Recasting Every Prime Star Trek Movie Villain

The Trek movies certainly rebounded with the much-loved sixth entry, The Undiscovered Country, which boasted a more consistently entertaining villain in one-eyed Klingon general Chang (Christopher Plummer).

Chang may not be the most strictly fearsome of Trek foes, but he sure is a highly entertaining Machiavellian schemer. Christopher Plummer is quite perfectly paired to the part of the loquacious, Shakespeare-quoting Klingon general, and is clearly having a whale of a time in the role.

Plummer was an actor of inimitable charm and stature, and it follows that anyone else seeking to follow his lead would need a larger-than-life personality of their own. And, given that we're again seeking out people of colour to play Klingons this time, there are many interesting options among the middle-aged set.

Laurence Fishburne very nearly made the cut here - we know from the Matrix movies he can nail a dramatic monologue - but we kept getting pulled back to Delroy Lindo, who has been enjoying quite the career uptick since starring in Da 5 Bloods back in 2020.

Lindo's unforgettable monologue-to-camera in that film proves his criminally underappreciated aptitude as a performer, but unlike Fishburne he's also not immediately recognisable enough with the mainstream that his presence could prove distracting.

If you need an actor to play a role big and intense, Lindo's your man, but he's also capable of conveying grand, theatrical effervescence when the time calls for it.