Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 3 - "Ghosts of Illyria"
Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley AKA Number One's (Rebecca Romijn) backstory on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds reframes Star Trek: The Original Series' villain Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán). Number One, like Spock (Ethan Peck) and Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), are the ultimate Star Trek legacy characters since all three starred in Star Trek's original, rejected pilot, "The Cage." But Number One's history was a mystery heretofore unrevealed until Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode 3, where it turns out she is part of a race that practices genetic engineering, linking her to the supervillain Khan.
Throughout Star Trek, Khan personified why the United Federation of Planets has upheld a centuries-long ban on genetic engineering. During Earth's Eugenics Wars in the 1990s, Khan was a despot who controlled a quarter of the world's population. Khan and his followers nearly ruled the entire planet before they lost the war and were driven to flee Earth, cryogenically freezing themselves for deep space travel aboard the S.S. Botany Bay, which will be discovered years after Strange New Worlds by Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the USS Enterprise. However, genetic engineering continued to be illegally practiced in spite of the ban on eugenics instituted to prevent the creation of another Khan. As seen in Star Trek: Picard season 2, Dr. Adam Soong (Brent Spiner) used eugenics to breed his own daughters in the 21st century. In the 24th century, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine revealed that Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) is genetically engineered and joined Starfleet illegally.
Strange New Worlds episode 3, "Ghosts of Illyria," dropped the bombshell that Number One is Illyrian and thus, she is also a product of eugenics. As Una explained to Lt. La'an Noonien Singh (Christina Chong), her people used genetic engineering to improve themselves and adapt to their environment. But the Illyrians' practicing eugenics led to them becoming outcasts of the Federation. Nevertheless, Una dreamed of exploring the galaxy so she lied to Starfleet until she was forced to confess to La'an, Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), and Captain Pike in Strange New Worlds. Despite the ethical quandary this created, Pike instantly chose to back his First Officer and promised to defend her if Starfleet finds out Number One is a genetically-modified Illyrian. But the truth about Una also brings up how she is different from someone like Khan and his descendant, La'an.
Strange New Worlds has already established that La'an Noonien Singh is Khan's descendant, and it's something the lieutenant has had to reconcile all of her life. La'an has been taunted and called "Augment" since she was a child and she did the same to Una after she learned her best friend has lied to her about being genetically engineered for years. Like Khan, Number One has super strength because she easily lifted and carried Chief Engineer Hemmer (Bruce Horak). Una also overpowered and beat La'an in a fight, although the Enterprise's Security Chief was suffering from a contagion that infected the ship. It seems, thus far, that La'an may not have inherited Khan's genetically-engineered physical might, but Number One certainly has it from her augmentation.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Number One's revelation is that it means she and La'an unexpectedly share Khan's legacy on Strange New Worlds. La'an is burdened by being related to the warlord but Una actually has similar abilities to Khan. Yet Number One - and later, Dr. Bashir on DS9 - are also proof that genetic engineering doesn't necessarily lead to individuals seeking power and conquest as the Federation fears. Of course, the fact that Number One lied to Starfleet about being an Augment is bound to become an issue in the future of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds yet Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley's record of service and heroism is exemplary. With Star Trek's greatest villain still years away from being unfrozen, Number One and La'an are showing that being linked to Khan doesn't mean they're automatically a threat to the Starfleet and the Federation.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams Thursdays on Paramount+.