Warning: This Article Contains SPOILERS For Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 1 - "The Broken Circle"

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds director Chris Fisher reveals the reasons why the Klingons in season 2's premiere episode, "The Broken Circle," don't resemble the Klingons seen in Star Trek: Discovery. The crew of the USS Enterprise encounters Klingons on the planet Cajitar IV in Strange New Worlds season 2's premiere. However, the Klingons look like they do in Star Trek: The Next Generation, with hints of their appearance in Star Trek: The Original Series, instead of the more brutish and animalistic Klingons in Star Trek: Discovery.

Appearing as a guest on The 7th Rule hosted by Cirroc Lofton and Ryan T. Husk, director Chris Fisher explained why Strange New Worlds season 2 changed the look of the Klingons, and the reasons are based upon the needs of Strange New Worlds' story rather than a reaction to the negative fan outcry over Star Trek: Discovery's Klingons. Read his quote and watch the podcast below:

I'd say one of the big challenges of this episode for me as a director was reintroducing Klingons. I personally love the look of the Klingons in Discovery, [but] that look wasn't gonna work us. Because we're a character-driven show, we need Klingons who can actually emote emotion and not have so much prosthetics and visual effects. So we really kind of moved the Klingons from a creature into a character. As you'll see through the season, the Klingons, we come back to [them] in a different way [and] maybe even tone them down a little bit more.

Strange New Worlds' Klingon Change Wasn't A Reaction To Star Trek: Discovery

Andrew Jackson as Captain D'Chok and Mary Chieffo as L'Rell

Many Star Trek fans made the logical assumption that Strange New Worlds reverted the Klingons back to their more popular Star Trek: The Next Generation look as a reaction to how negatively Star Trek: Discovery's Klingons were received. Discovery took a bold step in reinventing the Klingons to look and sound more alien, which hammered home season 1's themes of Klingon identity as they went to war with the United Federation of Planets. But while Strange New Worlds' producers are certainly aware of how a vocal segment of fans feels about Discovery's Klingons, it appears that wasn't the primary reason for the change.

Indeed, Strange New Worlds' Klingons work better for their character-driven series. Along with fighting Dr. Joseph M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), Strange New Worlds needed Klingons who could drink blood wine with Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) and La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), as well as face off with the Vulcan Science Officer in tense view screen negotiations. It's harder to imagine Star Trek: Discovery's guttural Klingons engaging in these story points. Plus, the Klingons are set to return in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, and Chris Fisher hints the aggressive warrior race will be "tone[d] down" further compared to the monstrous Klingons of Star Trek: Discovery.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

Source: The 7th Rule