STAR TREK: 5 Captains With Rural Retirements

Avery Kaplan

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Left: Book and Burnham sharing coffee on Star Trek: Discovery. Center: Kirk making breakfast in Generations. Right: Picard and Number One in the vineyard.

In the Star Trek Franchise, there seems to be an unspoken tradition. When a captain reaches retirement, they surrender the center seat and relocate to a rural setting.

For this week’s Trek Tuesday, we’re assembling five Star Trek captains who later seek out rural retirements. Did we include your favorite?

James T. Kirk

Kirk chopping wood in the Starfleet uniform outside his cabin in the Nexus.

The original Star Trek captain (sorry, Pike), James T. Kirk (William Shatner), famously loathed having to leave the captain’s chair. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk struggled with his promotion to Admiral. He was obviously pleased when, at the conclusion of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, he was “demoted” and officially reinstated as the captain of the USS Enterprise-A.

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In Star Trek: Generations, Kirk clearly continued to long for a return to the center seat during a ceremonial visit to the USS Enterprise-B. But during that visit, he was subsumed into the Nexus, an anomaly that transports those it entraps in their ideal fantasy world. For Kirk, this turns out to be a cabin in the mountains. However, Picard rouses him from his retirement for one last adventure.

Jean-Luc Picard

Picard opens the doors to enjoy the view of his vineyard.
Photo Cr: Matt Kennedy/CBS ©2019 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

According to flash forwards in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series finale, “All Good Things,” Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) will eventually retire to his family vineyard in France. This proves to be accurate throughout all three seasons of Star Trek: Picard.

While he seems less isolated from the world as Picard’s story advances, Picard nevertheless continues to return to Chateau Picard. It is true that the final scene sees the legendary leader at Ten Forward in Los Angeles, reunited with his friends from the USS Enterprise-D. However, according to Stewart’s memoir, Making It So, the actor had a specific final scene in mind for Picard. This scene saw Picard once again back on the vineyard, being called in for a meal by an unseen wife whose identity would remain ambiguous.

William T. Riker

Riker and Troi invite PIcard into their home on Nepenthe.
Photo Cr: Trae Patton/CBS ©2019 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In the Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 finale, Trekkies finally got to see something years in the making: William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) captaining the USS Titan. Joined on the bridge by Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), the scene was everything we’d hoped it might be. And in the first two episodes of Lower Decks Season 2, “Strange Energies” and “Kayshon, His Eyes Open,” more Captain Riker action was unveiled.

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But in Picard Season 1’s “Nepenthe,” we see a different side of Riker and Troi’s post-Enterprise-D life. They’ve relocated to the eponymous planet. There, they live with their surviving child, Kestra (Andreana Weiner), in a beautiful home flush with amenities. These include a shower that uses water, not sonic waves, and a beautiful garden from which they harvest fresh tomatoes. While visiting, Picard and Soji Asha (Isa Briones) join the family for a candlelit dinner of pizza with bunnicorn sausage. However, in Picard Season 3, Riker and Troi decide to leave Nepenthe and return to life in a more populous place.

Kathryn Janeway

Janeway looks at her family farm in Indiana.

On Star Trek: Voyager, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) worked tirelessly to return her crew to the Alpha Quadrant. In the series finale, “Endgame,” this even entailed a bit of Temporal Prime Directive violation (oops). When she returned to the Alpha Quadrant, she was promoted to Vice Admiral (Star Trek: Nemesis; Star Trek: Prodigy).

But in the season finale of Prodigy Season 2, Janeway takes an early retirement to her family farm in Indiana. However, she is called out of retirement due to the attack on Mars. This was seen in Picard Season 1 episode “Maps and Legends.” Years later, dialogue from Picard Season 3 suggests Janeway continues to engage in active Starfleet service.

Michael Burnham

Burnham and Book greet their son Leto on Sanctuary Four in Star Trek: Discovery.
Photo Credit: Michael Gibson/Paramount+.

In the epilogue for the Star Trek: Discovery series finale, “Life, Itself,” Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is revealed to have also taken part in the proud Starfleet tradition of retiring to a rural location.

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Older incarnations of both Burnham and her significant other, Cleveland “Book” Booker (David Ajala), are seen living happily in a home on Sanctuary Four. This planet served as a sanctuary for the Trance Worms seen in Discovery Season 3. It is also home to the World Root cuttings from Book’s homeworld, destroyed by the Dark Matter Anomaly in Discovery Season 4.

The aforementioned Star Trek movies and shows are currently available to stream on Paramount+, except Prodigy, which is currently available to stream on Netflix.

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