In the season opener, we return to those aggressive reptilian creatures known as the Gorn when Pike and Co. come to the rescue of his imprisoned crew and Parnassus Beta colonists. These aliens have been fan favorites for the last two seasons but now they're being laid to rest at last.

The third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds finally started this week, and its opener, “Hegemony, Part II,” picked up right where the last season left off. But along the way, it surprisingly ended up taking the Gorn—a Trek mainstay and the show’s longest-running threat—off the board.

To try to save Batel ( Melanie Scrofano) from the Gorn infection, Pike ( Anson Mount) and M’Benga ( Babs Olusanmokun) head down to Kenfori, in a no-fly zone, to retrieve a chimera blossom and run into some serious trouble. Zombies? Just the start.