Star Trek Discovery: 10 Awesome Villains They Should've Used Instead

Trelane’s swashbuckling brat of an infantile villain was a delight to watch back in TOS’ “The Squire of Gothos”, and so he would be in Discovery.

As a powerful alien capable of creating matter at will, Trelane originally terrorised the crew of the Enterprise by making them his playthings, as a testament to his obsession with outdated, gentile forms of Earth customs. His intentions steadily grow more sinister as escape comes to seem less and less possible.

It’s ten years before that fateful encounter on Gothos, so some finagling of canon would be necessary - but it’s worth exploring the origins of Trelane’s fascination with Earth and humanity in general. His powers, too, seemed even in TOS as a precursor to concepts explored in later Trek shows; depending on their interpretation of the character, the show-runners could even expand the mythology of the franchise by identifying Trelane as a member of the Q continuum. This would even further link Discovery and, by extension, TOS, to the 24th Century shows in the canon.

There’s a lot more potential for connecting the tapestry of the franchise with Trelane’s cosmic villainy - more so than Harry Mudd’s slippery con man. As a rogue in general, he’s also decidedly more popular among Trek fans. Amidst the dismal darkness that the latest show in the franchise frequently embraces, Trelane could provide a dose of some much-needed levity.