‘Star Trek Beyond’ Fan Theories

Star Trek Beyond is finally in theaters everywhere, and although fans are still processing this latest epic installment in the classic sci-fi franchise, we thought we’d share some of the best fan theories we’ve heard about Beyond.

Needless to say, there are MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW for Star Trek Beyond.

Edison Served Under Archer

In Beyond, we learn that Balthazar Edison, aka Krall — the bad guy played by Idris Elba — fought in the Xindi war as a MACO. The Xindi war was a series of events in the years 2153 and 2154 that involved an attempt made by Enterprise NX-01 to save Earth from destruction by an aggressive alien race known as the Xindi. It was a major turning point in the Temporal Cold War, and the incident also helped pave the way for the creation of the Coalition of Planets, a precursor to the United Federation of Planets.

The most likely place that an officer like Edison could have come into conflict with the Xindi would have been as a member of Major Hayes’s MACO division aboard the NX-01 Enterprise, as seen on the Enterprise TV series. So, it’s entirely possible that Edison served under Jonathan Archer.

Krall Doesn’t Remember Where His Ship Crashed

 Krall is revealed to be a former Federation captain whose ship, the USS Franklin, crashed on the surface of the planet where Beyond is primarily set. In fact, the Enterprise crew and Jaylah use the Franklin as a base of operations during the latter part of the film. The ship has remained hidden for years because Jaylah uses holographic technology to obscure it. But why hasn’t Krall ever gone looking there for it? In other words, how does the Captain of a starship NOT know where his ship crashed?

The easy answer is, of course, that he doesn’t care. But that’s not likely given how tactically adept Krall seems to be. We know that Krall’s physical appearance changes based on the energy he consumes from others. Could it be that his brain composition, and his memories, are altered, too? There’s not much in the film to support the theory, but something has to explain his total lack of awareness about the location of the Franklin.

Uhura’s Drinking Water Because She’s Pregnant

 At the end of the film, there’s a big party for Kirk’s birthday/wake for fallen crewmates. Uhura is shown drinking a clear beverage resembling water. That doesn’t mean it is water, of course — there are probably plenty of water-like beverages in the galaxy that are alcoholic. But everyone else is clearly boozing it up. If she’s drinking water, there’s one obvious reason for that… she could pregnant with Spock’s baby.

Yes, it does sound a little like “Spuhura” fan fiction, but it’s also sort of feels like the kind of thing that the writers might do to further develop the characters of Spock and Uhura in the upcoming fourth film in the series.

Kirk’s Dad Is Coming Back and Nobody Knows How

Paramount has announced that Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk will “cross paths” with Chris Hemsworth’s George Kirk, his father, in the next movie. The elder Kirk seemingly went down with his ship in 2009’s Star Trek, so how is he going to return? It could be that the Enterprise crew are somehow forced to go back in time — maybe there will even be whales — to reset the timeline.

The only way to “save the universe” would be to make it so they never existed. But that doesn’t mean the end for our friends. Perhaps they’d be so influential to George Kirk and the USS Kelvin that the future of the Prime Timeline becomes more integrated with the people and events we know from the Kelvin Timeline.

What are your wildest Star Trek fan theories? Share them with us on Twitter @getfandom.