Many of the great Captains in Star Trek have crossed through space and time, whether intentional or accidental, and met each other. Feature films, series premieres, and important franchise anniversaries are peppered with connections between different Star Trek captains, with time travel sometimes coming into play for captains from different parts of the Star Trek timeline. Star Trek captains in the same era, like the 24th-century setting of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager, can meet fairly easily, but it's still exciting to see captains from different shows interact.
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With Star Trek's longevity, we're not counting every single Star Trek character to hold the rank of captain. It's a given that Star Trek characters who have become captains after being series regulars, like Captain William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), have met their own commanding officers. Star Trek captains who didn't lead a show also don't make the cut. Instead, we're looking at the heavy hitters: Star Trek captains who were the primary commanding officers of their shows, whether that was for a single season or an entire series. With that said, let's take a chronological look at these legendary meetings.
Captain James T. Kirk Met Captain Christopher Pike
Star Trek: The Original Series & Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Viewed in production order, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Fleet Captain Christopher Pike (Sean Kenney) are first seen on-screen together in Star Trek: The Original Series season 1, episodes 15 & 16, "The Menagerie", after Pike's disfiguring accident. Kirk explains that he'd met Pike years earlier, when Pike was named Fleet Captain. Chronologically, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 6, "Lost in Translation", shows the first in-person meeting between a younger Lieutenant James Kirk (Paul Wesley) and Captain Pike (Anson Mount), when Pike is temporarily assigned command of Kirk's USS Farragut and Bavali Station's refinery.
In J.J. Abrams' Kelvin Timeline Star Trek movies, Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) is a strong mentor and father figure to James Kirk (Chris Pine). That stronger bond means Pike shoulders more responsibility for Kirk's Starfleet career.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds challenges the implication from Star Trek: The Original Series that Kirk doesn't know Pike very well by giving the two Enterprise captains more shared history while maintaining Kirk's original statement as a technical truth. Because Strange New Worlds treats canon as malleable instead of written in stone, the prequel set on Pike's Enterprise has the freedom to tell better contemporary Star Trek stories — and feature a lot more of Paul Wesley's James Kirk.
Captain Pike Met Captain Burnham & Captain Saru
Star Trek: Discovery Season 2
Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) takes his turn in the center seat as the USS Discovery's captain in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, when future USS Discovery captains Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Saru (Doug Jones) serve under Pike with the rank of commander. After Pike's departure to lead Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Commander Saru becomes de facto captain of the USS Discovery, a position that Saru holds through Star Trek: Discovery season 3. Captain Michael Burnham assumes command of the USS Discovery after Captain Saru in Star Trek: Discovery's final two seasons.
The captains of Star Trek: Discovery present a unique case, since Burnham and Saru have obviously also met each other, having served for years together. When both hold the rank of Captain simultaneously, Saru defers to grant Captain Burham command of the USS Discovery for Discovery season 4.
Pike's impact on both Burnham and Saru is significant because Captain Pike's leadership style is such a strong departure from Discovery's previous captain, Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs). Star Trek: Discovery's Captain Lorca weighs down the USS Discovery's crew with selfish distrust, whereas Pike lifts their spirits with trust and encouragement. After Pike, Saru and Burnham are able to build stronger rapports with their own crews, and Star Trek: Discovery is all the better for it.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard Met Captain Benjamin Sisko
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1, Episode 1, "Emissary"
Just like DeForest Kelley's Dr. Leonard McCoy appears in the premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Patrick Stewart's Captain Jean-Luc Picard appears in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's premiere episode, "Emissary", to pass the torch to DS9 as the next Star Trek spinoff. Picard meets with Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) to discuss the latter's assignment aboard the USS Enterprise, and while Sisko remains professional, it's only barely.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's "Emissary" is also the only time Commander Sisko set foot aboard the USS Enterprise-D.
