Star Trek: SNW Fans Are Holding Out Hope That Hemmer Will Return From The Dead
For fans of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," the newest series in the franchise, the death of Chief Engineer Hemmer (Bruce Horak) shocked viewers, as the serious and awkward character had slowly become a favorite on the new series. His unique and close mentor-mentee relationship with Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) helped many fans who were so divided over Hemmer warm up to him.
Hemmer deciding to sacrifice himself for the good of the crew was a surprising but noble act after they discovered he'd been implanted with Gorn eggs. But what was more unexpected was the news from Bruce Horak himself that he'd known from the time he was approached about the role that Hemmer would die. "I was relieved," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "It's a pretty great death for a red shirt." Fans haven't been quite as accepting of the situation, with many hoping the character returns from the dead.
On a "Star Trek" thread started by u/ECthrowaway2000 titled "If I could make one tiny change to SNW ["Strange New Worlds"], u/TrekkieElf writes, "My one change would be not killing of Hemmer." Another viewer chimed in, "We, (the audience) didn't see a dead body. So... television/film trope says Hemmer is alive."
Hemmer won't return, but Bruce Horak will
The return of Hemmer in the "Star Trek" franchise wouldn't be unprecedented, considering there have been multiple characters who have "died" and returned. Lieutenant Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) was killed by the entity Armus in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," but later we meet her daughter Sela (also played by Crosby) in an alternate timeline, who says her mother was killed after trying to escape with her. Both Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan) have also died and come back, as have numerous others. "I would not be surprised if they brought him back, STD ["Star Trek: Discovery"] is well known for its fake out death scenes," u/daesmon wrote on a subreddit.
But, as another fan pointed out, "Bruce Horak has said in interviews that this [is] not the end of his career in Star Trek," and we all know that "Star Trek" is well-known for recycling the same actors to play different characters. Co-executive producer Davy Perez has alluded to the same future for Horak. "His [Horak's] relationship with Trek is not over," he told The 7th Rule. "We really love him. And Star Trek has a long tradition of reusing actors." Hemmer may be gone forever, but Bruce Horak is definitely coming back — in some form or another.