Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4’s finale kicks off with a flashback to before a classic Star Trek: TNG season 5 episode, and THAT character returned!
Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Finale – “Old Friends, New Planets”
Summary
- The season 4 finale of Star Trek: Lower Decks features a cameo by Wil Wheaton, reprising his role as Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- The episode includes a flashback to Wesley’s time at Starfleet Academy and reveals his involvement with Nova Squadron alongside Beckett Mariner.
- Fans had hoped for Wesley’s return in Star Trek: Picard season 3, but his appearance in Lower Decks is a happy reminder that he can still make appearances in the Star Trek universe.
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4’s finale, “Old Friends, New Planet,” kicks off with the huge Star Trek: The Next Generation cameo that didn’t happen in Star Trek: Picard season 3. Lower Decks season 4, episode 9, “The Inner Fight” saw Lieutenant Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) reveal that she knew the members of Nova Squadron at Starfleet Academy, who are infamous from TNG season 5, episode 19, “The First Duty.” Mariner was friends with and idolized Ensign Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill), who tragically died in the line of duty in TNG season 7, episode 15, “Lower Decks,” which scarred and defined Mariner’s own feelings about Starfleet.
Disgraced former Starfleet Cadet Nicholas Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill) is the villain who attacked non-Federation ships throughout Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4. After Locarno beamed Mariner aboard his starship, Nova One, Beckett learned Nick formed his own armada he calls Nova Fleet with Lower Deckers from various alien ships. Locarno’s plan was to use a stolen Ferengi Genesis Device to assert his own power over the United Federation of Planets. Locarno and Mariner weren’t exactly friends back at Starfleet Academy, however, although Nick called Beckett “practically a junior member of Nova Squadron.” But someone who actually was a part of Nova Squadron finally appeared in Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Wil Wheaton Plays TNG Era Wesley Crusher In Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Finale
Wil Wheaton last appeared as Wesley in Star Trek: Picard season 2.
Wil Wheaton returns as Cadet Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4’s finale. Wesley appears in a flashback to “Starfleet Academy, 13 years ago” which is 2368 during Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5. Wesley is seen alongside his Nova Squadron friends Nick Locarno, Sito Jaxa, and Joshua Albert. A young Beckett Mariner raving about studying the Iconians and the Xindi then joins Sito and Nova Squadron. However, both Wesley and Joshua are fretting over the forbidden Kolvoord Starburst maneuver that Locarno wants Nova Squadron to execute – an event that would doom Josh Albert and alter the course of Locarno, Sito, and Crusher’s lives.
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4’s finale is also the first time Joshua Albert is seen on-screen as he was already deceased in TNG’s “The First Duty.”
Fans’ hopes that Wil Wheaton would reprise Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: Picard season 3 were dashed when it didn’t happen. Wesley did appear at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 2 when he recruited Kore Soong (Isa Briones) to become one of the Travelers. Wesley’s explanation that he was no longer Wesley Crusher and that Travelers aren’t meant to interact with their former lives helps explain why Wes didn’t see his mother, Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) and meet his half-brother, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), in Picard season 3. However, fans long hoped Wesley would appear in Star Trek: Lower Decks, and it finally did happen. Happily, the flashback was also a consequential moment that had major implications for Lt. Beckett Mariner as well.
Wil Wheaton Joins Other TNG Actors To Play Their Characters On Star Trek: Lower Decks
Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, and John de Lancie have also voiced Riker, Troi, and Q.
Wil Wheaton joins the list of Star Trek: The Next Generation actors who have reprised their characters on Star Trek: Lower Decks. Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis set the tone when they appeared as Captain Will Riker and Commander Deanna Troi in Lower Decks season 1’s finale, and Riker returned in Lower Decks season 2. Other TNG actors who have voiced their characters on Lower Decks include John de Lancie as Q, Sue Gibney as Dr. Leah Brahms, and Lycia Naff as Captain Sonya Gomez. Alice Krige voicing the Borg Queen and James Cromwell voicing Dr. Zephram Cochrane from Star Trek: First Contact have also made Star Trek: Lower Decks appearances.
Wesley Crusher seemed an obvious choice to appear in Star Trek: Lower Decks since he’s a Traveler, but the animated comedy threw a curveball by having Wesley appear in a flashback before he became a Traveler. Wheaton also did an excellent job making his voice sound like his teenage self, and it was a genuine shock to see young Wesley prior to his Starfleet Academy career’s derailment. Wesley was sadly MIA from Star Trek: Picard season 3, but Star Trek: Lower Decks is a happy reminder that Wesley Crusher is welcome to pop up at any time.
