Star Trek: Why Spock's Wrath Of Khan Death Was Changed
Spock's death in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan was undone after only one movie, but the original plan was for Leonard Nimoy's iconic Vulcan to stay dead. Spock's death in Wrath of Khan is arguably one of Stark Trek's most iconic moments, despite the character being revived in the sequel. Spock went on to have a significant role in the franchise right up until Nimoy's death in 2015; however, the original plan would have gone in a totally different direction.
Unlike many of his other Star Trek: The Original Series cast members, Nimoy enjoyed a fairly healthy career in TV, movies, and on stage in the 1970s after Star Trek's cancellation. When the original idea was floated of getting the band back together to make a big-budget Star Trek film in the late '70s, Nimoy was largely uninterested due to fears of typecasting himself, as well as long-simmering financial disagreements he had with Paramount over the licensing of his likeness.
After the financial disagreements were resolved, Nimoy signed on to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, though he reportedly hated the script and had a fairly miserable time making the movie. Despite the fact that The Motion Picture was massively expensive and was only a moderate box office hit, a leaner, meaner sequel was commissioned in the form of Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. Directed by Nicholas Meyer, many involved in the film's production believed The Wrath Of Khan would likely be the last Star Trek film; the notion that the franchise would burn out and be reborn over and over again for 55 years never occurred to them, even after the initial film revival.
Nimoy and the producers at the very least knew they wanted the film to be a sendoff for Spock, who dies in the Star Trek film saving the Enterprise from sure destruction. His final scene where he and Kirk express what they mean to each other is one of the high watermarks in all of Star Trek, and would have been quite a somber end to such an iconic character had it stuck. But, of course, it didn't stick. Surprisingly, that was mostly down to Leonard Nimoy himself; the actor had such an enjoyable experience working with Meyer and the cast on The Wrath Of Khan, suddenly the notion of doing more Star Trek didn't seem so dire to him. A scene was added near the end of production where Spock transfers his katra — basically the Vulcan version of a soul — to an unconscious Dr. McCoy, setting up the events of the next film, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.
This change — along with an added shot of Spock's coffin sitting on the Genesis planet at film's end — annoyed Nicholas Meyer, who thought those hints at resurrection undermined the impact of Spock's death. That ultimately led to Nimoy himself directing the next two Star Trek films when Meyer declined. Happily, there was no bad blood between Meyer and Nimoy, who collaborated closely on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and the final movie to star the full TOS cast, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Ironically, it's a collaboration that ultimately saved Spock for future stories by giving him such an affecting death.