Beckett Mariner from Lower Decks and Wesley Crusher from TNG have a connection, meaning they must know each other, and might even be friends.
Warning: Contains Spoilers for Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 9 “The Inner Fight”
Summary
- Mariner’s connection to Wesley Crusher is established through their mutual friends in Starfleet Academy, including Sito Jaxa and Nicholas Locarno.
- Mariner’s deep grief over Sito Jaxa’s death indicates that her friendship with Sito was genuine and not merely a passing acquaintance.
- Wesley Crusher’s absence in Star Trek: Lower Decks leaves room for him to potentially make an appearance and help Mariner, as he represents an important and celebrated aspect of the Star Trek universe.
Lieutenant Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) from Star Trek: Lower Decks has a connection to Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) from Star Trek: The Next Generation, thanks to their mutual friends. Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5, episode 19 “The First Duty” shows Wesley as a member of Nova Squadron, an elite flight team at Starfleet Academy, which includes Cadets Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill), Jean Hajar (Walker Brandt), and their leader Nicholas Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill). Wesley’s squadron faces an inquiry following the death of one of their own during the flashy Kolvoord Starburst maneuver, which Locarno pressured the others into performing.
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 9 “The Inner Fight”, confirms that Mariner knows Nick Locarno after Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) intentionally leaves Mariner out of the Cerritos’ assignment to locate Locarno, since Beckett and Nick’s shared history is a trigger for Mariner’s bad behavior. Elsewhere, Mariner reveals to Klingon captain Ma’ah (Jon Curry) the real reason she’s been fighting her recent promotion to lieutenant: a friend of hers from Starfleet Academy, Ensign Sito Jaxa was killed in the line of duty in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7, episode 15, “Lower Decks.” Mariner confesses that she considered her “perfect friend” Sito a role model, as someone who pulled herself together after a setback and earned the honor of serving on the USS Enterprise.
How Lower Decks’ Mariner & Wesley Crusher Know Each Other From Star Trek: TNG
Mariner Has A Starfleet Academy Nova Squadron Connection
If Beckett Mariner was at the Academy during the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “The First Duty” and she knows Nick Locarno and Sito Jaxa, then she must also know Wesley Crusher. As an elite team, Nova Squadron must be well-known throughout the Academy, but Mariner’s connection to Sito is implied to be a genuine friendship and not just a passing familiarity since Sito’s death has such a deep impact on Mariner that she still hasn’t fully processed her grief. As such good friends, it’s likely Sito introduces Mariner to her teammates. W With her forceful personality and natural charisma, Mariner could have inserted herself into the group of cadets to befriend all of them by association, and that includes Wesley Crusher.
Beckett Mariner and Wesley Crusher have more in common besides their friends, so could have been friends at the Academy. Wesley’s parents are Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) and the late Lt. Commander Jack R. Crusher (Jack Wert), and Beckett’s parents are Captain Carol Freeman and Admiral Alonzo Freeman (Phil LaMarr). As Starfleet royalty, Beckett and Wesley grew up in the shadow of their parents’ service, hyper-aware of the legacies they’re expected to live up to. They were cadets with a lot of potential who are determined to prove themselves in their own way. Mariner drops her parents’ surname, and Wesley makes a different choice entirely.
Wesley Crusher Isn’t Mentioned But Could Appear In Star Trek: Lower Decks
Wil Wheaton has reprised Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: Picard season 2.
Wesley Crusher isn’t mentioned on Star Trek: Lower Decks, but his choice of life path means he could show up. Wesley’s last appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation is season 7, episode 20, “Journey’s End”, where he accepts his calling to go with the Traveler (Eric Menyuk) instead of entering Starfleet. Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 10 “Farewell” reveals that Wesley becomes a Traveler himself, enabling him to exist outside linear time. The TNG reunion in Picard season 3 lacked Wesley due to the heavier focus on his half-brother Jack (Ed Speleers), but nothing prevents him from appearing on Lower Decks to help his friend Beckett.
After all, Wesley Crusher represents everything that Star Trek: Lower Decks unashamedly celebrates, and he remains a deeply important character to so many more. Long before Lower Decks, even before the TNG episode “Lower Decks” featuring Mariner and Wesley’s mutual friend Sito Jaxa, Wesley represents a point of view below the senior staff’s, making him the original “lower decker” of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It’s absolutely perfect that Wesley Crusher has a connection to Beckett Mariner, and it would be great for Star Trek: Lower Decks to acknowledge it outright.
