WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 1, "The Broken Circle"The cliffhanger ending to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season 2 premiere sets up a war between the United Federation of Planets and the Gorn that could break Star Trek canon. "The Broken Circle" reveals that the Federation is still dealing with the fallout from their war with the Klingon Empire in Star Trek: Discovery. As Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) defies orders to rescue La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), the crew of the USS Enterprise foil a conspiracy to restart the bloody and devastating conflict. Spock's efforts largely go unpunished, because Admiral Robert April (Adrian Holmes) has the Gorn on his mind.
The Gorn threat has been skirting the edges of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds thus far because established canon forbids them from having a larger role. The Gorn are essentiual to the tragic backstory of La'an, and has given the show its most terrifying episode, "All Those Who Wander". So far, Strange New Worlds has creatively avoided breaking established Gorn canon, but the ending of "The Broken Circle" suggests a dramatic change in approach to the species' Star Trek timeline.
