Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3's Big Cameo Confirms A Decades-Old Fan Theory About A Classic Villain

This article contains spoilers for the "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" episode "Wedding Bell Blues." 

The theory goes back to September 28, 1987, when the first episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" — called "Encounter at Farpoint" — aired. That episode featured an all-powerful space deity named Q (John De Lancie) who stopped the U.S.S. Enterprise-D dead in its tracks to explain that humanity had no business being in space. Using his magical powers, Q put humanity on trial, using Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) as its representative. The Enterprise would only be allowed to continue its trek through the stars if it could solve the mystery of Farpoint Station, the place they were heading in the first place. 

The impishness of Q and his magically manifested courtroom immediately reminded old-school Trekkies of the original "Star Trek" episode "The Squire of Gothos." In that episode, The U.S.S. Enterprise encounters a seemingly all-powerful being named Trelane (William Campbell) who giggled a lot and insisted on "playing." Trelane saw humans as action figures, and pushed them around without remorse. Kirk (William Shatner) refused to play his games, causing Trelane to put him on trial. Kirk, possessing a sizable amount of chutzpah, didn't fear Trelane's ability to kill him, and slapped him across the face. 

When Q arrived in "Next Generation," Trekkies began to theorize that he and Trelane were of the same godlike species. It has never been said in dialogue that Trelane is a member of the Q Continuum, but it's always been semi-accepted that he is. This theory has been kind-of-confirmed a few times in Trek canon. The late Peter David's non-canonical tie-in novel "Q-Squared" made it explicit, while Ensign Mariner (Tawney Newsome) compared Q and Trelane in the "Strange New Worlds" episode "Those Old Scientists" (July 22, 2023), implying a connection.

Now, in 2025, the "Strange New Worlds" episode "Wedding Bell Blues" may offer the solidest evidence yet that Trelane is a Q. 

The plot of "Wedding Bell Blues" is, like most of "Strange New Worlds," eminently whimsical. Spock (Ethan Peck) and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) unexpectedly wake up in bed together, happy to be celebrating their wedding that is to be held later that day. This was unusual, as the two were never engaged, and any potential romance between them had been definitively ended by the introduction of Chapel's new boyfriend, Korby (Cillian O'Sullivan), the previous day. No one seems to recognize that something is off. The nature of reality has clearly shifted. Eventually, Spock and Korby — through some emotional outbursts — figure out that they are living in an elaborate fabrication, and that the false reality is being orchestrated by a mysterious wedding planner in a long blue coat: a character played by Rhys Darby. The long blue coat and dandyish behavior will lead Trekkies to assume that he is Trelane, recast for the 2020s. 

When confronted, the Darby character announces that he fully intends to complete his little action-figure wedding between Spock and Chapel, even though Spock knows it's all illusory. Of course, the spell is broken just in time, in the middle of the wedding ceremony, with the entire "Strange New Worlds" crew (dressed in their Sunday finest) watching. 

It's then that a mysterious blob of light appears above the wedding, telling the Trelane character, in a booming, godlike voice, that it's time to stop playing and to come home. This echoes the end of "The Squire of Gothos," wherein Trelane was scolded by two glowing parent-like figures, telling him that it was high time he cease toying with his human action figures. In "Squire of Gothos," Trelane was playing wargames and combat-based scenarios with Kirk. In "Wedding Bell Blues" he's staging, essentially, a living Barbie wedding. 

The parent blob is voiced by John De Lancie. 

There are, of course, several assumptions being made here. For one, it's never stated explicitly that the Rhys Darby character is the same Trelane that William Campbell plays in "The Squire of Gothos." They look alike and behave similarly, but they could easily be two members of the same species. It's possible that young members of Trelane's godlike race always go through a "toying with humans" phase of their adolescence. But it's just as possible that they are indeed the same character, and that Trelane will go on to harass Kirk in a few more years ("Strange New Worlds" is, recall, a prequel to "Star Trek"). 

And, of course, Trekkies will immediately assume that the blob-like god-parent at the end of "Wedding Bell Blues" is indeed Q. No, there is no dialogue to state that the blob is named Q, and De Lancie doesn't appear on camera, so there remains some plausible deniability ... but c'mon. It's too delicious to ignore. Trelane is Q's son! Right? 

The makers of "Strange New Worlds" are clearly evoking the fan theory — that Trelane is a Q — with this cameo, even if they're not explicitly confirming it. It remains to be seen if fan sites like Memory Alpha begin listing the Trelane/Q connection as fact, or if it remains a theory. Personally, I like the tantalizing notion that it could be true, while the makers of "Star Trek" continue to dance around anything official for decades more to come. I will not become upset, however, if anyone makes the leap to state that Trelane is Q's son. We've gotten close enough to the flame at this point, we can kind of accept it as fact. Kind of.