Fans need to see the story behind Captain Uhura and her ship

Though it was never seen onscreen, Lt. Uhura became Captain Uhura and helmed her own ship. 

We don’t know what happened to every member of the crew of the Enterprise after the last Star Trek movie aired, but thanks to a quick glimpse of a plaque during an episode of Star Trek: Picard’s season two, we do know that Lt. Uhura went on to become Captain Uhura and took command of the USS Leondegrance.

Though the original story has never been told, according to Memory-Alpha, Captan Uhura had command from 2301 to 2305. The ship was on a five-year exploratory mission to the Lesser Magellanic Cloud. During that time, the crew participated in over one hundred first contact missions. With that many contacts, we can only imagine the adventures the captain and her crew had…which is why we’d like to see them in whatever medium we can.

Alex Kurtzman did have a concept story for Captain Uhura which would have seen the return of Nichelle Nichols.

Kristin Beyer, the co-creator of Star Trek: Picard, told Trekcore back in 2020 just a week before the series premiere of Picard that they’d been discussing Short Treks and what stories they wanted to tell. They wanted to begin with an Uhura story so they could bring Nichelle Nichols back. And then they wanted to tie Patrick Stewart in, facilitating a meeting between Uhura and Cadet Jean-Luc Picard.

In Kurtzman’s concept, Cadet Picard would have been called to a hospital where Uhura had a Borg-related mission for him.  Kurtzman wouldn’t reveal anymore “because maybe one day, we’ll actually do it.”

Though Short Treks isn’t producng more episodes at the moment, there’s certainly an opportunity to resume them, especially since they are more budget-friendly than full episodes of a Star Trek series. And even though Nichelle Nichols is no longer with us, her character’s story should still be told.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is finally giving a young Nyota Uhura some real screen time, but showing fans the trajectory of Uhura’s career, whether in Short Treks, comic books, or a novel, would be a great way to honor the legendary actress who built the character. And fans want to see Uhura in command of her own ship, especially since she wasn’t given much to do in Star Trek: The Original Series or even in the follow-up movies. Knowing that she went on to captain her own ship is one thing. Actually seeing it brought to light would be quite another…and a welcome one at that.