Star Trek: 10 Secrets About The USS Dauntless You Need To Know

The inclusion of the Dauntless in Prodigy came about because the writers realised there needed to be a ship that was capable of keeping up with the Protostar. A limited-use quantum slipstream vessel was therefore the go to for Admiral Janeway to use. Initially there were other names put into association with this vessel but ultimately USS Dauntless was seen as the "most straightforward". It also meant that it would connect well with canon not only in reference to the quantum slipstream vessel from Hope and Fear but also to the future of the Star Trek universe.

As for the name, Dauntless came out of a conversation during Voyager's third season where Rick Berman had coined that Dauntless would be a cool moniker. Brannon Braga would keep that in his head and eventually use it in Hope and Fear.

The Dauntless model from Hope and Fear also appeared albeit briefly in Enterprise's Azati Prime. Captain Archer's trip into the future and to the deck of the USS Enterprise-J included the design speeding past during the mentioned Battle of Procyon V. Including the design in Prodigy gave the nod that it did indeed exist as a real Starfleet vessel that would be capable of being at that battle with an in-universe backstory.