Star Trek: 10 Secrets About The USS Enterprise-G You Need To Know
8. Pursuit Krause
The inspiration for the design of the Shangri-La Class and ultimately the future Enterprise-G came from the designs of Star Trek fan and starship designer Larry Miller in the 1980's as Bill Krause has explained.
The cut-out sections of the G's primary hull and nacelles were directly referenced in Krause's design and the added brilliance is that Miller's Hornet Class design that inspired him would also turn up in Picard's third season as the USS Intrepid NCC-79520.
Krause also looked to channel the work of Enterprise-D creator Andrew Probert, attempting to follow his aesthetic from The Motion Picture's reimagined USS Enterprise. In fact, Bill Krause's vision was that this new design was going to be something that could easily blend into the background of a spacedock scene or a fleet shot in the TOS crew movies and look inconspicuous. It was never conceived to be a hero vessel.
Picard season three producer Terry Matalas discovered the design for the ship through Krause's Instagram account and had a model commissioned by the designer. Matalas hinted that he wanted to use the ship although initially, Krause believed it would only turn up as a background model and not in the pivotal role it would play.