With the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard reuniting much of the bridge crew of the Enterprise-D, it makes sense that the iconic flagship of Starfleet will make a return, too. But which one? Well, it could be one we know already.
At San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend, Sir Patrick Stewart himself caused a bit of a fluster when he revealed to audiences that Picard’s last season would return to “the original Enterprise,” leading fans to wonder if the actor meant, somehow — due to time travel shenanigans, presumably, although I guess we’re leaving that to Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds — a return to the original ship, or at the very least the return of The Next Generation’s iconic Enterprise-D.
However, a new option has emerged: other starships Enterprise are indeed available. Seeking to shut down the fandom hysteria, Picard showrunner Terry Matalas took to Twitter yesterday evening to say that Stewart’s comments weren’t what fans assumed — before dropping a not so subtle tease of his own:
Shutting this down before people get their hopes up. It’s not what you think. So what the F are they talking about then? Get it? What the F? *cough! Okay, I’ll see myself out. https://t.co/RMCBzMktar
— Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) July 27, 2022
The latest Enterprise we saw onscreen in Trek continuity was the Sovereign Class Enterprise-E, introduced during the Next Generation movies. So it looks like by the time of Picard, we’ll be moving on to the Enterprise-F — and for certain Trek fans, that means the canonization of a ship that’s already been around for quite a while.
In Star Trek Online — which set its own interpretation of the early 2410s, although elements of its world have slowly made their way into prime Trek continuity — the Enterprise-F is an Odyssey class starship, a design created for the online MMORPG, where it’s captained by an Andorian named Va’Kel Shon. In STO, the F launched in 2409, so while Picard season two is set approximately eight years earlier, there might need to be some futzing to bring the ship as-is into official Star Trek canon, it wouldn’t be difficult. Plus, it’s not like there isn’t precedence, either: the opening episode of Picard season two brought with it the first official canon debut of multiple Star Trek Online original ship designs as Federation vessels. Why not bring the Enterprise-F over too?
We’ll find out more when Picard returns for its final season in 2023.
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