Who Is Carol Marcus in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds?

In Strange New Worlds, James T. Kirk tells La'an he's in a relationship, so who is Dr. Carol Marcus and why is she important to Star Trek's future?

The Strange New Worlds musical episode was full of emotion, often expressed against a character's will. This is why it's important that La'an got to tell James T. Kirk about her feelings in spoken dialogue. Kirk didn't even have to say the thing about La'an liking Carol for Star Trek fans to know who he was talking about. But, for those who've only discovered the franchise through Strange New Worlds, Carol Marcus is a big deal to Jim Kirk and Star Trek.

In keeping with franchise history, Strange New Worlds is a series that frustrates shippers. The only relationship currently underway is Spock and Chapel's, which The Original Series fans know doesn't last. Yet, even though she doesn't know it, there's still hope for La'an and Kirk to explore their feelings for each other. This moment is less about Kirk than it is about the Enterprise's security officer. From the series debut until "Subspace Rhapsody," she's been on her own journey. When she introduces herself to people, all they hear is "Noonien Singh" and think of Khan. The Jim Kirk she fell for had never heard that name. While she's aware the real Kirk isn't that man, La'an wants the chance to be seen that way again. So, while she's perhaps written off Kirk for now, she shouldn't. As important as Carol Marcus is to Star Trek, her time with James T. Kirk is likely near its end.

How Strange New Worlds Perfectly Lines Up With The Wrath of Khan

In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, audiences meet Dr. Carol Marcus, the leader of the civilian-run Genesis Project. It is meant to be a mechanism of life, but La'an's ancestor Khan wants to use it as an engine of death. In a way, Carol Marcus is the J. Robert Oppenheimer of Star Trek, but only if he wasn't aware he was about to become "death, the destroyer of worlds." Yet, more important to Star Trek fans is Carol Marcus, the mother of David Marcus, Kirk's son. While this may have seemed like the inevitable result of Jim Kirk's eagerness to fall in love, the relationship with Carol Marcus predated The Original Series.

While she's a brilliant scientist, Carol Marcus is also "the one that got away" for Captain Kirk. When he reunites with her in the film, he tells her he "stayed away like you asked." David's existence surprised fans, but Kirk knew he had a son. He didn't know what he looked like, though. The two fought when they first met, but he knew David's name. While the Star Trek timeline is convoluted, it does make sense that David was born before Kirk took command of the Enterprise. The Wrath of Khan is a study of aging, so David and Carol represent the life Kirk almost had.

On a rare occasion of studio penny-pinching helping a movie, the original opening of The Undiscovered Country had to be cut. Of all the original characters, Kirk's retirement was the least disappointing. Even though David died in The Search for Spock, he and Carol were living together on Earth. Of all his many romantic entanglements, Carol Marcus is the love of James T. Kirk's life. Well, after the USS Enterprise, of course.

Carol Marcus Is the Most Important Person in James T. Kirk's Life Outside the Enterprise

Carol only appeared on-screen in The Wrath of Khan, yet her absence in The Original Series and the successive films looms large. Knowing Kirk had a one-true love that didn't work out informs much about his character. The Kelvin Timeline films took place in a different continuity, but Carol Marcus played a significant role in Star Trek Into Darkness, another Khan story. Interestingly, her relationship with Kirk amounts to mere flirting. The filmmakers were likely saving that for a future film that never came. Marcus ends up on the Enterprise, but three years later, during Star Trek: Beyond, she's no longer onboard. Also, as a crew member, it makes her relationship with Kirk problematic at best.

What the Kelvin Timeline Kirk has in common with the Kirk in Strange New Worlds is that both feel adrift. Kirk didn't truly become the best version of himself until he captained the Enterprise. To borrow a term from Across the Spider-Verse, Kirk choosing Starfleet over Carol is a "canon event." In The Wrath of Khan, David doesn't remember Kirk when he meets him. It's also unclear if David knows Kirk is his father or merely figures it out by the end. This all adds up to Kirk being out of Carol's life, at her request, before David develops object permanence.

Captain Kirk's reputation as a philanderer is overblown, mostly from 57 years of parody. Kirk is looking for love. Fans already know he doesn't find it with Carol Marcus. Perhaps he does find it, if only briefly, with La'an Noonien Singh? Strange New Worlds already showed the beginnings of some of Kirk's foundational relationships. Perhaps the series is also going to show how that foundation is built on the ruins of the ones that couldn't last? Carol Marcus may only appear twice in the entire Star Trek franchise, but it's her absence that makes her so important.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently streaming on Paramount+.