I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. There’s never been a better time to be a Star Trek fan. If the Trekkie/Trekker in your life is floating on air this week, it’s because we got a TON of amazing Star Trek announcements, trailers, and TRULY unexpected surprises this year at SDCC. Let’s break it down by show so we don’t miss a thing!
It’s Warp Time with Star Trek: Lower Decks!
Just a couple of weeks ago, we got the announcement that Lower Decks would be returning to our screens on August 25. This weekend we got a brand new trailer! Did you miss it? Take a look.
There are so many things to geek out about in the Lower Decks trailer, but we are finally getting some love for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in modern Trek! It’s not 100% clear from the trailer, but if I had to guess, Captain Freeman’s trial might be taking place on Deep Space Nine. Who will we get to see there? If you’ll recall, Mariner worked on DS9 for a while so she knows the place. I sincerely hope we get the triumphant return of Captain Sisko.
If nothing else, I cracked up when I realized the Lower Decks crew were decked out in Jake Sisko outfits towards the end of the trailer. Also the bottle of “Ketracell White Hot Sauce” on the table in the Sisko’s restaurant? I lost it. Also, if they don’t make that hot sauce just like they’ve made the Picard wine and Romulan ale, I’ll riot.
Hit It With Star Trek: Strange New Worlds…and Lower Decks?!
Then, just when we couldn’t be more excited for Lower Decks, we got the news that Lower Decks will be doing a CROSSOVER episode in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season two! Watch Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid (Mariner and Boimler) crash the SDCC Strange New Worlds panel!
Of all the things I expected to find out about Star Trek this weekend, that was nowhere near the list! I’ve got a feeling that this will be a Deep Space Nine “Trials and Tribble-ations” sort of situation, where the crew of the Cerritos accidentally goes back in time to the Strange New Worlds era. Ever since the cast of Lower Decks showed up to Star Trek: Chicago cosplaying as their characters, fans have been BEGGING for a live-action Lower Decks episode. Now it looks like those costumes were just a tease for the crossover!
Okay, NOW Hit It with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds!
Other than the big crossover announcement, SDCC didn’t give us too much news to report when it comes to Strange New Worlds. However, we DO get a few juicy tidbits about season two. Ethan Peck mentioned that we’ll see Spock struggle more with his human side. Paul Wesley is showing up as Jim Kirk in season two, which we’ve known for a while, but he’ll be a Lieutenant, not Captain on the Farragut. We are getting a new engineer, but it won’t be Scotty, as hinted in the finale of season one (thank God!). Like I said in my review, I love Scotty, but I want to get to know these new characters first.
Will the new engineer be played by Bruce Horak? I was glad to learn that he IS returning for season two, but there’s no word on who he will be playing as of yet. Who would you like Bruce to play? Will he be back in engineering? Will he be another Aenar? Some have joked that he should play Hemmer’s brother, Hammer. If he does that, I think he should play his other brother, Hummer.
Anyway, I’m incredibly excited for the next season. These little tidbits will have to hold me over until then.
Engage With Star Trek: Picard!
SDCC gave us our first look at our old friends from the Enterprise-D in the teaser trailer that dropped over the weekend. Did you miss it? Take a look.
While the teaser is really only a glance at each of our characters, they do have a few poignant things to say. One of the things that caught my attention in these little snippets of dialogue is that Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton) mentions that he’s become a better father because of his time on the Enterprise. Will we get to meet Geordi’s family? I’d love to! Also, WORF! I love Worf. I also might have been in love with Michael Dorn’s voice since age nine, with him voicing Coldstone on Gargoyles.
I was also quite glad to see Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) would be joining the cast for season three, as there was some speculation about who would actually be returning, aside from the Next Generation cast.
We also found out the antagonist for season three is female and that they’re taking “great inspiration” from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, seemingly making good on that little nod we got to Khan in the season two finale. Does that mean we’ve got a true Khan connection or do we have a Khan-like villain? I suppose we’ll have to wait and find out! The other news we received confirmed that our crew is definitely going back on the Enterprise! It’ll be nice to see what the ship is like, 30+ years later.
Game on with Star Trek: Resurgence!
It’s not all show news at SDCC! We got a small update on the Star Trek: Resurgence game. While there’s no release date yet, they are excited to bring a beloved, yet unnamed character to the game. There’s lots of speculation about who it might be, but I’m hoping for Chief Miles O’Brien. After all, Lower Decks already declared him the most important person in Starfleet history. If that’s the case (and Lower Decks is canon), then we should definitely be seeing more of him.
If you’ve not already, you should definitely check out the site for the Star Trek: Resurgence game here. This is one of the few modern games I actually have any interest in playing, largely because there’s no DLC, no microtransactions, no NFTs, and no extras. They’re going old school here; you buy the game and it’s the entire game. All the microtransactions in modern gaming drive me nuts, which is why I rarely play modern games. With Resurgence, I love the idea that I’m actually getting a complete and finished game. That’s a rarity these days, but it’s one I’m here for. It being a Star Trek game just makes it even better.
Future Shows
We did get confirmation that there are two new Star Trek shows in the works right now, but there’s no confirmation about the subject matter. Ideas about a Section 31 show and a Starfleet Academy show have been mentioned in the past. However, we don’t have any confirmation that these are the two shows in question.
What would you want to see happen in the Star Trek universe? I’m down for the two previously mentioned, especially if that means the return of Michelle Yeoh to the Star Trek universe, and if Tilly is going to lead the Starfleet Academy show. I suppose, just like the rest of these teasers, we’ll just have to wait and find out.
Final Thoughts
The good folks at Roddenberry really knocked it out of the park with these SDCC announcements. Which Star Trek are you most looking forward to in the coming months? For me, it’s without a doubt the Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks crossover. I want Mariner and Ortegas to get up to shenanigans. I want Rutherford to be so dang sincere with whoever is in engineering that we just can’t help but love him more. I want Tendi to geek out about working with M’Benga and Chapel. I want Boimler to fanboy so hard over Captain Pike that he approaches spontaneous combustion! We know that Strange New Worlds has already wrapped for season two, so this episode is in the can already. Until then, I’m glad I have season three of Lower Decks and all this other great Star Trek content to hold me over.
Tell me your thoughts on these upcoming shows and projects announced at SDCC! Leave me a comment and let’s talk Trek.
All episodes of all Star Trek series are streaming now on Paramount+.