Lt. Marla McGivers served aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise as the ship’s historian when she meets Khan.
“As we see in ‘Space Seed,’ she’s immediately fascinated by this guy,” states Beyer. “She has just a particular personal interest in him, which leads her to a pretty dark place from which she ultimately is able to step back. Ultimately, she is given the choice to face court-martial as Starfleet officer for committing mutiny or to join Khan in exile, which she decides to do. When they arrive on [Ceti Alpha V], they have known each other briefly. They both have certain conceptions and misconceptions about the dynamics of their relationship and the development of their relationship is a key part of the story that we’re telling.”
On the casting of Naveen Andrews as Khan Noonien Singh and Wrenn Schmidt as Marla McGivers, Beyer praises, “They’re both breathtakingly brilliant actors. For Naveen, he has this incredible combination of characteristics where he is both super intelligent, incredibly dangerous, and incredibly sexy all at the same time, and all of that is essential to Khan. He is just such a powerful actor, and he brought so much nuance and depth to this character, honoring what Montalban had done, but also very much making it his own.”
“For Wrenn, what intrigued me about her and I loved about her performance was the complexity that she brought to this woman,” Beyer elaborates. “Marla is somebody who is problematic given the way she was portrayed in ‘Space Seed.’ At the time, totally acceptable heroine for a story. Nowadays, not so much. But none of us, including Wrenn, shied away from that part of her. What we tried to do was flesh out everything else about her that could have gotten her there and still make her the character we want to follow through the story, somebody who sees herself as, and ultimately, Khan sees as his equal, which is essential in this dynamic romantic relationship between them. She cannot do anything as one level. Everything with Wrenn is multiple complex worlds, and it’s just gorgeous. And it’s funny, because I hear the original Marla in her, as I do from time to time with Naveen, but she’s just brought so much more to it than [Madlyn Rhue] was ever allowed to do.”
Beyer concludes our time stating, “For me, [Star Trek: Khan] is a deep exploration of humanity and all of the facets that are revealed through difficult circumstances.”