In case you missed it, the first episode of Star Trek: Picard Season 2, “The Star Gazer,” premiered this week on the Paramount+ streaming service, and while fans have certainly been excited to see the series return for a new season, the first episode also includes some surprising news for fans of the free-to-play MMORPG Star Trek Online. Thanks to a sequence in the first episode, several ships from the video game are now, officially, canon.
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More specifically, the folks behind Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek Online worked together to include four different ships from Star Trek Online in the episode. “The Star Gazer” featured Star Trek Online‘s Gagarin Miracle Worker Battlecruiser, Legendary Ross Command Exploration Cruiser, Sutherland Advanced Research Vessel, and Reliant Advanced Light Cruiser. In addition to the Star Trek Online ship models making their canon debut, Star Trek Online associate art director Thomas Marrone and senior concept artist Hector Ortiz collaborated with Picard‘s production team on the design of the U.S.S. Stargazer, a new ship that debuted in the episode.
“It’s been such a great honor working with the STO people because they are passionate people who know Star Trek design,” said Dave Blass, Production Designer for Star Trek: Picard, as part of the announcement. “They know how to design a Federation starship and it’s so important, both to me and the fans, to work with collaborators who can capture the nuance of these ships, down to the last detail. They made my life so much easier and we got to use the best possible ships on Picard. It’s going to be an amazing experience for all the fans.”
“As a childhood fan of Star Trek and Star Trek ships, I have spent my life fascinated with the incredible machines that boldly took our heroes into the final frontier,” said Thomas Marrone, Associate Art Director for Star Trek Online, as part of the announcement. “Now, thanks to our collaboration with Picard, I can say that starships my team has created for Star Trek Online are now a part of the larger Star Trek canon. It was an incredible honor for us to contribute to the larger Star Trek Universe and we were thrilled to see them in action on Picard last night.”
As noted above, Star Trek: Picard Season 2’s premiere episode, “The Star Gazer,” is now available on Paramount+. Season 2 will continue to debut new episodes every Thursday on the streaming service. As for Star Trek Online, the free-to-play video game is currently available for the PC as well as PlayStation and Xbox consoles. It continues to receive regular updates. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Star Trek Online right here.
What do you think about Picard making several Star Trek Online ships canon? Are you excited to see where this season of the live-action show goes? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop in order to talk about all things gaming!
