Star Trek II - IV: The Spock Trilogy - 10 Things You Never Knew

10. Star Trek II: They Needed A Big Villain To Kill The Big Hero

Director Nicholas Meyer was hired, succeeding veteran director Robert Wise, who had helmed the Motion Picture. His first idea was to strip away some of the metaphysics and psychological elements that had bogged down the first picture. He also wanted Starfleet to act as a military, rather than the pure explorers that had been shown before.

There was also a concerted decision to tie the film back into the series and thus, Khan was brought back. Space Seed had always been one of the most popular episodes of the Original Series, with Khan being one of the most popular villains. His return would spell a return to roots along with an updating of ideas. Convincing Ricardo Montalban to return thankfully went smoothly, as he had enjoyed his time on the show immensely.

His concern was how would slip back into the character after almost twenty years, but he did so not only with grace but he improved on his original performance with a wild gusto, allowing a development of character while maintaining the demented nature of the man overcome with revenge.

With the return of Montalban and the crew, the stage was set to begin work on the script and filming. However, they had to address two things. The first was that the cast did not look the same way they had in the '60s. This was addressed head on. The second issue was the fact that Leonard Nimoy agreed to return on one condition.

Spock had to die.