Star Trek producer Akiva Goldsman explains why Strange New Worlds won't hold any Easter eggs for Picard just yet. The first half of 2022 is shaping up to be very busy for Paramount+'s Star Trek universe. The long-running Discovery has been unraveling the back half of its season 4 over the past few weeks, and Picard will return for its delayed second season this Thursday. Finally, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will take to the skies in early May, just as Picard season 2 comes to a close. All of these shows are slated to return for at least one more season.
As the newest project to join the Star Trek lineup, Strange New Worlds brings with it a great deal of intrigue. The series itself is a spin-off of Discovery, picking up with the new iterations of Captain Pike (Anson Mount), Number One (Rebecca Romijn), and Spock (Ethan Peck) as they embark on exploratory missions throughout the galaxy. Strange New Worlds is set rather early on in the Star Trek timeline - or, at least, it's leagues before Picard. However, the newest season of Picard will see its characters travel to different eras in the past, meaning there could be elements from it that turn up in Strange New Worlds.
Star Trek fans will likely always be looking for connections and references between various projects, but they shouldn't expect it with these two Paramount+ shows. Producer Akiva Goldsman explained to Inverse that because Picard's canon still isn't completely set, he isn't interested in referencing it in Strange New Worlds. He said:
“It’s because I think with Strange New Worlds, the promise is that it will be episodic, and [it] speaks to things that are complete. If we reach backward in Strange New Worlds, we're doing it on something that is historically established canon. And we’ll do that in a way that the [reference] is a hard enough fact. It would be a reference that’s easy to explain to somebody who doesn't know and delightful to somebody who does.”
Goldsman also added that this rule might not hold in the future. He said that once Picard concludes - and thus has its canon set - there certainly could be opportunities for crossovers with Strange New Worlds. It has already been confirmed that Star Trek: Picard will end with season 3, so fans might not have to wait too long to see how its events could be represented in Strange New Worlds. That show hasn't even begun yet, meaning it's hard to tell how it will interact with other projects within the franchise.
Goldsman's refusal to let Picard and Strange New Worlds interact at this point in time is an admirable one. With Paramount+ constantly building upon established Star Trek canon these days, it always runs the risk of creating inexplicable plot holes. Focusing on one story at a time can allow for cleaner writing, which is always the better way to go. There could be room for deeper connections between Paramount+'s Trek offerings in the future, but for now, everything is remaining separate.
Star Trek: Picard season 2 premieres Thursday, March 3, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premieres Thursday, May 5 on Paramount+.
Source: Inverse