An admiral nearly wiped out a planet on Strange New Worlds, and he's still on active duty

We need to talk about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – specifically, about villains. I'm usually one of the last people complaining about modern Trek, but let's be honest: the franchise has had a villain problem for ages. Back in the day, you literally couldn't move for big, memorable antagonists – Khan, Dukat, the bloody Borg. And sure, Discovery gave us the infamous Captain Lorca twist – great stuff, genuinely surprising at the time. But since then, proper new villains who actually stick in the mind? Bit thin on the ground. Until now, anyway.

Lorca Set a High Bar

When Star Trek: Discovery kicked off in 2017, they did a cracking job keeping us guessing with Jason Isaacs' Captain Gabriel Lorca. He starts as the tough, slightly dodgy captain running the show, and then the rug gets pulled out: turns out, he's from the Mirror Universe and has been itching to take his old job back in the psychotic Terran Empire. The reveal hits hard, and rewatching Season 1 with that info is like seeing the same story from a different angle. But even I have to admit: since then, nothing's really matched that bite.

Enter Admiral Reeger

Then along comes Admiral Simon Reeger, played by Joe Morton, in Strange New Worlds Season 4, Episode 8, 'Orders of Magnitude.' I'll be honest, at first, he slid right under my radar. Classic case: Starfleet Admiral, hailed as a hero in the Klingon War, with La'An and Ortegas absolutely singing his praises. The vibe was all 'legend who needs our help', not 'bloke about to try and commit genocide'.

By the episode's end, though, Reeger's true colours come flying out – and it's gloriously messy. His nasty little bridge meltdown might be blamed on Kirk spiking his coffee, but let's be real: that just stopped him pretending he was anything but a man out for revenge. Faced with even the tiniest hint of collaboration between the target planet and a dangerous enemy ship, he uses Starfleet 'protocol' to justify something utterly ruthless. What makes Reeger so interesting isn't that he did a bad thing – it's that he could've (with a bit of sharp legal talk) called it 'just doing the job.' Which is... actually quite chilling.

Strange New Worlds Season 4 finally puts a proper new villain on screen, not just another old face from the golden era.

What if Kirk hadn't kicked up a mutiny? Honestly, Reeger would have got away with it. He’s still standing at his post when credits roll, and with the right speech, you can see Starfleet brass giving him a slap on the wrist and saying 'necessary evil'. This is a guy who nearly wipes out an entire planet, and it might barely make the paperwork.

A Nuanced Monster

Here's what makes Admiral Reeger a far more unsettling villain than Lorca. Your classic Mirror Universe baddie – Lorca included – is basically a pantomime psycho whose whole personality is 'more power, please.' Fun, but a bit one-note. Once the shock wears off, not much left to interrogate. Reeger, though, isn't evil because of alternate universe shenanigans. He's a grieving family man who takes grief and converts it into pure, blinkered vengeance, then hides it behind regulations. It's despicable, but you can follow the emotional logic. That's miles more relatable – and frankly, a lot more disturbing.

• Lorca pretended to be a hero, mostly did good by accident, and just wanted to get home to his universe.
• Reeger stays in the Prime Universe, abuses his actual authority, and uses his grief as an excuse to nearly commit genocide.
• He bends Starfleet rules to justify his actions. If Kirk hadn’t rebelled, he might've been celebrated, not prosecuted.
• Worst of all, Reeger's still at large and technically on duty by episode’s close.

So there you have it: whether or not you think Strange New Worlds is your cup of tea, the modern Trek era finally has its next genuinely haunting villain. If you’re keeping score, it only took them nearly a decade.