With the finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, the franchise has lost a fan-favorite character and confirmed the sneaking suspicion that many fans have had since Discovery launched in 2017. Namely, stories set in the 23rd century, before Star Trek: The Original Series, carry a strange sort of double-sided curse in that legacy characters can’t perish, and new characters are very much in danger at all times. After strong hints that one character was marked for doom this entire season, Strange New Worlds Season 3 pulled a fast one and in “New Life and New Civilizations,” the shocking Season 3 finale episode, revealed another beloved character will likely never come back again.
But, in delivering this twist, Strange New Worlds also paid homage to one of the franchise’s greatest episodes of all time, the 1992 Next Generation classic, “The Inner Light.” Here’s how the departure of one character also was a tribute to Trek’s most heartbreaking and affecting concept.
