This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4, Episode 10.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds wrapped up its fourth and penultimate season in style with “Tomorrow’s Enterprise,” an episode that — whether by deliberate design or happy accident — serves as a perfect way to celebrate the franchise’s 60th anniversary. Not only does it see Pike’s Enterprise collide with Kirk’s Enterprise, creating a bridge to The Original Series’ canon, but it also reveals a surprise link to a memorable character fans haven’t seen since 1966.
In “Tomorrow’s Enterprise,” the ship encounters a rare white hole, which causes a temporal anomaly that switches Nyota Uhura with her counterpart from a year into the future. While Uhura is in the future, the episode teases fascinating hints at what becomes of the Strange New Worlds cast in the TOS era, potentially hinting at storylines to be explored in 2027’s fifth and final season. What fans may overlook, however, is a brief exchange that confirms a recurring character on the show has been related to a character from the TOS pilot all along.
Strange New Worlds Season 4 Finale Calls Back to the TOS Pilot
When Uhura is sent one year into the future in “Tomorrow’s Enterprise,” it does not take long for Captain James Kirk to realize she is not “his Uhura.” He knows because the younger Uhura is a terrible liar, and Kirk explains that he taught Uhura how to bluff perfectly when they were trapped on Starbase Six for five days and did nothing but play poker with Erica Ortegas and “Gary.” When Uhura frowns at that name, Kirk explains, “Mitchell, Jenna’s step-brother.”
“Tomorrow’s Enterprise” namedropping Gary Mitchell is perfect timing, as this episode comes 60 years to the month since Star Trek started airing. Although it wasn’t actually the first TOS pilot to be broadcast, the episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was produced first, it is where Gary Mitchell makes his only appearance in the franchise to date. Mitchell, Kirk’s old friend, is the helmsman of the Enterprise who gained godlike abilities and tragically went “mad” with the power.
Guest star Gary Lockwood plays Gary Mitchell in “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” while Rong Fu plays Jenna Mitchell throughout Strange New Worlds‘ first three seasons.
Jenna Mitchell, meanwhile, has been a recurring presence in Strange New Worlds since the beginning. As a member of the Enterprise crew named Mitchell, fans had long suspected a connection between her and Gary, and this Season 4 finale has finally made that official. Clearly, Jenna is transferred off the ship at some point, and when Kirk takes command, he commissions his old buddy, who happens to be her brother, to fill her spot on the crew. Small galaxy, huh?
“Tomorrow’s Enterprise” Is An Easter Egg-Filled Love Letter to Star Trek
The reference to Gary Mitchell is far from the only canon callback in “Tomorrow’s Enterprise,” as the Strange New Worlds production team clearly went out of their way to include as many Easter eggs and nods to the past (or future) as possible. This was likely done because the episode was originally positioned as a series, not season, finale, before Paramount renewed Strange New Worlds for a six-part fifth season. The fact that it ended up airing in the same month as Star Trek‘s 60th anniversary is likely just a neat coincidence.
For starters, the title itself — “Tomorrow’s Enterprise” — is a clear nod to the iconic The Next Generation episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” The romance between Uhura and Scotty that blossoms here is new to Strange New Worlds, but it does line up with hints that the pair share feelings for each other in the films, such as Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The so-called “space baby” that is born out of the white hole is a non-linear entity, which means it could be a baby Q or an infant Prophet from Deep Space Nine. Last but not least, a couple of alien Enterprise officers from The Animated Series make their live-action debuts in some blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em cameos. Namely, the Big Bird-alike Aleek-Om and the Caitian (aka cat-person) M’Ress.
With “Tomorrow’s Enterprise” serving as such a love letter to Star Trek‘s early days, it would have made a fitting series finale for Strange New Worlds. Thankfully, however, the show has six further episodes to play with to wrap up the characters’ story arcs and to put all the pieces in the right places on the 4-D chessboard to line up with The Original Series. Given how Gary and Kirk are established as old friends in TOS, it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility that he could make an on-screen appearance in Season 5 following his namecheck in Season 4. That said, the series is already set to introduce some new/old faces in the form of Bones (Thomas Jane) and Sulu (Kai Murakami).
Whether intentional or not, “Tomorrow’s Enterprise” may go down as Star Trek‘s 60th anniversary special, much like how DS9‘s “Trials and Tribble-ations” and Voyager‘s “Flashback” are remembered as 30th anniversary specials because they similarly hark back to TOS. The best birthday gift Strange New Worlds gave Star Trek, though, is ensuring it has an upcoming season that looks set to lean even harder into TOS nostalgia. Thanks to Strange New Worlds’ continued reverence for Trek history, the celebratory mood of the 60th anniversary can live on for another year.
- Release Date
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2022 – 2027-00-00
- Network
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Paramount+
- Showrunner
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Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman
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Anson Mount
Captain Christopher Pike
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Jess Bush
Christine Chapel
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Christina Chong
La’an Noonien-Singh
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
