Strange New Worlds makes perfect sense as its own Star Trek show, despite being a pretty immediate prequel to The Original Series. That being said, the modern Paramount+ project does have a habit of occasionally dropping obscure references to storylines that are nearing 60 years old. You don't need to be familiar with them for those moments to land, but there can be a strong sense of FOMO if it feels like there's a secret nod to pre-established canon.
For instance, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the central vessel in Strange New Worlds season 4, episode 2, "The Griffin Incident," had appeared on-screen before. The same is also true of Division 12, which is mentioned as casually as something that's discussed on a routine basis. But do either of them have a deep-seated history within the Star Trek franchise, or are they new additions to the lore? The fact that you have to ask proves Strange New Worlds is doing a fantastic job of authentic-feeling worldbuilding.
FULL SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, episode 2, "The Griffin Incident."
The USS Griffin & Division 12 are Star Trek: Strange New Worlds exclusives
Yes, don't worry, you're not going crazy. No one is going to take your Star Trek fan card away from you. "The Griffin Incident" introduces a Federation starship that was lost in action almost a decade before the episode's events. While there have been several in-universe theories about the vessel's disappearance, some of which are spoken aloud by Spock (Ethan Peck), La'An (Christian Chong), and Kirk (Paul Wesley), Starfleet has been unable to verify any of them. Even after the terrifying encounter in the episode. "The Griffin Incident" also makes a handful of references to an organization, which is presumably a branch of Starfleet, called Division 12.
The episode ends with Division 12 hauling the Griffin away to be investigated for its strange goings-on inside. Unlike the Griffin, Division 12 has actually been mentioned before. It wasn't part of the lore when The Original Series was made, though. When traveling through an unusual area of space in Strange New Worlds season 3's "Terrarium," Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) casually states that it was "the kind of thing Division 12 usually looks into." That's it. Both the USS Griffin and Division 12 seem to be common knowledge among Starfleet officers, but we, the viewers, are only just now learning about them.
So, what really happened to the USS Griffin?
Well, that really is the question, isn't it? While "The Griffin Incident" begins by implying the episode will solve the newly introduced mystery of what happened 9 years ago and why the inside of the ship seems, for lack of a better word, cursed, Strange New Worlds refuses to provide any solid answers. If anything, the show intensifies the mystery as it goes on, making things even more shrouded in supernatural-tinged uncertainty by the time the away team is rescued and treated. Even if I had to guess, I'd be reluctant to come up with a theory that commits too hard in one direction.
I'm usually pretty good at figuring out a sci-fi explanation for phenomena like this that seem otherworldly, but I could come up with nothing convincing this time. If anything, "The Griffin Incident" seems determined to make us believe that everything that happened has no scientific explanation at all. This is highlighted even further by Captain Pike (Anson Mount) when he confirms that even Division 12, with all its experience in matters such as this, doesn't always come up with a logical answer. Something tells me the USS Griffin will forever sit within that category of unresolved enigmas in Star Trek canon, tugging at the outside possibility of canonizing phantasmagoria.
New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 drop each Thursday on Paramount+.
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