We finally got to hang out with some Klingons in Star Trek Into Darkness, but they could’ve looked a whole lot different.

Artist Neville Page has released several CGI mockups showing the various Klingon designs that were considering during the development process, and there are some wildly different looks that could’ve wound up on the big screen.

Some are actually as cool as — if not cooler than — the final Klingon look that director J.J. Abrams finally landed on. Here’s Page’s explanation of the concept art he worked up:

JJ Abrams ("Mission: Impossible III") was kind enough to have me on board another Star Trek. It was not too dissimilar to the first experience, other than I was too busy to be cast as an Alien this time. Then again, I did go down with the ship in the previous one. This first round of images are some of the development of the Klingons. This was a very important assignment for me because I knew how important it was to the fans of the franchise. It was a delicate balance of respecting the established looks from previous incarnations yet delivering something appropriate for JJ's film.

You can see several of the designs below, and head over to Neville’s website for plenty more sketches that never made the cut.

(Via Comic Book Movie)