the USS Enterprise discovered these Scavengers were actually descendants of humans who had left Earth in the 21st century, seeking a new home among the stars. Now, as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds moves into seasons 4 and 5, Kirk is burdened with the weight of those lost lives.

Jikaru

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 7 – “What Is Starfleet?”

One of the most emotionally impactful moments in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 was the death of the Jikaru in the episode “What is Starfleet?” The Jikaru was a huge, glowing lifeform, as large as a starship, discovered in the oceans of the planet Tychus-B, and it chose to end its own life.

The Jikaru were forced into the Metamorphosis Program, created by the Lutani. The Lutani aimed to breed massive creatures, known as “space dragons,” to use as weapons against the Kesar in their war.

The Jikaru was a thinking, feeling being, and it made the heartbreaking decision to end its own life in the sun, rather than allow the Lutani to exploit it as a weapon.

Gorn Pilot

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 9 – “Terrarium”

A heartbreaking moment in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 9, “Terrarium,” was the death of the female Gorn pilot (Warren Scherer) who had become friends with Lt. Erica Ortegas. Both Ortegas and the Gorn pilot were tricked and held captive on a moon within a strange wormhole as part of a bizarre experiment conducted by the Metron (Dariush Zadeh).

Okay, so I was totally on the edge of my seat when La’an Noonien-Singh took down that Gorn pilot. It happened so fast – she saw it moving and instantly thought it was going for Ortegas, so she acted without hesitation. It was intense! And honestly, it’s not the first time she’s saved Erica’s life by taking out a Gorn – this makes two now. It’s really establishing her as a protector, and I’m here for it.

Even though the Metron erased Ortegas’s memory of encountering the space god, Erica still remembered her friendship with the Gorn.

Captain Marie Batel

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 10 – “New Life And New Civilizations”

Captain Marie Batel isn’t truly gone; she now exists as the Beholder, a guardian responsible for containing the dangerous Vezda within a complex, otherworldly prison on the planet Vadia Nine.

Essentially, the woman Captain Christopher Pike loved, Marie, died in the final episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3. Pike reacted to her death with the same grief someone would feel for a close family member, because that’s what she was to him.

Captain Batel is gone, but Marie gave Chris a final, comforting gift: a different reality where they shared a life, had a child, and grew old together happily.

Captain Batel discovered that the experiences from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3—which transformed her into a human-Gorn hybrid—were actually preparing her for a larger destiny as the Beholder. Accepting this fate, she chose to sacrifice her former life to safeguard the galaxy from the threat of the Vezda.

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2025-11-10 13:33