Summary

• Captain Pike's history lesson in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" premiere reveals a change in the Star Trek timeline, merging the Eugenics Wars and World War III into one major conflict.
• The timeline change was necessary to maintain the distant future setting of Star Trek and to alter the history of Khan Noonien-Singh.
• An episode in "Strange New Worlds" season 2 featuring time travel and a Romulan agent explains that Romulans have been attempting to slow human progress, which can for major changes in the timeline.

Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) gives a brief history lesson in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' premiere, which includes a change to the Star Trek timeline. After Captain Pike and his crew have rescued Number One (Rebecca Romijn) and her team from the planet Kiley 279, the people on the Earth-like planet seem prepared to use the weapons of mass destruction they have created. In order to convince them otherwise, Pike beams down to the planet and shows Kiley 279 what happened on Earth when they had access to similar weapons.

Although Captain Pike's actions violate the Prime Directive, he knows he has the opportunity to set the inhabitants of Kiley 279 on a better path. Pike continues to struggle with the vision he saw of his own tragic future in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, and he wants to give the Kiley people a chance to change their destiny. As Pike details the violent history of Earth, he shows the Kiley people a glimpse into their possible future, giving them the chance to change it. With Pike's history lesson, Strange New Worlds confirms that the Star Trek timeline has changed from what had been previously established.

Captain Pike’s History Lesson In Strange New Worlds’ Premiere Confirms Star Trek’s Timeline Changed

As Captain Pike recounts Earth's history for the inhabitants of Kiley, he speaks about a conflict that resulted in "the eradication of 600,000 species of animals and plants and 30% of Earth's population." He goes on to say that they called this "the Second Civil War, then the Eugenics War, and finally just World War III." In Star Trek's original timeline prior to Strange New Worlds, the Eugenics War took place in the 1990s while World War III did not begin until 2026. Pike reveals that these wars happened much closer together, eventually becoming one major conflict. This means that the Eugenics Wars didn't take place in the 1990s, which also changed the history of the infamous tyrant Khan Noonien-Singh (Ricardo Montalban).

As Star Trek is meant to take place in the distant future of our world, the timeline of the Eugenics Wars had to be changed to maintain that illusion. The conflict that became known as World War III lasted from 2026 through 2053 when nuclear bombs were dropped on several major cities. About ten years later, in 2063, the Vulcans made First with humanity, which led to a new era that eventually culminated in the creation of the United Federation of Planets. Strange New Worlds later confirmed this timeline change and gave an explanation for it in the season 2 episode "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow."

Strange New Worlds Season 2’s Time Travel Episode Explains Star Trek’s Timeline Change

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) travels to the past with an alternate timeline version of Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley). The pair end up in 21st-century Toronto, Canada, where they encounter an undercover Romulan agent named Sera (Adelaide Kane). Sera had been sent from the future to slow human progress. Her original plan had been to destroy a cold fusion reactor that would have leveled the city of Toronto, setting off a devastating war between Earth and the Romulans.

La'an and Kirk were able to thwart Sera's initial plan, but she then attempted to assassinate a young Khan Noonien-Singh (Desmond Sivan). La'an was able to stop her and preserve the correct timeline, but not before Kirk was killed. The existence of time-traveling Romulan agents provides Star Trek: Strange New Worlds with a clever explanation for any major changes in the Star Trek timeline. If Romulans have been trying to slow human progress, it makes sense that some significant moments in Earth's history would happen later than they had in the original timeline.