The tongue-in-cheek cliffhanger ending for Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) in the Star Trek: Picard season 3 finale hints at a wider issue for new Star Trek captains. Seven's Picard season 3 story ends with her in command of the USS Enterprise-G, alongside her Number One, Commander Raffaela Musiker (Michelle Hurd) and Special Counselor to the Captain, Ensign Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers). As the Enterprise prepares to leave space dock, Seven is asked whether she has a catchphrase in mind, a callback to Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his iconic orders to "Engage" and "Make it so".
In the 21st century era of the franchise, Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds have both made a big deal of the captain of each show's hero ship having their own catchphrase. Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) memorably felt this pressure in Star Trek: Lower Decks when she trialed "Warp me!" and "It's warp time!" This pressure to write "the opening lines of your legacy" now falls on the shoulders of Captain Seven of Nine.