A major plot point of "Emissary" is that Benjamin Sisko is stuck, spiritually and emotionally, at the Battle of Wolf 359, amid the wreckage of the USS Saratoga as he searches for his wife, Jennifer (Felecia M. Bell). That becomes relevant during Sisko and Picard's Star Trek: Deep Space Nine meeting, because Sisko can't shake the idea that Picard is Locutus of Borg, his wife's murderer and the architect of Sisko's trauma.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard Met Captain James T. Kirk
Star Trek Generations' Nexus Meeting
Star Trek: Generations famously features the long-awaited meeting of Captain James T. Kirk and Captain Jean-Luc Picard, in a crossover movie that serves as a swan song for the Star Trek: The Original Series cast and the first silver screen outing for the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast. The century of time that separates Kirk and Picard is negated in Star Trek Generations by both men being pulled into the Nexus, a time-agnostic anomaly akin to paradise. Outside the Nexus, Picard and Kirk team up to defeat Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell), in a fight that also claims Kirk's life.
The impact of Kirk and Picard's meeting is best summed up with the advice that Kirk gives Picard while in the Nexus: "Don't let them promote you. Don't let them transfer you. Don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship, because while you're there, you can make a difference." Picard keeps Kirk's words in mind throughout the Star Trek: The Next Generation movies, and Star Trek: Picard shows that neither a promotion nor a lack of his own command will stop Admiral Jean-Luc Picard from doing everything he can to keep making a difference.
Captain Benjamin Sisko Met Captain James T. Kirk
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 5, Episode 6, "Trials and Tribble-ations"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 5, episode 6, "Trials and Tribble-ations" sees Captain Benjamin Sisko and several other DS9 crew members pulled back in time to the events of Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 13, "The Trouble With Tribbles". While stuck in the 23rd century, Sisko knows full well that the Temporal Prime Directive is in effect, and encourages his officers to abide by the Directive as well. The DS9 crew do their best, but Sisko can't help taking the opportunity to interact with Captain James T. Kirk for the briefest of moments.
It's a small interaction that doesn't do much, if anything, to change the timeline, so Captain Sisko is able to avoid a full dressing-down from the Department of Temporal Investigations. It's unlikely that Kirk actually remembers Sisko in return, even though Sisko and Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) were instrumental in foiling the Klingon plot to end Kirk's life.
Admiral Kathryn Janeway Met Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Janeway Gives Picard A Mission In Star Trek: Nemesis
Fresh off a promotion to Admiral following the USS Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant, Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) appears in Star Trek: Nemesis with an assignment for Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Admiral Janeway sends Captain Picard and the USS Enterprise-E on a diplomatic mission to Romulus that eventually puts Picard in contact with his own clone, Shinzon (Tom Hardy).
Star Trek: Nemesis remains the only on-screen meeting between Picard and Janeway.
Janeway's appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis is essentially a cameo since anyone could have been on the other side of the message from Starfleet Command, but the brief scene helps to reiterate that Star Trek is a shared universe that, at this point, advances in real time. Picard and Janeway knowing each other and working together makes sense, given their personal shared history with the Borg, so it's surprising that Star Trek: Nemesis remains the only on-screen meeting between Picard and Janeway.
Why No Other Star Trek Captain Met Enterprise's Captain Jonathan Archer
Star Trek: Enterprise's Captain Archer Hasn't Met Future Star Trek Captains
Because Star Trek: Enterprise is a prequel series set 100 years before Star Trek: The Original Series, Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) remains an outlier on the list of Star Trek captains who have met their counterparts from another Star Trek series. The TNG-era shows were produced before Star Trek: Enterprise, so they can't mention Archer as a character who hadn't been invented yet. Newer Star Trek shows make up for that with references to the NX-01 captain, such as Star Trek: Discovery's Archer Spacedock, constructed to retrofit Starfleet for exploration in the 32nd century.
The closest Captain Archer comes to meeting a future Star Trek captain is Star Trek: Enterprise season 3, episode 18, "Azati Prime", when Crewman Daniels (Matt Winston) takes Archer to the USS Enterprise-J in the 26th century.
Notably, Captain Christopher Pike in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds cites Captain Archer as a personal hero. In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 7, "Those Old Scientists", the crew of Pike's Enterprise eagerly discuss what meeting their 22nd century counterparts from Archer's Enterprise might be like, in order to imagine how Star Trek: Lower Decks' Ensigns Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) feel. It's a fitting full-circle moment that points out how Star Trek heroes are inspired by those who came before, and if they're lucky, may even have a chance to meet them.
