2026 Novel Releases

[JD]

Also interesting how different tie-ins work. Star Trek Online isn't allowed to show Seven in starfleet for some reason, but the novels apparently can?

This is directly based off of Picard, while I was under the impression that STO was kind of in it's own little universe doing it's own thing.

 

[Christopher]

Have Star Trek Online staff made any statements about that? I just assumed they were desperately exploiting the lack of progress on Star Trek: Legacy to cling to their pre-Star Trek: Picard continuity status quo as much as possible, like how the STO mission "Axiom" released earlier this year made what I interpreted as a dig at the "xB" term from PIC.

If STO isn't using Picard elements, I'd think the more likely explanation is that they just don't have the Picard license. Each series is licensed separately.

 

[David cgc]

If STO isn't using Picard elements, I'd think the more likely explanation is that they just don't have the Picard license. Each series is licensed separately.

They use elements, but I think the bigger issue they have years and years worth of gameplay design and storylines based on their own version of the 25th century developed before PIC was a thing. I think they have some kind of vague handwave about the Enterprise-G being retired and the -F returning to service to try and massage the fact that they had the -F being launched 8 years after it appeared on its final flight in PIC.

 

[Tuskin38]

Have Star Trek Online staff made any statements about that?

Yes, in the dev stream last week, a dev said they were asked by Paramount not to have her in Starfleet, there was no reason given. She's just vaguely referred to as 'special ops' in the lore, the new Odyssey Uniform vest variant made for the episode was originally intended for her.

I think they have some kind of vague handwave about the Enterprise-G being retired and the -F returning to service to try and massage the fact that they had the -F being launched 8 years after it appeared on its final flight in PIC.

They haven't acknowledged the story events of Season 3 at all. I don't believe they've referenced Season 2 in lore either. Though the various interdimensional vortices seen in the current storyline are based off the design from the end of Season 2.

If STO isn't using Picard elements, I'd think the more likely explanation is that they just don't have the Picard license. Each series is licensed separately.

No they do. There's various elements from all three seasons in the game, mostly ships, uniforms and weapons.

Very little lore has been adopted, because the series is widely incompatible with their existing lore, but they have been picking and choosing things.

They added the Synth attack on Mars to their backstory, Hugh has made references to the events on the Borg Artifact from Season 1, though in STO's version of events he clearly didn't die. Seven references being part of the Fenris Rangers in one mission.

Seven was already a civilian in STO's lore so that was easy to adapt, however they're using her personality and appearance from Picard, while her previous appearances in STO, which are only a year or two before the 'present', she still looked like and mostly acted like how she did in Voyager, as they came out a few years before Picard aired.

There's been no story references to any events from Seasons 2 or 3 yet.

 

[drt]

The faces seem slightly off, especially Wesley's and Seven's.

That Picard and Raffi are pretty well rendered makes it more jarring, it makes it seem like they lost the rights to the actors' likenesses or something.

 

[Christopher]

That Picard and Raffi are pretty well rendered makes it more jarring, it makes it seem like they lost the rights to the actors' likenesses or something.

They're both entirely recognizable to me. Like I said, it's common enough in painted or hand-drawn art for likenesses to be less than photographically perfect -- just look at some of the '80s Trek novel covers, or any of countless comic books.

 

[JD]

I've only seen trailers, but Seven looks just like Jeri Ryan to me

 

[Enterprise1701]

This is directly based off of Picard, while I was under the impression that STO was kind of in it's own little universe doing it's own thing.

That kind of is how STO has been chugging along, I guess. The 2016 "Agents of Yesterday" story premise doesn't really make sense in light of Trek returning to canon with DIS season 1, but there it still is in the game, coexisting with the "Age of Discovery" story arc, just as the U.S.S. Enterprise-F is still continuing its presence in the 2410s with a plethora of Borg opponents in the current story arc in spite of PIC season 3.

I had guessed STO had secured some kind of ignorance from CBS to mostly continue with their preferred pre-PIC status quo due to the ongoing low certainty Star Trek: Legacy will ever reach fruition, but Tuskin cited a recent developer comment disproving that notion as plausible.

Yes, in the dev stream last week, a dev said they were asked by Paramount not to have her in Starfleet, there was no reason given. She's just vaguely referred to as 'special ops' in the lore, the new Odyssey Uniform vest variant made for the episode was originally intended for her.

Oh, huh. There goes my half-baked conspiracy theory. Thank you for enlightening me.

 

[Interstella5555]

I know the news for 2026 is scant at this point, but just a reminder to all that if you want to discuss performance/ratings/etc of the shows, to please take it to the individual show forums, or GTD.

Apologies for the complete sidestep but this reply made me think of you being the barracksroomlawyer in the short story wikihistory: https://reactormag.com/wikihistory/

Anyway, apologies and carry on lol

 

[Reanok]

Yay! I love ethe new cover art showing Picard and Beverly Crusher on the cover. Since Wesley is on the cover i wonder if this will be about everly Crusher instead of Captain Shaw.