Star Trek: Picard Has a Sneaky Discovery Connection

Star Trek: Picard is the second new Star Trek series to debut on CBS All Access. The series is a follow-up to Star Trek: The Next Generation that once again follows former Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Star Trek: Picard‘s debut comes on the heels of Star Trek: Discovery, a series that was a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series in its first two seasons. Being more than a century apart on the Star Trek timeline, the two shows don’t share much in common, but the second episode of Star Trek: Picard, titled “Maps and Legends,” did include a hard-to-notice Easter egg reference to Discovery. Mild SPOILERS for “Maps and Legends” follow.

Towards the end of “Maps and Legends,” Picard pays a visit to his former first officer, Raffi Musiker. In order to get to Raffi’s remote home, Picard takes a taxi shuttle.

But this taxi shuttle may look familiar to fans of Star Trek: Discovery. As the folks over at TrekCore noticed, the taxi is the same kind of shuttle that was used aboard the USS Discovery. Take a look below.

This makes a lot of sense. In our reality, military-grade technology often becomes available in consumer-grade variations at some point. With 100+ years having passed between Discovery and Picard, it makes sense that a shuttle that was once fit for Starfleet is now used for more mundane, civilian pursuits.

As for whether we’ll see any more significant connections between Picard and the third season of Discovery, which will take place 800+ years further into the future than Picard, we put that question to Star Trek‘s head producer, Alex Kurtzman. He remained guarded with his answer for fear of spoiling the story.

“They are on the same timeline, but the Federation has changed much more radically in Discovery than it has on Picard, and you’ll see that,” Kurtzman said. “I’m trying not to spoil anything for you.”

Picard and Discovery will have an off-television crossover in an upcoming expansion of the video game Star Trek Online. The Legacy update celebrates 10 years of Star Trek Online by bringing together Picard‘s Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine and Discovery‘s Sonequqa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham in the game for two new episodes.

What do you think of this Discovery Easter egg in Star Trek: Picard? Let us know in the comments. New episodes of Star Trek: Picard debut Thursdays on CBS All Access. The third season of Star Trek: Discovery will premiere on CBS All Access in 2020.

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