Star Trek Confirms An All-New Enterprise Replacement

Star Trek fans just got their first look at a brand-new Enterprise — and there's a surprising captain at the helm. Star Trek: Lower Decks, IDW Publishing's ongoing comic series, just teased that there's another species with their own spacefaring vessel.

Star Trek: Lower Decks #18 was released on April 8 by IDW, and it brought with it the thrilling conclusion to the mystery of the vanished Laapeerians. Along the way, the crew of the Cerritos is seen coming across an unlikely Enterprise on their journey with none other than the Ferengi on board. In a page from the comic, Captain Freeman is shocked by the revelation, referring to it as 'the Ferengi Enterprise.' Quog hilariously quips back, 'I mean, we just say 'Enterprise', but...yes!"

Star Trek Lower Decks Comics Introduces a New Enterprise Into the Mix

Image via IDW Publishing

The arrival of the Ferengi's own Enterprise ship might come as an unexpected but humorous addition to the Lower Decks comics. Throughout Star Trek lore, the ship has been an iconic piece of the sci-fi series' puzzle, with captains like James Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard and Jonathan Archer leading the crews on daring adventures throughout the galaxy.

The full solicit for the Lower Decks issue reads: "The Enterprise has joined the tumultuous space battle between Captain Freeman and her crew against their dangerous alien assailants. Starfleet might not know who these invaders are, but they’re certain they have something to do with the missing population of Laapeeria..."

The solicit continues: "It’s up to the Lower Deckers to not only defeat the super-powered ship, but recover a whole planet’s worth of people and reunite with Boimler and his away crew while doing it. And then they’ll all hug and stuff, $@!*."

The Lower Decks Comics Are Based on the Hit Paramount+ Series

Image via Paramount+

While the thought of a Ferengi Enterprise might be surprising to some Star Trek fans, it falls right in line with the humorous style of Lower Decks, which started out as an adult animated sci-fi series on Paramount+. It debuted in 2020 as part of Alex Kurtzman's expanded Star Trek Universe and marked the franchise's first animated series since 1974's Star Trek: The Animated Series. The series proved to be a hit with audiences, ultimately running for five seasons and 50 episodes and earning three Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award nominations.

Lower Decks was followed by Star Trek: Prodigy, another animated series that was aimed at a younger audience. Since its release, two more Star Trek series have followed: Strange New Worlds, which follows its own Enterprise starship crew in the 23rd century, and 2026's Starfleet Academy — a divisive new series following the first new class of Starfleet cadets in over a century.

While the Lower Decks comics may have just concluded with the hilarious Ferengi Enterprise reveal, a new, more mainline Enterprise is set to make its debut later this year for the Star Trek 60th anniversary. IDW's new Star Trek comics will soon see Seven of Nine leading the ship on a top-secret mission through space. More details about the series are expected to emerge in the coming months.

Star Trek: Lower Decks #18 is now available from IDW Publishing.

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