Star Trek canon is not an easy thing to play with, as the series’ fandom tends to be particularly judicious about new interpretations of Gene Roddenberry’s original vision. However, Star Trek: The Next Generation was a triumphant example of what a sequel/reboot (or “requel”) series should be; it honored the spirit of the original Star Trek series while forging its own path, selling fans on new sets of characters, and even expanded old lore into exciting new areas. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has picked up that baton and run with it, nailing the original series’ spirit of the formative years on the Enterprise before Kirk and Spock took over, while selling that vision to a whole new age of fans. And, in Season 3, Strange New Worlds is taking one of the boldest steps to confirm one of the biggest fan theories that stretches all the way back to the earliest days of the franchise.
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Strange New Worlds Confirms A Major Star Trek Family Line
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Episode 2, “Wedding Bell Blues”, sees Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) and Spock’s (Ethan Peck) official breakup taken to a cosmic rom-com level, thanks to the machinations of a mysterious alien being played by actor Rhys Darby. The alien messes with the memories of the crew and reality itself. The alien’s flamboyant style, not to mention the entire framework of the episode, was a clear ode to the Star Trek TOS episode “The Squire of Gothos” (S1E17) and the character of Trelane.
Trelane (played by William Campbell) was a”puckish, childlike” alien being who made a barren planet his playground, stealing Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise crew to use as his living playthings. A cat-and-mouse game with the alien ended when his “parents,” two energy-based beings, appeared and collected their child, freeing Kirk and allowing the Enterprise to leave.
20 years after “The Squire of Gothos” aired in 1967, Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered with the now-classic two-part episode “Encounter at Farpoint”, which introduced the alien entity “Q” to the franchise (played by actor John de Lancie). Like Trelane, Q was an entity who was part of a collective of godlike beings, able to alter reality on a whim. John de Lancie’s performance as Q, and particularly his chess game rivalry with Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard, made him a major franchise staple. Q would continue to appear throughout TNG‘s run, and de Lancie even made sure to return for a couple of appearances in the sequel series Picard. As Q’s fame grew within the fandom, so did a popular fan theory: Q is actually the father of Trelane. The theory has been discussed in detail for quite some time, going as far back as Peter David’s 1994 Star Trek novel Q-Squared.
We never received any onscreen confirmation from Star Trek that Q and Trelane are related – until now. Strange New Worlds’ new “Wedding Bell Blues” episode ends with energy-being parents once again coming to collect their mischievous offspring – and this time, the voice of the father is definitely that of John de Lancie. That’s about as official as an indirect confirmation gets.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds creators confirm Q & Trelane’s Family Connection
Strange New Worlds showrunner Akiva Goldsman has confirmed that the unnamed alien in “Wedding Bell Blues” is who fans think it is. “Is that Trelane? Yes, it is,” Akiva told Inverse. “We couldn’t have our characters hear his name for continuity reasons. But that’s him.”
He went on to confirm that John de Lancie’s Q was indeed included as an Easter egg that’s meant to finally cement this fan theory as official canon: “Greater minds than ours put it together, and we were like, ‘Well, let us reward that brilliant thinking by making it canon.’”
Finally, for the Star Trek diehards who will wonder: Goldsman teased that, due to the nature of the Q and Trelane, we this episode of Strange New Worlds could arguably have the extra-dimensional beings revisiting the Enterprise after Trelane had already gotten reprimanded once by Q for messing with Kirk and Co. in the original series: “We know that Q can be early Q or late Q,” Goldsman teased. “Or proto-Q or old Q. Or are there actual individuals in the Q Continuum?”
In any event, Trelane’s connection to the Q is now locked into Star Trek canon. And Strange New Worlds Season 3 is only just getting started. Catch it streaming on Paramount+.
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