Star Trek: Picard: What Happened to the Enterprise-E?

04/13/2023 09:00 am EDT

Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 9, "Vox" brought back a classic starship, but raised some questions about another. SPOILERS follow for Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 9 follow. The latest episode of Star Trek: Picard saw Jean-Luc Picard and his former crewmates fleeing the USS Titan as the Borg sleeper agents among its young crew awoke and attacked. Picard, William Riker, Deanna Troi, Geordi La Forge, Worf, Data, and Beverly Crusher returned to the Fleet Museum housing many important ships from Starfleet's history. Once there, Geordi revealed that he'd been slowly rebuilding the USS Enterprise-D and that it is ready for their use during this time of crisis.

In conversation, Geordi mentioned that they obviously couldn't use the Enterprise-E, the ship that debuted in Star Trek: First Contact as the destroyed Enterprise-D's successor. However, whatever Geordi is alluding to isn't as clear to Star Trek fans as it is to these characters/

What happened to the Enterprise-E?

After Geordi mentions the Enterprise-E, everyone turns to look accusingly at Worf. Worf responds defensively by saying that whatever happened wasn't his fault.

So what did happen? The short answer is we're not entirely sure, but we do have a few details.

Ahead of Star Trek: Picard Season 3's debut, Paramount+ released some personnel files from the Titan's computer explaining what the Enterprise crew has been up to in the years since Star Trek: Nemesis. Worf's file confirmed that he reenlisted in Starfleet full-time after his brief stint in diplomacy and eventually achieved the rank of Captain. It also confirmed that he continued to serve aboard the Enterprise-E, though the account stops short of clearly confirming that Worf became the Enterprise's captain, as shown in the Star Trek: Picard novel The Last Best Hope.

Instead, the file says that Worf's time back aboard the Enterprise-E was "brief" and that he left after "the incident above Kriilar Prime." One has to believe that whatever that incident entailed is why the Enterprise-E is unavailable to the Enterprise crew now, but the file offered no further details.

What was the incident above Kriilar Prime?

We don't know what happened above Kriilar Prime yet. However, that's not to say we'll never find out.

It's played off as a joke now, but this seems like exactly the type of off-camera story that a Star Trek novel might cover in detail. Alternatively, the Star Trek comics line has been expanding lately and IDW Publishing has published several Star Trek: Picard miniseries previously. Perhaps another could be in the works about Kriilar-Prime.

How to watch Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 premieres new episodes on Thursdays on Paramount+. Star Trek: Picard's first two seasons are already streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Picard streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on Amazon Prime Video in over 200 countries and territories. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.

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