Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1, Episode 15 - "Masquerade"Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) has a tense showdown with Admiral Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox) in Star Trek: Prodigy episode 15 that subtly reminds the audience that the Romulan star going supernova is underway. Janeway is caught between a rock and a hard place as her USS Dauntless can't legally enter the Romulan Neutral Zone without risking war. Janeway is prevented from capturing the USS Protostar, and Jellico ordered her to destroy Captain Chakotay's (Robert Beltran) ship if the Romulans try to steal it.
Admiral Jellico laid down the law to Janeway because Starfleet can't jeopardize the fragile peace they've established with the Romulans. And this is because Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) is working to persuade the Romulans to agree to allow the United Federation of Planets to help evacuate their people from the Romulan sun going supernova, as established by Star Trek: Picard's backstory. Star Trek: Prodigy season 1's latter half is now set in 2384, and Admiral Picard is currently spearheading the Federation's rescue effort, which will ultimately and tragically be rescinded in the wake of the Mars Attack of 2385. But in Star Trek: Prodigy episode 15, Picard's mission to save the Romulans is still underway, and Janeway risks upending it all if she enters the Neutral Zone and starts a war over the Protostar.
How The Romulan Supernova Ties To Abrams' Star Trek & Picard
The Romulan supernova is an invention of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek 2009, and it was the catalyst for Nero (Eric Bana) to time travel to 2233, which then created the alternate Kelvin Timeline. Nero left Star Trek's Prime Timeline in 2387 in the wake of Ambassador Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) failure to use red matter in time to stop the supernova from annihilating Romulus. Star Trek: Picard season 1 delivered further backstory detailing Admiral Picard being placed in charge of the Federation's rescue effort. When the Federation rescinded its rescue mission in 2385, Admiral Picard quit Starfleet in protest.
Star Trek: Prodigy began in the Delta Quadrant, but its 2383/2384 timeframe placed it in the same time period as the Romulan supernova, which took a few years from its detection to destroying Romulus and Remus. But once the USS Protostar entered the Romulan Neutral Zone to escape Admiral Janeway and the USS Dauntless, Star Trek: Prodigy linked right up to the major galaxy-altering event happening in the 2380s. The Romulan supernova turned out to be a pivotal event that decided the direction of Star Trek's 24th century into the 25th century of Star Trek: Picard.
The Romulan Supernova Changed Picard & Star Trek
No doubt, when J.J. Abrams and his writers dreamed up the Romulan supernova for Star Trek 2009's backstory, they never realized how sweeping and impactful it would be at the time. While it took until Star Trek: Picard's arrival in 2020, the Romulan supernova became the crux of Jean-Luc Picard's backstory of what happened in the years after he gave up being Captain of the USS Enterprise-E into the beginnings of the 25th century when Picard was estranged and retired from Starfleet. Once Star Trek: Picard picked up where Star Trek: Nemesis left off, dealing with the ramifications of the Romulan supernova Abrams' Star Trek 2009 created became a focal point of the series.
The Romulan supernova altered the course of the Federation, Romulans, and Vulcans. The Romulan Star Empire was left a shell of itself, with its surviving people scattered across the Beta Quadrant on planets like Vashti, where Admiral Picard resettled the Qowat Milat. Star Trek: Discovery season 3 revealed that by the 32nd century, the Romulans returned to Vulcan and settled there, sharing the planet with their cousins. Vulcan was renamed Ni'Var to reflect the reunification Ambassador Spock devoted his latter years to. Excitingly, Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 is now part of the complex backdrop of the era of the Romulan supernova, and the USS Protostar may even play a role in what's to come.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.