8 Mysteries From DS9 And Voyager That Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Should Answer
4. Did Starfleet Ever Leave The Alpha Quadrant?
Both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager were about exploring new, distinct corners of the Star Trek Universe.
DS9 featured the discovery of the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant and the resulting conflict with the Dominion. Voyager showed a crew stranded on the other side of the galaxy, crossing the Delta Quadrant, and encountering all the new aliens that lived there. Both shows, however, made it abundantly clear that these journeys to new quadrants were special and not representative of Starfleet's reach in the 2360s and 70s.
Star Trek: Picard is set in 2399, on the cusp of the 25th century. While it hasn't exactly been portrayed in the most flattering light, Starfleet must or more less still be up to its original mission: exploration. Has Starfleet developed propulsion technology that can exceed the previously established maximum speed of warp 9.9? Has Starfleet continued its exploration through the wormhole and into the Gamma Quadrant now that the Dominion has been subdued? Have starships backtracked Voyager's journey home and gone exploring the Delta Quadrant?
Look, Star Trek: Picard is refreshingly not about a Starfleet crew doing Starfleet things, but the world of 2399 is rife for expansion and Starfleet's current status is still a little vague. Even if it's not Picard, Rios, Auntie Raffi, Elnor, and Agnes, Star Trek: Picard season two should let us know if there's someone still out there, bolding going where no one has gone before.