Regardless, in the chronology of the Trek shows and movies, the supernova happened about eight years after we last saw Picard in Nemesis. We don’t know yet where Picard was during this supernova catastrophe, but we do know, again thanks to the 2009 film, that Leonard Nimoy’s Spock, good guy that he is, attempted to stop the event by creating a black hole that would absorb the supernova. (Even though this is all detailed in Trek 2009, it ties neatly into The Next Generation where we had last seen Nimoy’s Spock living on Romulus.)Anyway, he was successful in stopping the supernova, but not before the Romulan homeworld was destroyed by it. Another not so small side effect of this incident was that Spock and the Romulan ship Narada, captained by a guy named Nero, were both pulled into the black hole. This sent them back in time 129 and 154 years, respectively. Upon his arrival in the past, the first thing Nero did was attack the starship Kelvin, aka the ship which baby James T. Kirk’s dad took command of in its final minutes, aka that time we first noticed Chris Hemsworth before he was cast as Thor.
This attack and the Romulans’ presence in the past changed history, causing an alternate timeline to be formed which is now know by fans as the Kelvin Timeline or the Abramsverse, named after J.J. Abrams of course. It’s in this reality that the three Chris Pine/Zachary Quinto movies take place. And since it’s an alternate timeline, story, character and plot details can diverge from the original tales of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and the rest. That’s how you got Spock making out with Uhura, Khan turning out to be a white guy, and so on.But to get back to Picard, his new show will continue to take place in the Prime Timeline that all Star Trek has aside from the Abrams films. While the inciting incident of the Kelvin Timeline -- the destruction of Romulus and the black hole that followed -- happened in the Prime Timeline, only the Nimoy Spock and Nero and his crew travelled to the new reality. Picard and everyone else we know from the Next Generation era of Star Trek stayed home.
Though it sounds like that home has been significantly impacted by the disaster caused by the supernova. The new show will be the first time we’ve seen the future of Star Trek after Nemesis, as all the series and movies released since then have taken place during earlier periods in the franchise’s history. But the destruction of the Romulan homeworld, and the dissolution of the major power that was the Empire that apparently followed, would be a huge event in the Trek world that could very well change the balance of power in the galaxy.Add to that Picard’s own connection to the Romulans, and you’ve got the makings of some interesting drama. In Nemesis the captain learned that he had a clone who was living among the Romulans and, indeed, had taken over the Empire. Also, he was played by a young Tom Hardy, which is really weird. Picard also had a relationship with Spock and his father Sarek, and even went looking for Spock on Romulus on The Next Generation. Man, Picard even dressed up as a Romulan that time.
Long story short, nothing that happens in the Abrams Timeline bears any impact on Picard’s universe. To Jean-Luc, for example, history still says it was Spock who sacrificed himself to save the Enterprise during the events of Star Trek 2, not Kirk, who did so in the Abramsverse.
So while the Picard show will take place in the traditional Prime Timeline, the producers have found a clever way to connect it to the events of the modern movies. The series is expected to debut in late 2019.
Talk to Executive Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottCollura, or listen to his Star Trek podcast, Transporter Room 3. Or do both!