Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1, Episode 19 - "Supernova, Part 1"The USS Defiant returned in Star Trek: Prodigy episode 19, which was the "tough little ship's" first appearance since the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In "Supernova, Part 1," the Living Construct send the USS Protostar into Federation space, where it was intercepted by a Starfleet armada. This was the Vau'Nakats' plan so that the Living Construct could send its signal to Starfleet, making the Federation starships destroy themselves.
Aboard the USS Protostar, Dal R'El (Brett Gray), Gwyn (Ella Purnell), and the teenage crew had to fight off Asencia (Jameela Jamil), the Diviner (John Noble), and Deadnok (Jimmi Simpson). Unfortunately, the kids were overwhelmed and couldn't stop Asencia from manually activating the Living Construct. Ascencia killed the Diviner, who tried to protect his daughter Gwyn, and escaped with Drednok. The Protostar's young heroes were helpless to stop the Living Construct's signal from corrupting every Starfleet ship, including Admiral Kathryn Janeway's (Kate Mulgrew) USS Dauntless, and the USS Defiant.
Star Trek: Prodigy Shows The Defiant For The First Time Since DS9
The Defiant is part of the Starfleet armada sent to intercept the Protostar, and it's definitely the same starship once commanded by Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The Defiant is clearly seen on-screen, with its call sign, NCC-74205, clearly visible. Of course, this isn't the original Defiant, which was destroyed in DS9 season 7. It's the second, replacement Defiant, formerly the USS Sao Paulo, which was rechristened as the USS Defiant and helped Sisko win the Dominion War. But to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans, it's simply the Defiant.
Unfortunately, the Defiant was as helpless as the rest of Starfleet to stop the Living Construct's signal, and it had no defense for its systems being overridden to fire upon every other nearby Starfleet ship. Thankfully, the Defiant wasn't destroyed in Star Trek: Prodigy, but it took severe damage and dished out a lot of punishment to its sister ships, as well. While there was a glimpse at the Defiant's bridge, none of the Starfleet personnel were identifiable. It's possible that after the Dominion War was won and Captain Sisko ascended to join the Prophets, Starfleet may have reassigned the Defiant away from Deep Space Nine.
Star Trek: Lower Decks' DS9 Episode Didn't Show The Defiant
The USS Defiant appearing in Star Trek: Prodigy happily joins Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's recent renaissance in animation. DS9 made a long-awaited comeback in Star Trek: Lower Decks when the USS Cerritos visited the former Cardassian space station so that Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) and her crew could meet Colonel Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) and Quark (Armin Shimerman). The Defiant didn't appear in Lower Decks' DS9 crossover, but a Defiant-class ship belonging to Section 31 did appear in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3, episode 8, "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus." Hopefully, the Defiant will survive the Living Construct's signal in Star Trek: Prodigy's season 1 finale and the tough little ship will keep on flying.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.