One area in which Star Trek has always been ahead of the game is representation and diversity among its characters. Since its beginning, the franchise has pushed the boundaries of society by creating prominent roles for women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Not only did the franchise’s choices to include these roles pave the way for more inclusion in film and television, but they also pointed to an obvious future factor of society: inclusion. The future, especially in space among other beings, likely holds no place for prejudices and would sensibly have a much broader blend of races that make up communities, and Star Trek seems to acknowledge this.
The many shows and films that make up the franchise continue to find ways to include more diversity among the characters, including the protagonists. The galaxies that are explored in the Star Trek universe contain a multitude of different alien races, some that even resemble humans. Many of these characters have had impactful roles, but they did not receive as much attention because they weren’t the main character. By making one of these alien species a character that receives more focus and more agency in their role in the series or film, writers could add an entirely new element to the story. Having an alien protagonist could create a sort of dissociation between the human characters and the many species of beings that interact with them, leading to an interesting new angle.
Sci-fi examines human society. It criticizes the past and present of humanity by examining the future of our species. By evaluating human behavior through the lens of someone belonging to a different species or existence, the story could criticize humanity from an unbiased view, based purely on what that being’s experiences with people were like. On the other hand, it would also present the opportunity to appreciate the good parts of humanity, like compassion and creativity.
If Star Trek were to create a protagonist that either belonged to an alien race or, perhaps, was a cyborg, they could also have almost total creative liberty in creating the world that they belong to. This would bring about the potential for a long story line, easily capable of spanning over an entire television series. Entirely new worlds, with completely different societal structures could be explored by taking this approach.
While there are a number of popular human-like alien races that Star Trek could focus on to achieve this new protagonist perspective, if not utilized carefully, it could defeat the purpose of using an alien character. Taking the route of a human-like alien would allow writers to create a world that functions the opposite of how humanity does to contrast how we live. Further, it could be used to mirror our society by better addressing the many faults that humans have to highlight the potential of humanity. There are a few popular human-like aliens that fans would definitely be interested in seeing more of, like the Jem’Hadar, the Cardassians, or even a Borg. Protagonists from any of these species would make for an interesting story.
However, there are theories that some of these species’ human-like features are possibly due to their distant relation to humans. This point might suggest they’re not the strongest choice for an alien race to examine humanity, because they’re not far enough removed. Their human-like appearances could also possibly cause the audience to naturally associate them with humans, based on how they look. Because of this, their appearance could either hurt or help the theme of the story, depending on how it’s approached.
That said, if creators chose to focus the story on an alien race that was nothing like humans — perhaps even a newly invented species — then they could examine humans from an entirely removed perspective. They could also create a lifestyle for the character that was brand new, allowing them to take the story in any direction they wanted. However, given the history of distinctly non-human races in Star Trek, it may be best for creators to start from scratch and create a new race. Furthermore, because many of the far-from-human beings have very obscure appearances or lifestyles, they probably wouldn’t really make relatable characters.
Star Trek creators will certainly have a lot to consider if they do decide to create a film or series that follows a non-human character, but they have no shortage of options. Considering how vastly diverse the universe of this franchise is, they could go any direction with the story, and it would make for a new and exciting addition to the universe. Beyond entertaining the audience, it may even allow viewers to look at themselves in a way they never have before. Just as people are much more different from each other than society may allow us to believe, the universe is likely just as diverse, making Star Trek the perfect platform to examine the value of these differences.
Source: Wikipedia - Star Trek