Star Trek's New Red Shirt Death Might Be The Most Horrific Of All Time

Published Oct 17, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT

Ambrose Tardive is an editor on ScreenRant's Comics team. Over the past two years, he has developed into the internet's foremost authority on The Far Side. Outside of his work for ScreenRant, Ambrose works as an Adjunct English Instructor.

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They didn't have names. They were just Red Shirts. And they just died truly horrific deaths, possibly the worst in the history of the Star Trek franchise. (Though at this point, there are a few deaths that come up most frequently in that conversation. We will get into that later.)

That's what Star Trek: Red Shirts, about Starfleet's most expendable officers, is all about. Upping the ante with each new character demise and exploring the final frontier of carnage. The latest batch of brutality really goes for broke, but the remarkable thing is that the story is only at its halfway point. Meaning there is still time to top the gruesome scene below. Which is unlike anything Trek has done before.

Ghost of the 21st Century is the second Red Shirts series from IDW Publishing. It is a hardcore reinvention of Star Trek, like Trek directed by Quentin Tarantino, or even Rob Zombie. It is a sequel to the previous series, bringing back the only survivor from the previous story, while also raising the bar for over-the-top action and serving as a stark reminder that a Red Shirt is the worst thing to be in the galaxy.

Warning! Spoilers and graphic imagery ahead!

Star Trek: Red Shirts Takes "Canon Fodder" Deadly Serious

There's no arguing about this cannon. In Ghost of the 21st Century #3, protagonists Lyna Taval and Harry Deubert, Red Shirts themselves, beam into the bowels of the U.S.S. Baychimo, determined to take down its corrupt, villainous Captain Miller, and willing to take out anyone else who gets in their way. Which starts with a trio of the Baychimo's Red Shirts. Who Harry completely obliterates with a mounted phaser turret.

The first of the three is hit square in the back with a blast and vaporized. Though this is something Star Trek fans have seen before, artist Scott Buoncristiano makes it look intense, especially as flaming chunks of the guy rain down across the deck. The next kill takes things a step further, as Harry headshots the next Red Shirt as he's charging at the cannon. Turning him, for a moment, into a nightmarish vision akin to Marvel's Ghost Rider, head completely engulfed in flames.

The last of the three Red Shirts is dispatched in a particularly painful way. He takes cover, avoiding a direct blast from the cannon, and manages to get a few phaser shots off at Henry. Until a sustained blast from the cannon melts the metal case he's hiding behind, and everything in it, with the molten metal splashing all over him. Leading to a slow, agonizing final few moments. It is gnarly, and it is exactly the kind of violence Red Shirts set out to deliver.

How Do These Red Shirts' Deaths Stack Up To Star Trek's Other Goriest Moments?

Ghost of the 21st Century #3's Red Shirt on Red Shirt violence shows how the series has found a perfect recipe for destruction. The first Red Shirts series was like a war drama (think The Dirty Dozen or Saving Private Ryan) with some slasher flick vibes mixed in. It followed a squad of Red Shirts on a deadly mission, built each character up, and made it hurt when they were killed off. Right up to pulling off one of the greatest plot twists in Star Trek canon.

Ghost of the 21st Century has two Red Shirt leading characters to root for, by making rogue Starfleet agents the bad guys, it also allows for Red Shirts to be used as they were always meant to be: cannon fodder. Literally, for the trio of Baychimo crewmembers roasted by Harry Deubert. Whose deaths only have one real rival for most disturbing in Trek history: Lt. Vesta's death in the previous Red Shirts miniseries, where the Starfleet officer and a Romulan spy were fused together by the transporter, with the resulting mess of flesh unceremoniously put down immediately after.

Without giving too much more away, Red Shirts' big ending reveal is followed up on in Ghost of the 21st Century, in a surprising way. Surprising and bloody. It is best to read that series first, to avoid its twist being spoiled, but the sequel does largely stand alone. Together, they're making a case for the best Star Trek of the decade.

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Star Trek Ghosts of the 21st Century #3 is available now from IDW Publishing.

Star Trek is one of pop culture's biggest multimedia franchises, spanning multiple movies, TV shows, books, comics, video games, and various other media. The franchise was created by Gene Roddenberry and started with the 1960s TV series starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Over the decades, several equally popular series have come out since as Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Discovery.