Star Trek: Picard boss breaks down season 3’s new “hero ship”

The ships of Star Trek have always been central to the franchise. They are more than a simple workplace; they’re a living, breathing environment that fans come to love as much as the crew. The argument will always rage between fans as to which ship is best, and now they’ll be a new contender when Star Trek: Picard returns for its third and final season.

While many may be disappointed not to see the return of the USS Enterprise, showrunner Terry Matalas has revealed that the ship seen in the recent season 3 trailer — the USS Titan-A, designed by Bill Krause — is just as unique.

“So, in the trailer, you see our hero ship of season three. It’s actually a class that’s called, in Starfleet slang, the Neo-Constitution class or Constitution III,” Matalas told Trek Movie. “Let’s say there are a few fan-designed ships that are canonized this season in the fleet.”

The “hero ship” in Star Trek: Picard has a history

The original USS Titan was commanded by Captain Riker in events unseen around the time of Star Trek: Nemesis. However, Riker’s time aboard the ship has been covered in spinoff media, most prominently a range of novels from Pocket Books between 2005 and 2017. The vessel has also been featured in Star Trek: Lower Decks, the animated comedy series now in its fourth season.

Matalas explained that the designs for the new Titan were heavily influenced by the older version of the ship. “So, the idea was that after the Luna class’s legacy run with Riker, that ship was damaged and retired. Some of the systems were refit and put into this new Titan, the Titan-A,” he explained.

"You’ll see in the season that in the observation room, we honor the previous Titans that have come before. You’ll see a gold model of the Luna class USS Titan as seen in Lower Decks, which was designed by Sean Tourangeau. And we even see a previous incarnation from the TOS movie era. We’ll see that there was a Titan that was a bit of a Constitution class as well, the original Shangri-La class [designed by Bill Krause]."

The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard looks set to be a treat for fans, with the majority of the original Next Generation cast returning for the final voyages of Captain Picard. Those returning alongside Patrick Stewart include William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), and Worf (Michael Dorn), as well as Picard regular Brent Spiner.

Star Trek: Picard will return for its third season sometime in 2023. Seasons 1 and 2 are available now on Paramount+.

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