The Star Trek universe has a discerning fanbase when it comes to altering Gene Roddenberry’s original vision, but shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation and now Star Trek: Strange New Worlds have shown us how to create a successful sequel/reboot series. They maintain the essence of the original Star Trek while introducing new characters and exploring old lore in innovative ways. In Season 3, Strange New Worlds is taking a daring move by delving into one of the most popular fan theories from the early days of the franchise.
Strange New Worlds Confirms A Major Star Trek Family Line
In the second episode of Season 3 for “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” titled “Wedding Bell Blues,” the formal split between Nurse Chapel, portrayed by Jess Bush, and Spock, played by Ethan Peck, is elevated into an interstellar romantic comedy. This escalation is orchestrated by a puzzling extraterrestrial character, skillfully acted by Rhys Darby. The intriguing alien manipulates the crew’s memories and even distorts reality itself. Reminiscent of the TOS episode “The Squire of Gothos” (S1E17) and its character, Trelane, the alien’s extravagant demeanor and the entire narrative structure of the episode pay homage to that classic Star Trek tale.
Trelane, portrayed by William Campbell, was an alien character with a mischievous, youthful demeanor who transformed a desolate planet into his personal amusement park. He abducted Kirk, Spock, and the entire crew of the Enterprise to serve as his interactive toys. A game of hide-and-seek with the alien came to an end when his “parents,” two entities composed of energy, emerged and retrieved their offspring, releasing Kirk and enabling the Enterprise to depart.
Approximately twenty years following the broadcast of “The Squire of Gothos” in 1967, the highly acclaimed two-part episode “Encounter at Farpoint” debuted on Star Trek: The Next Generation, introducing the enigmatic alien character Q (portrayed by John de Lancie). Similar to Trelane, Q was a part of a group of omnipotent beings and had the ability to manipulate reality at will. De Lancie’s portrayal of Q, particularly his competitive chess matches with Patrick Stewart’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard, solidified him as a significant franchise figure. Throughout TNG‘s duration, Q made recurring appearances, and de Lancie even reprised the role for several episodes in the follow-up series, Picard.
As the popularity of Q grew among fans, so did a widely held fan theory: Q is Trelane’s father. This hypothesis has been debated extensively and can be traced back to Peter David’s 1994 novel “Q-Squared.
It wasn’t clear in Star Trek if Q and Trelane were related, but now we have a hint: In the latest episode of “Strange New Worlds,” called “Wedding Bell Blues,” the energy beings who appear to collect their trickster children sound remarkably like John de Lancie, who played Q. This isn’t a direct confirmation, but it’s as close as we might get.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds creators confirm Q & Trelane’s Family Connection
The showrunner of Strange New Worlds, Akiva Goldsman, has verified that the unnamed alien in “Wedding Bell Blues” is indeed the character fans suspect – Trelane. In an interview with Inverse, he clarified, “Yes, it’s Trelane.” For narrative consistency, our characters can’t acknowledge his name, but rest assured, that’s him.
They subsequently verified that the character John de Lancie’s Q was indeed hidden as an Easter egg, aiming to solidify this long-held fan theory as official lore: “Intelligent minds before ours had pieced it together, and we thought, ‘Let’s acknowledge their genius by making it part of the established facts.’
Goldsman hinted that, considering the characters of Q and Trelane, this episode of Strange New Worlds could potentially feature these extra-dimensional beings returning to the Enterprise even after Trelane had been scolded once by Q in the original series. Goldsman playfully added, “We know that Q can take on various forms: early Q, late Q, proto-Q or old Q. Or are there individual entities within the Q Continuum?
Without a doubt, Trelane’s ties with the Q have become an integral part of Star Trek lore. Speaking of which, Season 3 of Strange New Worlds is now unfolding. Don’t miss out; catch it live on Paramount+!
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2025-07-17 20:44