Who are the Gorn? 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'' reptilian menace, explained

The Original Series had the Klingons, "The Next Generation" had the Borg, "Deep Space Nine" had the Dominion, and now "Strange New Worlds" has the Gorn. Every good "Star Trek" show needs a memorable villain and, during the ongoing voyages of Christopher Pike's Enterprise, that honor falls to a gang of malevolent reptiles with extremely icky reproductive habits.

The species has a long history in the franchise, having first appeared in the 1967 "Star Trek" episode "Arena", but they've had a considerable upgrade from the lizard man who once tried to pummel James T Kirk to death. So, as the Gorn continue to torment the Enterprise in the second half of "Strange New Worlds"' "Hegemony" two-parter, here's everything you need to know about an alien foe with very sharp and very pointy teeth.

SET PHASERS TO CAUTION! SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU'RE YET TO WATCH "HEGEMONY, PART II" — head over to our guide on How to Watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 if you want to check out the episode before reading on.

Who are the Gorn?

With the Federation no longer engaged in all-out war with the Klingons — that skirmish was wrapped up in "Star Trek: Discovery" — "Strange New Worlds" has established the Gorn as the biggest of all its Big Bads.

They're an extremely aggressive, technologically advanced reptilian race hailing from the Beta Quadrant, and their government — the Gorn Hegemony — has designs on Federation territory.

Where have we seen the Gorn before?

The Gorn first appeared in 1967, in a classic episode from the first season of the Original Series.

In "Arena", the Enterprise travels to a Federation outpost on the remote world of Cestus III, only to find it's been destroyed by a (literally) cold-blooded alien race. After James T Kirk and the rest of the crew give chase to the enemy vessel, a super-advanced bunch of extra-terrestrials called the Metrons (essentially futuristic Romans) whisk the captain and his Gorn counterpart to a barren alien world. Their aim? For the representatives of these two "violent" and "limited" species to settle their differences in hand-to-hand combat. The loser, and their ship, will be destroyed "in the interests of peace".

Kirk eventually wins after fashioning a rudimentary firearm, but opts not to finish off his beaten opponent. (Although Kirk is initially hellbent on destroying the Gorn vessel, the Metrons' translation device reveals that the Gorn believed they were the ones who'd been wronged, so were simply defending their territory on Cestus III.) Kirk's unexpected mercy gives the condescending Metrons reason to believe that humans might not be so primitive after all, and the aliens suggest they may want to get back in touch one day — though probably not for a few thousand years.

Another Gorn, Slar, turns up in prequel show "Star Trek: Enterprise" (though only in the Mirror Universe), while several Gorn have cameoed in animated sitcom "Lower Decks".

Why do Kirk and Spock not recognise the Gorn in "Arena"?

This is a big mystery, as the Original Series episode makes it very clear that the Enterprise crew have no idea who they're chasing.

The Enterprise's famous five-year mission kicks off in 2266, around seven years after Christopher Pike and the gang first engaged the Gorn in the "Star Trek" timeline. There's no logical reason why Starfleet would keep intelligence on such a dangerous enemy hidden from one of its top commanding officers, so it's much more likely this is a retcon instigated by the "Strange New Worlds" writers' room. It's arguably a forgivable one, too, seeing as canon prevents classic antagonists like the Klingons and the Romulans from playing a major role in this era of Federation history.

The Gorn occupy a unique sweet spot where being both iconic and a mystery overlap. They also share three out of four letters with those legendary "Next Generation"-era bad guys the Borg, which may or may not be important.

Why do the Gorn in "Strange New Worlds" look so different to the Gorn in the Original Series?

This is less a retcon than an update of the original 1960s production design, as there's no escaping the fact that the Gorn who scrapped with Kirk in "Arena" is simply a guy in a lizard suit.

The updated, computer-generated versions in "Strange New Worlds" look much more reptilian and alien, and even boast prehensile tails. They're also a considerable upgrade on the CG Gorn who appeared in "Enterprise" episode "In a Mirror, Darkly" 20 years ago.

Why are Pike's Enterprise crew so scared of the Gorn?

Bitter experience.

Security chief Lt La'An Noonien-Singh first encountered the Gorn as a child when her colony ship, the SS Puget Sound, had a close encounter with the Hegemony. She was the only survivor after the Gorn took all of the colonists — including La'An's late family — to one of their breeding planets.

The mental scars of the experience linger well into adulthood, meaning she's the Enterprise's reluctant expert when the ship makes first contact with the Gorn in season 1 episode "Memento Mori". Despite La'An's prior knowledge and expertise, the crew barely escapes with their lives. In fact, the vessel is still undergoing repairs at Starbase 1 when the subsequent episode, "Spock Amok", gets underway.

Later on in the season (in the penultimate episode "All Those Who Wander"), the Enterprise encounters a bunch of Gorn hatchlings on a crashed spacecraft. This mission ends particularly badly for Aenar engineer Lt Hemmer (Bruce Horak), who gets infected by Gorn embryos but sacrifices his life to save his crewmates.

The Gorn also make a nuisance of themselves in the season 2 finale "Hegemony", attacking Parnassus Beta — a small colony just outside Federation space — just in time for an epic season-ending cliffhanger.

How do the Gorn reproduce?

That's arguably the scariest thing about them, because in the eyes of the Gorn we're all just food for their ravenous offspring — those aforementioned breeding planets exist for a reason.

Much like the Xenomorphs in the "Alien" franchise, Gorn need to take advantage of another, warm-blooded body to reproduce, and the process is similarly fatal for the unfortunate host.

Even baby Gorn are capable of spraying victims with a venom containing a rich broth of eggs, which will eventually hatch in gruesome fashion. This is why Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) — infected when the USS Cayuga is destroyed by the Gorn in "Hegemony" — is seemingly living on borrowed time.

How are they defeated?

Resilient, implausibly strong, and utterly ruthless, the Gorn are more than a match for the Enterprise in "Hegemony: Part II" — especially with Admiral Robert April (Adrian Holmes) and the rest of Starfleet holding back in an effort to avoid all-out war.

With their backs against the wall, Pike and co exploit their theory that stellar flares dictate a Gorn's hunting and rest cycles, and use the ship to simulate a coronal mass ejection. In effect, they put the Gorn to sleep, much as the Enterprise-D did to the Borg in classic "TNG" episode "The Best of Both Worlds".

Of course, their slumber isn't going to last forever, and Pike admits that, "I can't help wondering if we didn't just create a problem for someone else to solve later." All of which makes it even less plausible that Kirk and Spock don't recognize the Gorn when they show up in "Arena". It's almost as if Gene Roddenberry and the rest of the original "Star Trek" writers' room had no idea that, nearly six decades later, the Gorn would once again be called upon to terrorize the Federation…

New episodes of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" debut on Paramount+ on Thursdays. Original Series episode "Arena" is available on Paramount+ in the US and UK, and Netflix in the UK.