Absolutely can't upset the canon.

You know this is a new multiverse now right? There is no canon since Kirk changed it. Everything and anything can be done.

The only change to the timeline involved the Jar Jar Abrams movies (the last three, starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as Kirk and Spock). That is referred to as the Kelvin timeline. Discovery and Strange New Worlds have absolutely nothing to do with that. Discovery even used scenes from the original Star Trek pilot that was shot in 1964, starring Jeffrey Hunter, the original Captain Pike.

They've tapdanced around canon, and ****ed it up a bit, but it is still in place.

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Kirk has a brother. He didn’t grow up in Iowa. That’s not canon

Kirk has a brother in the proper timeline. There's a TOS episode that covers his death (it was Shatner in a moustache as I recall).

As far as not growing up in Iowa, I'm pretty sure alternate timeline Kirk said that to La'an in the Toronto time travel episode. He still grew up in Iowa in the proper timeline.

Seriously, have you ever even watched Star Trek?

Kirk had a brother, George Samuel Kirk, who died in a TOS episode. He was portrayed by Shatner himself, with a mustache, lying dead on the surface of whatever planet they found him on.

As for the Iowa part, to the best of my recollection, the first mention of him being from Iowa was in the novelization of the first movie, dating back to 1979. The first mention of him being from Iowa in an actual movie was in Star Trek IV, which came out in 1986. The exact quote was "No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space." In any event, it has been established for decades that Kirk is from Iowa; specifically, Riverside, Iowa.

I know this is unrelated to your post, but now that the episode has been out a while - what did you think of the introduction of Scotty? I thought it was done well. I liked the character immediately, and I bought the actor as a younger version of the character. I'm imagining that he's going to have a lot to do with the Enterprise surviving the next season opener.

I thought he was a good choice. Certainly more Scotty-like than the Kirk guy is Kirk-like.

I consulted the book The Making of Star Trek, from 1968, co-authored by Roddenberry, that I've had since the 70s. It contains the original biographies of the initial crew, and identifies Kirk as being from Iowa and having a brother named Sam. So I guess this stuff has always been canon; even before the canon was canon.

They brought Scotty in? Well shit, may have to watch this after all.

You could, but you'd have to somehow get passed the fact that the Gorn don't look ridiculous enough.

*In the alt-timeline episode, Kirk told La'an he was born in space, on the USS Iowa.

Yeah, and I think they did a pretty good job of presenting a younger version of the character. I'm hoping he has a major part in the next season.