There’s one particular behind-the-scenes detail that makes Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ upcoming crossover with Star Trek: Lower Decks even more exciting. San Diego Comic Con 2022’s Star Trek Universe Hall H panel confirmed that Captain Christopher Pike’s (Anson Mount) Starship Enterprise will meet the Lower Deckers of the USS Cerritos, and it will feature a combination of live-action and animation with Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid coming aboard the Enterprise in live-action as Ensigns Beckett Mariner and Brad Boimler!
The hows and whys of the Cerritos meeting the Enterprise are being kept under wraps. Besides breaking the wall between animation and live-action, Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks take place 120 years apart. Pike’s Enterprise is in the middle of a historic five-year mission in the 23rd century of Star Trek: The Original Series. Meanwhile, the Cerritos’ not-quite-as-historic Second Contact missions take place in the late 24th century. As Star Trek: Lower Decks enters season 3, Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) is under arrest by Starfleet, accused of conspiring to blow up Pakled planet. Mariner must recruit Boimler and her fellow Lower Deckers to save Freeman, who is also her mother. Meanwhile, Strange New Worlds season 2 has wrapped production and won’t premiere until 2023 so the season 3 adventures of Lower Decks will be long over by the time Pike and the Enterprise crew return, with Lt. James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) joining Strange New Worlds.
As exciting as the prospect of the two Star Trek series converging so that Boimler and Mariner can appear in live-action is, there’s another potential aspect to the Lower Decks/Strange New Worlds crossover that’s just as much fun: The Cerritos and the Enterprise’s First Officers could meet in the crossover! The Cerritos’ Number One is Commander Jack Ransom (voiced by Jerry O’Connell) and the Enterprise’s Number One (the originator of that title) is Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) – and Jerry and Rebecca are married in real life. The crossover could involve O’Connell also appearing in live-action as Ransom to meet Romijn’s Una, or it could mean Pike’s Number One could become animated and board the Cerritos. Either way, if it happens, it would be the first time the current First Couple of Star Trek shares the screen together in Strange New Worlds.
Rebecca Romijn & Jerry O’Connell Are An Historic Star Trek Couple
It would be very smart of Star Trek to finally address and play up the fact that Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O’Connell are married and they both play First Officers in their own separate Star Trek shows. In fact, they are the first and only married couple who are Number Ones of their own Star Trek series at the same time. Of course, Romijn has bragging rights that Una is the Number One of the Enterprise, the greatest ship in Star Trek. But O’Connell is an underrated comedic force on Lower Decks, and Commander Ransom has had amazing and memorable moments on his show. Appearing in live-action in the crossover would also allow O’Connell to don a Starfleet uniform on-screen for the first time. Further, the crossover is expected to happen later in Strange New Worlds season 2 so that Una is restored as the Enterprise’s Number One.
Amusingly, both First Officers have been possessed by powerful energies; Una, who is a genetically-engineered Illyrian, absorbed a virus that caused her to cascade in Strange New Worlds episode 3, “Ghosts of Illyria,” while Ransom was infused with ‘strange energies’ and briefly became an omnipotent and crazed god in Lower Decks‘ season 2 premiere, “Strange Energies.” There’s another parallel, too, as Una was arrested by Starfleet in Strange New Worlds‘ season 1 finale while Ransom watched helplessly as his Captain, Carol Freeman, was hauled off in irons in Lower Decks‘ season 2 finale. The potential for meta hilarity if Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ Number One meets Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ First Officer is too great for it to not happen, so hopefully Una and Ransom do share the screen in the crossover.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 premieres August 25 on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 premieres in 2023 on Paramount+.
