If Romulans had their way in this Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode, Federation would have ceased to exist (& here’s how)

In the Star Trek universe, the Romulans and the Federation have a long history of conflicts. In Season 2, Episode 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, titled ‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,’ a Romulan time traveler named Sera, portrayed by Adelaide Kane, seeks to stop the creation of the Federation altogether. However, a future temporal investigator will seek out La’an Noonien-Singh (played by Christina Chang) from the Prime Timeline to help fix the anomaly.

The Romulans deduced that the Eugenics War in the 20th Century helped Earth advance technologically, leading to the formation of the Federation in the Star Trek universe. Sera wanted to kill Khan Noonien-Singh, who at the time was a child undergoing the genetic engineering process. Killing Khan would have altered Earth’s future, delaying the invention of the Warp drive that led to First Contact with the Vulcans and the creation of the United Federation of Planets, as seen in Star Trek: First Contact.

A time-traveling Romulan agent could have changed Earth’s history in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

In the Star Trek Prime timeline, Enterprise Chief Security Officer La’an encounters a man with a bullet wound on the ship’s deck. Before dying, he hands her a time travel device and asks her to go to the bridge. A confused La’an arrives at the bridge, only to find Captain James T. Kirk (played by Paul Wesley) instead of Captain Christopher Pike (played by Anson Mount). She tells him that a man sent her to this alternate timeline and that they must fix an issue in the past to resolve the anomaly.

They travel to 21st-century Toronto, where they try to find the exact point of divergence responsible for creating the alternate timeline. Kirk shares that he was born in space aboard the USS Iowa and has never been to Earth, which served as a battleground. The bridge over Lake Ontario explodes, making La’an wonder if the man from her ship’s deck meant this bridge instead. At the explosion site, she borrows the camera from a photographer and notices the photonic bomb in the picture. Alarmingly, the tech has yet to be developed on Earth.

The photographer, Sera, will appear again to assist La’an and Kirk against the police. She will share her conspiracy theories about alien technology being powered by a cold fusion reactor. While her observations amuse La’an and Kirk, they are intrigued by her purported theory. In one of her pictures that Sera shares with them, Kirk recognizes a Romulan Bird-of-Prey, raising their suspicion about the circumstances and the possible involvement of Earth’s greatest enemy.

They will approach the Noonien-Singh Institute for Cultural Advancement, which La’an will open using a DNA scanner. As they prepare to enter, they come face to face with Sera holding a gun at them. Kirk realizes that Sera is a Romulan operative meddling with the timeline. She reveals that Romulans have been hindering Earth’s technological advancement for years.

She would ultimately kill Kirk. Sera is stronger and uses La’an as a shield to navigate through the building. Initially, Sera wanted to destroy the cold fusion reactor to annihilate the city of Toronto, but she instead chose to kill Khan Noonien Singh in the genetics lab.

Sera explains that according to a Romulan computer simulation, Khan will become a tyrant and plunge Earth into a dark period during the Eugenics Wars. However, these events will help humanity make technological strides in the future and eventually aid in the creation of the Federation.

For Romulans, the temporal meddling has been an ongoing event, with Sera poised to make one of the biggest contributions by killing Khan. However, La’an will ultimately stop her and kill her instead. Afterward, La’an returns to her timeline and is visited by an agent from the Department of Temporal Investigation, who thanks her for helping fix the anomaly. Thus, thanks to La’an, the Prime Timeline is restored. However, the alternate timeline would mean that the Eugenics Wars never occurred and Earth never formed the Federation.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will return with Season 3 on July 17, 2025, on Paramount+.

ALSO READ: I am convinced that Kirk is more heroic in Star Trek movies than in The Original Series

Trending

For more stories in Star Trek, follow SoapCentral.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback