The Klingons are a fairly obvious metaphor for the Soviet Union during TOS, right through to Star Trek VI.
In TNG, they largely stopped serving that purpose, though Roddenberry wanted Worf’s presence to indicate that the Federation had moved on from the war with the Klingons, similar to how the Cold War was coming to a close in real life.
(At that point, I don’t think they had worked out Worf’s backstory about being a Federation citizen from Russia.)
The Klingons are a fairly obvious metaphor for the Soviet Union during TOS, right through to Star Trek VI.
In TNG, they largely stopped serving that purpose, though Roddenberry wanted Worf’s presence to indicate that the Federation had moved on from the war with the Klingons, similar to how the Cold War was coming to a close in real life.
(At that point, I don’t think they had worked out Worf’s backstory about being a Federation citizen from Russia.)