Star Trek: Defiant Series Announced

Star Trek: Defiant has been announced, offering a darker, edgier Star Trek story with an unusual crew. IDW Publishing announced Star Trek: Defiant during its Star Trek comics panel on Saturday at New York Comic Con. Christopher Cantwell writes the series, with Angel Unzueta providing the artwork. The series spins out of the upcoming flagship Star Trek series, with Worf stealing the USS Defiant (the ship from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) after a falling out with Capt. Benjamin Sisko during his mission aboard the USS Theseus. Worf’s hand-picked crew for this mission includes B’Elanna Torres, Spock, Ro Laren, and Lore. Torres’ involvement is particularly interesting since her husband, Tom Paris, is aboard the Theseus.

“I’m THRILLED to follow the new flagship series from Trek masters @cpkelly & @JacksonLanzing & @RamonRosanas,” Cantwell said on Twitter. “And yes, ST: DEFIANT is part of the same MASSIVE story that we’re all crafting together. Expect crossovers and epic events. Expect #StarTrek comics like never before.”

He continued, “And I am incredibly grateful to editorial mastermind @HeatherAntos for including me on this dream come true journey. I wish us all ‘Qapla’!’ and I hope you dig it.”

Star Trek: Defiant will debut in March 2023, about five issues into the flagship Star Trek series. The two comics will eventually crossover. Star Trek writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly teased more books set in the new Star Trek line, which takes place between the end of Star Trek: Voyager and the film Star Trek: Nemesis, during our discussion about the new era of Star Trek comics in September.

“We are, for the first time in a Star Trek comic, really, outside of the Q event and things like that, treating Star Trek as a living universe where anyone can show up,” Lanzing said. “So if you have a favorite character from Star Trek, there is a good chance that they’re going to show up in this book somewhere.”

Kelly adds, “They’re giving us a lot of access to all the toys, with the understanding that at the end of it, we will put the toys back in the box. There is about a year and a half here of Star Trek timeline that is untouched, and within this, we can make all sorts of trouble as long as we put the characters that need to be back in the box for Nemesis.”

Star Trek: Defiant goes on sale in March. Star Trek #1 goes on sale on October 26th.