News has sadly broken of the passing of actor and writer Walter Koenig, veteran of the science fiction small screen where he played key roles on both the original Star Trek (and associated movies) and Babylon 5.
Koenig was born in Chicago in 1936 to Russian parents. He decided to become an actor relatively late, after receiving a psychology degree and a professor suggested he try acting. Koenig's first notable television role was on The Lieutenant, produced by Gene Roddenberry.
Koenig was then cast in 1967 in Roddenberry's Star Trek, playing Ensign Pavel Chekov, debuting in the second season. Roddenberry had mused that the international nature of the Enterprise crewed merited having a Russian character on board. Falsely, a publicity story was issued claiming that the Soviet periodical Pravda had complained there were no Russian characters on the show supposedly set in a peaceful future where mankind had united. Koenig was cast due to his resemblance to Davy Jones of the Monkees, and only later did the writers and crew discover that he had actual Russian ancestry. Koenig was also cast to add more youth appeal to the series, despite Koenig turning 31 around the time he debuted on the show.
The role of Chekov was originally intended to be minor and recurring rather than regular, but the absence of George Takei whilst he shot the film The Green Berets at the start of Season 2 of Trek meant that Chekov's role was beefed up to compensate, with Koenig getting a good reception from the audience and being promoted to a regular. Takei was initially unhappy about this upon his return, but after sharing a dressing room with Koenig for the season, they became fast friends. Koenig would serve as Takei's best man in 2008. Koenig went on to appear through the second and third seasons of the show.
When the show returned as Star Trek: The Animated Series, the studio decided there wasn't enough money to hire the entire original cast, so Chekov was left out of the scripts, to his frustration. An apologetic Gene Roddenberry instead hired Koenig as a writer, contributing the script The Infinite Vulcan, giving Koenig the minor historical distinction of being the first Star Trek castmember to contribute to an episode in a creative capacity as well as acting. Koenig returned to the role of Chekov for the first seven Star Trek movies, and was given an especially large role in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), which he was grateful for. The film also gave him his first iconic scene, where his character is taken over by mind-controlling parasites given to him by the tyrannical Khan. Later in the film he gets payback by blasting Khan's ship with photon torpedoes.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) gave Koenig arguably an even more iconic moment when his character is trying to find his way to a US Naval Shipyard in 1986 San Francisco, constantly asking passers-by to the "nuclear wessels."
Like many of his co-starts, Koenig felt typecast by his role and found other work somewhat hard to come by, especially in the 1970s. However, he did pick up guest star roles in shows including Columbo and Bring 'Em Back Alive. He was interested in writing and producing, and impressed Gene Roddenberry and the famously irascible writer Harlan Ellison with his enthusiasm, becoming friends with both. This led to his casting in Roddenberry's short-lived 1974 science fiction series The Questor Tapes and also encouraged him to write a behind-the-scenes book about the strained making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), published as Chekov's Enterprise.
In the 1980s he was introduced by Ellison to his friend J. Michael Straczynski, who was producing a radio talk show about science fiction. This friendship led Koenig to being given a guest role on the animated series The Real Ghostbusters, which Straczynski was working on. Straczynski created the role of a "Knight" on the his live-action science fiction show Babylon 5, in the episode A Sky Full of Stars. However, shortly before filming Koenig had to undergo a major operation on his heart and could not play the role, which was taken over by Christopher Neame. Koenig later pointed out this could be a blessing in disguise, as that was a one-shot role which ended with that episode. Straczynski instead created the character of Psi Cop Alfred Bester instead, a recurring nemesis for the crew of the titular space station who went on to appear in 12 episodes across five seasons. Bester even got his own special episode in the final season with him as the star, with even a specially-modified credit sequence reflecting that.
Koenig continued to make return appearances to Star Trek after his final appearance alongside William Shatner and James Doohan in the film Star Trek: Generations (1994). He went on to appear in numerous video games and several Star Trek fan series. He also technically reappeared in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the episode Trials and Tribble-ations, though only through archive footage from the original series. Koenig's final appearance was in the final episode of Star Trek: Picard in 2023, providing the voice of Federation President Anton Chekov, a presumed descendant of Pavel Chekov's.
Koenig wrote two volumes of autobiography, the first published as Warped Factors: A Neurotic's Guide to the Universe (1998), which was later revised and expanded as Beaming Up and Getting Off: Life Before and After Star Trek (2020). Koenig also had a variety of hobbies, including collecting "big little books" and buttons of various pop culture characters.
Walter Koenig was married to actress Judy Levitt (who briefly starred alongside him in Babylon 5). They had two children, Andrew (who sadly passed away in 2010) and Danielle.
Walter Koenig was a fine actor who perhaps didn't always get the roles he deserved, but excelled when given the opportunity. Whilst he will be best-remembered for Star Trek, it was his outstanding, chilling performance in Babylon 5 which was more impressive and gave him far more meat to chew on as an actor. He will be extremely missed.
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