‘Star Trek’ Illyrians, explained

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds viewers were shocked to discover that the First Officer of the Enterprise, Una Chin-Riley (a character first introduced all the way back in the original Star Trek pilot as “Number One“), was in fact a member of an alien species, the Illyrians. But just who are these unusual people?

While the Illyrians and their fate is explained in Strange New Worlds’ “Ghosts of Illyria,” many viewers may not know that Illyrians have shown up in Star Trek previously — namely in Enterprise. In the third season episode “Damage,” Enterprise captain Jonathan Archer encountered an Illyrian ship after his own ship was badly damaged during their desperate voyage to the Xindi homeworld. The Illyrians proved to be amiable and friendly, and were more than willing to help repair the Enterprise, but could not afford to give Archer a much-needed replacement warp coil.

With Earth’s fate resting entirely on the Enterprise’s success in reaching the Xindi, Archer made the agonizing decision to take the Illyrian’s warp coil by force, leaving them stranded in a hostile region of deep space, three years away from their home. While Archer did beam over enough supplies to last them the journey, the Illyrian crew’s fate appeared uncertain.

23rd Century

Strange New Worlds takes place around a century after Enterprise. In “Ghosts of Illyria,” we learn that the Illyrians were particularly affected by the Federation’s harsh ban on genetic engineering, as they were proponents of the idea that instead of terraforming a planet to meet their needs, they should instead alter themselves to adapt to new planets. Many thus had genetic augmentations, meaning they could not join Starfleet. Chin-Riley joined Starfleet by passing herself off as a human, hoping that her true species would not be detected.

This changed when the Enterprise reached the Illyrian colony of Hetemit IX, and found it seemingly devoid of life. While Captain Christopher Pike and his science officer Spock were trapped in the colony, Chin-Riley’s genetic augmentations allowed her to save the Enterprise by resisting a disease that threatened to consume the rest of the crew. Pike and Spock, meanwhile, learned that the Illyrian colonists had become non-corporeal from the same disease that affected the Enterprise, and now existed as electromagnetic “ghosts” trapped inside the planet’s atmosphere. These “ghosts” formed a protective barrier around Pike and Spock, saving them from a deadly storm. With Chin-Riley’s true species revealed, Pike made the decision to keep her as his First Officer — and to hide the truth from Starfleet.

With season two of Strange New Worlds on the way this June, we can expect more of Una and perhaps more glimpses into the story of the Illyrians.