Star Trek: Picard is apparently bringing back The Enterprise for the final season of the show.
With the entire principal cast coming back to Star Trek: Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation, the last season of the series is considered by many to be a reunion of sorts. It’s also viewed as a fitting way to end Patrick Stewart’s time with the franchise, with his dearest friends getting to e part of his farewell.
While some names like Colm Meany (Miles O’Brien), Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar), and Diana Mulder (Dr. Pulaski) aren’t expected to return (that we know of), one name that is expected back is the U.S.S Enterprise-D. Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) is promising the return of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D, the famed ship from The Next Generation, but how will it come back?
There are a lot of possibilities but these three make the most sense for us.
Three ways Star Trek could bring back the Enterprise-D
Holodeck
Star Trek can literally bring anything into a series if it wants to, all thanks to the magic of the Holodeck. One of my least favorite storytelling mechanisms in the franchise. All you have to do is have Picard sitting in a holodeck and boom, it’s the Enterprise. It’s the most likely and also the cheapest in terms of an emotional payoff.
Time travel
If Wil Wheaton is lying about not being involved in Picard’s third season, his arrival could bring the crew back to the Enterprise. Who knows how powerful Wheaton’s Wesley Crusher has become since leaving the Enterprise, so he could very well be powerful enough to bring the ship back.
It’s a new Enterprise
Now, this isn’t as obscure of an idea as one thinks. The Enterprise-D was destroyed in Generations, but whose to say that the Federation didn’t create a one-to-one replica of the ship, to serve as a museum or something of the sort? It’d be a great way to honor the ship and its history, while also establishing a unique reason to bring back the classic set.