Set aboard the California-class U.S.S. Cerritos, which is "one of the least important ships in Starfleet", Star Trek episode will happen in the background while the show focuses on the blunders of the four Starfleet staff as the Cerritos explores the final frontier. The starship also has a senior staff consisting of Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis), Commander Jack Ransom (Jerry O'Connell), Lieutenant Shaxs (Fred Tatasciore), and Dr. T'Ana (Gillian Vigman), who also don't necessarily represent Starfleet's finest.
Star Trek Movie & TV Timeline: Original Series, Kelvin, & Discovery
Star Trek: Lower Decks' 2380 setting is significant because it continues the exploration of the late 24th century that began with Star Trek: The Next Generation and continued with referenced on Lower Decks.
Star Trek: Lower Decks also happens only one year after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, which means it wasn't very long ago that Shinzon (Tom Hardy) and the Remans took over the Romulan government and tried to destroy the United Federation of Planets, which resulted in Commander Data (Brent Spiner) sacrificing his life to save Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the U.S.S. Enterprise-E. Lower Decks could reference the fallout of this pivotal disaster. In addition, Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) are still newlyweds who only recently left the Enterprise to take command of the U.S.S. Titan. Will and Deanna's ill-fated son, Thad Troi-Riker, was born in 2381, one year after the events Star Trek: Lower Decks season 1.
The year 2380 means that Lower Decks also happens 14 years before the events of Star Trek: Picard but in the same decade during which several monumental events that altered the fate of the Alpha Quadrant occurred, leading up to Patrick Stewart's TNG sequel series. In 2385, Picard gives up the Enterprise to lead the Federation's rescue mission to save the Romulan people while Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita) sets her plan to eliminate all synthetics into motion, which resulted in the Mars attack by rogue androids that destroyed the Romulan rescue fleet and all artificial lifeforms being banned by the Federation until 2399. Dr. Bruce Maddox (John Ales) also left Earth for Coppelius, where he eventually built Data's twin daughters Dahj and Soji (Isa Briones), all of which happens five years after Star Trek: Lower Decks season 1.
Every Star Trek Series Coming After Picard
Star Trek: Lower Decks premieres August 6, 2020 on CBS All-Access.