5 Times Star Trek & Star Wars Referenced Each Other

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Both Star Trek, which debuted in 1966, and Star Wars, released in 1977, became hugely influential in science fiction. Star Trek pioneered thoughtful, socially conscious television that imagined a hopeful future for humanity in space. Star Wars then revolutionized blockbuster filmmaking. In fact, George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, has said that Star Trek paved the way for his success by making audiences more receptive to science fiction. Over the past six decades, Star Trek has grown into a franchise with numerous TV series and thirteen movies. Star Wars has become even larger, expanding into a massive media empire encompassing films, TV shows, books, comics, and video games – becoming the most successful media franchise of all time.

Both Star Wars and Star Trek are still major players in entertainment in 2026. Star Wars has a busy year ahead, with the Maul: Shadow Lord series debuting on Disney+ in April and The Mandalorian and Grogu coming to theaters in May. Star Trek is marking its 60th anniversary with the Starfleet Academy show now available on Paramount+ and a fourth season of Strange New Worlds on the way. Plus, in November 2025, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley signed on to write and direct a brand new Star Trek movie that won’t be connected to any previous stories. Interestingly, despite being made by competing studios, the creators of Star Wars and Star Trek have a long history of playfully referencing each other in their films, TV shows, and animated series.

5) Star Wars: The Clone Wars

The first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars included a surprisingly hidden reference. During the episode “Rising Malevolence,” a background monitor on General Grievous’s ship displayed a ship silhouette that fans quickly recognized as a Cardassian warship from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. This ship, originally featured in the 2370s storylines, came from a different science fiction universe entirely, making its appearance on a Star Wars battle map a fun and unexpected discovery.

4) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “A Man Alone” includes a subtle nod to Star Wars. During an investigation, Odo (René Auberjonois) reviews a schedule belonging to a murder victim, and it shows a chartered flight departing from Alderaan Spaceport – the home planet of Princess Leia that was destroyed in A New Hope. This reference stands out because it’s presented as information a character is actively reading, not a small, hard-to-see detail in the background. It’s also interesting because Star Trek: The Next Generation had already included an Alderaan reference in its visuals the previous season, suggesting the production team was continuing an inside joke across different Trek series.

3) Star Trek: The Next Generation

Throughout its seven seasons, Star Trek: The Next Generation subtly included references to Star Wars as if it were an inside joke among the show’s creators. One example appears in the pilot episode, “Encounter at Farpoint,” where the uniforms of Q’s soldiers feature devices labeled “Army R2D2 CPO” – a clear nod to the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO. In a Season 2 episode, “Up the Long Ladder,” a computer screen in Picard’s ready room briefly listed a mission destination as “Alderaan,” the planet destroyed in Star Wars. This reference was later removed from the Blu-ray version and replaced with the name of the star Aldebaran. Even later, in Season 7’s “Sub Rosa,” a quick shot of a cemetery included a tombstone with the name “Vader” on it. Interestingly, another tombstone in the same scene read “McFly,” a reference to Marty McFly from Back to the Future.

2) Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness

J.J. Abrams is a huge Star Wars fan, and he cleverly included R2-D2 in both of his Star Trek movies as a fun nod to the franchise. In the 2009 Star Trek, the droid can be briefly seen among wreckage near Vulcan on the Enterprise’s viewscreen during a critical moment. Then, in Star Trek Into Darkness, R2-D2 appears in the background as debris flies off the Enterprise during an attack. Abrams has said he first noticed R2-D2 hidden in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind when he was a child, and he wanted to continue that tradition of hidden references with his Trek films.

1) Star Trek: First Contact

A well-known and detailed crossover moment happens in Star Trek: First Contact. John Knoll, the visual effects supervisor for the 1996 film, was also working on the updated Star Wars releases at the time. He used a digital model of the Millennium Falcon to include it in the opening battle scene against the Borg Cube. The Falcon can be spotted flying behind the Cube in several shots, and sharp-eyed viewers using slow motion or zoom can clearly identify it. Knoll later explained that the visual style he created for the space battles in First Contact directly inspired the Battle of Scarif in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Ever wonder if we’ll see a Star Wars and Star Trek team-up on TV or in a movie? Share your thoughts in the comments and join the discussion in the ComicBook Forum!

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2026-04-03 21:16