Star Trek: Starfleet Academy - Jay-Den Kraag's Powerful Male Friendships Compared To Worf

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1, Episode 4 - "Vox in Excelso"Star Trek: Starfleet Academy actor Karim Diané and executive producer Noga Landau discuss what Jay-Den Kraag already has that Worf (Michael Dorn) never did. Diané plays Jay-Den, Star Trek's first full-Klingon main character since Dorn's historic run as Worf in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Picard.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 4 revealed Jay-Den Kraag's backstory as a young Klingon abandoned by his parents, who joined Starfleet Academy to become a healer instead of a Klingon warrior. Despite Jay-Den's shyness, which hides his self-doubt, the Klingon cadet is surrounded by friends, including Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta) and Darem Reymi (George Hawkins).

In an interview with ScreenRant's John Orquiola about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 4, Karim Diané reveals how Jay-Den finding friends and belonging at Starfleet Academy mirrors his own life as a young actor, while Noga Landau hopes audiences embrace Starfleet Academy's examples of "powerful positive masculinity" and "true male friendship." See their quotes below:

ScreenRant: Another thing I love about this episode is the friendship development between Jay-Den and Caleb, and then also with Darem. They both showed up for Jay-Den. And he didn't want it at first, but then he let them in. I was thinking about Worf, because Jay-Den already has something Worf never really had in Starfleet, which is close male friends. Worf had a couple of famous girlfriends and a wife, but he never had real bros. But you've got bros. How does Jay-Den feel about actually having that?

Karim Diané: I think friendship is vital. I mean, just when I'm thinking about my life, especially for someone like Jay-Den, who doesn't have family there with him. He doesn't have his fathers, he doesn't have his mother, he doesn't have his brother. There's nobody else that even looks like him, or that's a student. So finding community is vital.

When I'm just thinking about when I first moved to New York City, and I knew no one, I felt so alone and so lost, and I didn't know who I was. Finding my artist community, my dancers and my aerialists, and my fire breathers, and all of my crazy artist friends in New York, my drag queen friends, they all revealed to me who I am. They all literally sat me in front of the mirror and were like, ‘No, this is what you should wear, and this is what your makeup should look like when you go out, and they helped me be more comfortable being myself and being an artist. So Jay-Den, similarly, through Caleb and through Darem, is finding his voice and finding himself.

Noga Landau: By the way, John, I want to say something coming off of that question that I think is so profound right now. I feel like so many men in this world need examples of positive masculinity, like real, powerful positive masculinity. Men from all walks of life who show up for each other. I get that in the 90s, Worf didn't have that. You didn't have that on screen so much. And one of the best compliments I got after our premiere was someone came forward, and they said this show has so much awesome masculinity in it, and examples of men who are there for each other. And I just think that there are so many men who, I hope, watch our show, who see that and see what it's like to have true male friendship around them, and be reminded that that's something that Starfleet Academy really fosters.

The way Caleb Mir and Darem Reymi show up for Jay-Den Kraag in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 4 is a shining testament to how the college-based series portrays positive male friendship. Caleb tried to get Jay-Den to overcome his shyness as a public debater, but even when Mir and the Klingon had a falling out, Darem arrived to give Jay-Den Khionian breathing exercises to ease his anxiety.

In contrast, Worf never truly had a close male Starfleet friend in any of his Star Trek appearances. Worf was well-liked by the crews of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but the Klingon generally kept his male colleagues at arm's length. Instead, Worf was better known for his romances with Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) and marriage to Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell).

One of the few times that Worf accepted male camaraderie was when he and Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) reminisced about their time serving aboard the USS Enterprise-D. Still, in Michael Dorn's record-setting 283 Star Trek appearances, Worf was never as close to any male Starfleet character, instead preferring the companionship and mentorship of General Martok (J.G. Hertzler).

Compared to the legendary Captain Worf, Jay-Den Kraag is "a zygote" in terms of being a Klingon warrior or a Starfleet Officer. Still, the courageous Klingon cadet is light-years ahead of his iconic predecessor when it comes to having fellow Starfleet bros who have his back in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.