New Star Trek Show Secretly Connects to Chris Pine's Captain Kirk Reboot

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1, Episode 6 – “Come, Let’s Go”Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 6 has an unexpected callback to Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) in that of JJ Abrams Star Trek (2009) reboot. Written by Kenneth Lin and Kiley Rossetter and directed by Larry Teng, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Episode 6 sees Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti) return to take terrible revenge on Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) and Starfleet Academy.

Nus Braka was revealed to be in cahoots with the Furies, who took a group of Starfleet cadets hostage aboard the derelict USS Miyazaki in 2007. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 6. The Furies, who are cannibalistic alien-human hybrids, operated from a cloaked ship that was to be neutralized by the USS Athena in order to return Starfleet Academy cadets home.

Working from the deck of the USS Athena, Genesis Lythe (Bella Shepard) and Darem Reymi (George Hawkins) hatched a plan to track down the Furies’ hidden ship (which was “mainly the idea of Genesis”). Commander Lura Thok literally praised Genesis’ vision. As Dar-Sha, Thok said: “You use your eyes with the precision of a hengra.”

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

Jörg Hillebrand, renowned researcher on Star Trek: Picard season 3, made the connection between hengra, Genesis Lythe in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, and James T. Kirk in Star Trek (2009). As Hillebrand shared on his social media, the hengra is a reminder of the monster that chased Kirk on Delta Vega:

The hengrauggi was a massive predator that stalked Kirk across the frozen lands of Delta Vega after Jim was exiled from the USS Enterprise for mutiny by Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto). The hengrauggi is a multi-eyed creature that almost devoured Kirk, until Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy), also stranded on Delta Vega by Black (Eric Bana)chased away the hengra.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy executive producer and co-showrunner Alex Kurtzman co-wrote Star Trek (2009) with Roberto Orci, and they invented the hengrauggi with director JJ Abrams, perhaps inspired by the monster in the Abrams-produced film Cloverfield.

Comparing the eyes of Genesis to a hengra suggests that the creatures live in Star TrekThe Prime Universe version of Delta Vega as they do in JJ Abrams’ alternate Kelvin timeline.

Starfleet Academy offers 3 intriguing new Star Trek aliens to explore

The eyes of Genesis having “the precision of a hengra” is the first real information Star Trek: Starfleet Academy revealed Lythe’s race, the Dar-Sha. Aside from the curved ridges in place of eyebrows, Genesis appears to resemble a human, although cadet Lythe is unusually educated, driven, and on her way to becoming the Starfleet captain she dreams of being.

Genesis Lythe’s father is a Starfleet admiral, and Genesis grew up on starbases and spaceships, never setting foot on a planet before Earth.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy main cast consists of two other new aliens, the fish-like Khionians, who are Darem Reymi’s race, and the holographic Kasqians, who created the series Acclimation Mil aka SAM (Kerrice Brooks). As an emissary for his people, SAM was the most well-explored new alien of all time. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy so far.

Genesis saw Darem’s true blue form in Star Trek: Starfleet Academyseries premiereas Reymi revealed, Khionians can survive in the vacuum of space for 8 minutes. Otherwise, we haven’t explored much more of the Dar-Sha or the Khionians, but there’s plenty of time left in the rest of the story. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1 and season 2, which is nearing the end of production.

Release date: January 15, 2026
Network: Paramount+
Showrunner: Alex Kurtzman, Noga Landau
Directors: Douglas Aarniokoski
Writers: Alex Taub, Tawny Newsome, Kirsten Beyer, Jane Maggs, Kiley Rossetter

Franchise(s): Star Trek
Creator(s): Gaia Violo, Alex Kurtzman, Noga Landau

New Star Trek Show Secretly Connects to Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk Reboot