It’s a Star Trek adage as old as the franchise itself: If it moves, Jim Kirk will flirt with it. The intrepid Captain of the enterprise has cycled through three actors and 5 decades of swashbuckling adventures, making sure to nab plenty of lip locks along the way. But while Captain Kirk’s affinity for up-close-and-personal alien encounters continues to be a trademark element of the character, there seems to be one element of his interplanetary romancing that still hasn’t caught up to the 21st century: gender.
With the return of Paul Wesley’s Kirk in this week’s “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” this makes the third time we’ve met the captain in live action, and when there’s a new Kirk, there’s a new *someone* for him to woo (or at the very least, flirt with). Strange New World’s arbitrary Kirk love interest is revealed in season 2, episode 3 to be La’An.
Now, on paper, this is about as solid of a choice as we could’ve gotten from the existing Strange New Worlds cast members. Personality-wise, La’an’s intensity and steadfast dedication towards those she loves makes for a refreshing counterpoint to Kirk’s almost cheesy, old-Hollywood charm—a very believable sort of “opposites attract.” Then, of course, there’s always the narrative significance of it: La’an is a descendant of Khan Noonien-Singh (yes, that Khan), and thus, Kirk is striking up some kind of romance with the great great (etc.) granddaughter of his future mortal enemy. It’s a safe, understandable choice for a love interest to give to the notoriously womanizing Captain, but it’s also one that continues a status quo—keeping Kirk’s romantic exploits to female characters.
The current era of Star Trek led by writer/producer Alex Kurtzman is without question the most inclusive towards LGBTQIA+ characters and cast/crew. Discovery included five major queer characters (including the likes of Anthony Rapp and Tig Notaro), and Picard notably gave Voyager’s Seven of Nine a female love interest in Raffi. Picard’s decision to take a legacy character and give them a new queer storyline and/or romance is a significant one in that it opens the door for future legacy appearances to also explore queerness.
Speaking in the most optimistic of terms, this could hypothetically allow the series to retroactively make subtext text: an opportunity one would assume such a seemingly queer-friendly group of writers would want to explore in many of its shows, most of all Strange New Worlds, which introduces the classic characters to a new generation. But while Discovery had a baker’s dozen of queer characters and LGBTQ+ relationships, Strange New Worlds is noticeably devoid of any visible queerness.
On the one hand, this could just be because the series (at this point) isn’t all that focused on inter-crew relationships—outside of Spock and Chapel’s messy relationship, we haven’t any other Enterprise crew members strike up relationships—but on the other, you’ve got to wonder why Strange New Worlds hasn’t introduced any queer characters. That omission feels all the more significant when considering the fact that the cast is mostly made up of legacy characters generations of fans already know and love.
Yes, it would be a big step to reimagine any of the Original Series players (Pike, Kirk, Spock, Uhura, M’Benga, Chapel) as queer and would certainly invoke the ire of certain sides of the fanbase. But at the same time, it’s disappointing to see a franchise focused on inclusivity and “infinite diversity in infinite combinations” be so unwilling to extend that inclusivity towards established legacy characters.
Still, back to Kirk—because if there’s any Original Series character for whom a queer arc would make the most sense, it’s without question the ever-flirty, always open-minded Captain Kirk. Why limit his galavanting and womanizing to female aliens, when the universe is vast and full of plenty of other aliens to be wooed and charmed? Making Kirk the Star Trek answer to Doctor Who’s Captain Jack Harkness would be a logical (pun intended) step for the character and a bold way for the series to reconcile 1960s subtext with 21st century sensibilities.
But, of course, in any conversation surrounding the possible queerness of Captain Kirk, we need to talk about the ship that effectively created slash fanfiction as we know it today: Spirk, a.k.a. Kirk/Spock. For as long as The Original Series has been discussed by fans, there have been ardent debates over whether or not Kirk and Spock are in love, and the reading of their relationship as romantic has been a core aspect of the Star Trek fandom since the very beginning.
In every iteration of the Kirk and Spock we’ve seen (whether that’s Shatner and Nimoy, Pine and Quinto, or now Wesley and Peck), the unbreakable bond between them has been the beating heart of Star Trek— though one (despite much speculation and fan fervor) that hasn’t progressed beyond devoted platonic friendship. Yes, Strange New Worlds actually working up the nerve to explore a romantic relationship between Kirk and Spock would be a bold, no doubt controversial step for the series.
But considering the franchise’s recent push towards queer inclusivity and willingness to give legacy characters queer storylines, the question has to be asked: Why not give the people what we’ve wanted for 50+ years now? Yes, bringing Spirk from subtext to text would be a far bigger step than the aforementioned representation on Discovery or even the Seven/Raffi romance, but at the same time, if there were ever the perfect set of conditions to take a beloved ship and *at long last* make it canon, exploring a Kirk/Spock romance on Strange New Worlds would be it.
Maybe I’m speaking too optimistically—maybe Star Trek as a franchise isn’t ready for a Kirk/Spock romance quite yet. But when you’re reintroducing and reimagining yet another iteration of Captain Kirk for modern audiences, the decision to uphold convention and limit his alien exploits to female partners remains a strangely antiquated holdover in a franchise that otherwise strives for inclusivity. Sure, Kirk and La’an may prove to be a great ship on their own merit, but introducing another Kirk/Spock duo and refusing to acknowledge the historically significant nature of their relationship in the text of the series will always be a massive missed opportunity.
(featured image: Marni Grossman/Paramount+, main image: Paramount+)
