A Massive Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Change Just Created Its Best Villain Ever

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds just created its best alien villains ever after changing its focus away from the Gorn. Directed by Andi Armaganian and written by Onitra Johnson and Davy Perez, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 5, "Through the Lens of Time," brings a USS Enterprise landing party to an ancient temple on Vadia Nine where a new malevolent threat emerges.

Beyond the Gorn, there haven't been many notable alien threats on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Captain Christopher Pike's (Anson Mount) USS Enterprise hasn't battled a lot of extraterrestrial antagonists besides the Gorn, who have been the prequel's primary big bad since Strange New Worlds season 1. However, "Through the Lens of Time" introduces a chilling new adversary.

When Ensign Dana Gamble (Chris Myers) is blinded by a M'Kroon artifact on Vadia Nine and beams back to the Starship Enterprise, it soon becomes clear the young medical officer has been possessed by the Vezda, an evil being thousands of years old. Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) soon discovers the M'Kroon temple is actually a prison caging thousands of Vezda.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ New Alien Villain Is A Huge Improvement Over The Gorn

The Vezda Is A Brand New Star Trek Alien Villain

The Vezda in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 5 not only moves the prequel past its reliance on the Gorn, but the Vezda also check boxes the Gorn never could. In Ensign Gamble's body, the Vezda is cunning, manipulative, and murderous, seeking to hijack the USS Enterprise and free its brethren from their Vadia Nine prison.

The Gorn had limitations, comparatively. The Gorn don't speak, making compelling character interactions with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' cast impossible. The Gorn were terrifying monsters, and their sheer inhumanity made them effectively fearsome, but dramatically, the Gorn also had a ceiling that Strange New Worlds had crashed into.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds also benefits from Chris Myers' performance as the Vezda. Introduced as a likable and endearing young medical officer, Gamble's sudden death and transformation into a being of pure evil was a riveting turn. Myers brilliantly rose to the challenge of playing the homicidal Vezda and the fear and panic of whatever remnants of Dana remained. As the Vezda, Myers instantly became Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' best villain.

Star Trek’s New Alien Villains Are Poised To Return In Strange New Worlds Season 3

How Will A Vezda Comeback Affect Captain Batel?

The Vezda that infected Ensign Dana Gamble was apparently defeated in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' "Through the Lens of Time." After Commander Pelia (Carol Kane) phasered the Vezda in the back, Scotty (Martin Quinn) beamed the Vezda's trapped essence to "nowhere." Gamble's body was then stored in a transporter buffer prison, seemingly putting this threat to rest.

However, Spock's realization that thousands of Vezda are entombed in Vadia Nine, and the fact that Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) became possessed to fight the Vezda, indicates that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds isn't done with its new alien villains. There is surely more to the Vezda's story that warrants their return, especially to define what's happening to Captain Batel.

The jury is out on if Chris Myers will return as the Vezda or if Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will unleash the horde of evil introduced in "Through the Lens of Time." Rather than the Gorn or leaning into another well-known Star Trek alien race, creating a new big bad in the Vezda that gives Commander Pelia (and me) the "heebie-jeebies" was a wise and welcome move by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.