Star Trek The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Voyager, Enterprise, and Discovery. These seven shows (and 14 movies) all have threads of stories that continue between them in multiple arcs and character developments. It's not only hard to keep track of them all, but difficult to not make some of your own. That's exactly what some fans have decided to do; make their own theories.

Whether these theories happened during the run of the show, or after it ended, or before it even started is irrelevant. All that mattered was that someone was thinking about Star Trek at some point enough to want to make a greater story in their head about it. Although in this case, some of them decidedly came true!

Star Trek really is a franchise that permeates culture. That's what makes it so fun to talk about and discuss! To theorize about it's future is absolutely delightful! Of course, some take it as a time to complain about the future. Star Trek will always have those who love to mope! But we'll get past that! Star Trek is a great show with lots of modern potential! Discovery is clearly evidence of that great potential.

Join us on this list and see if you came up with any of these yourself!

25 What Have They Done With Them?

In the Star Trek universe, the physics are considered realistic and based slightly off of actual scientific advancements that might happen soon in the future. However, they sometimes go a bit too far in what is considered possible and impossible. Such is the transporter. Reginald Barclay, Dr. Pulaski, and Hoshi Sato were among a few of the members of Starfleet who simply refused to use the device. And for good reason.

Modern physics have discovered that the transporter would only be possible if you deconstructed yourself entirely, copied yourself, and then placed said copy where you originally desired to be. Or in non-technobabble terms: you get copied and your original body doesn’t come back. You simply don’t exist anymore. And thus, everyone who goes through it is not the exact same person that left. They’re... gone.

24 Of Bajor

The Bajorans are a race of aliens that came out of Star Trek: Deep Space 9. They embodied the religious and at times extremist political viewpoints of a society. In a wormhole near their planet in the Bajoran system, they worshiped religious entities known as The Prophets.

For some time it was theorized that these Prophets were a highly evolved alien race of some sort.

Star Trek was never one to shy away from religion, but it usually had a scientific explanation for it in some way. However, once The Prophets said to Commander Sisko that they were “of Bajor”, it would have been assumed that they were highly evolved Bajorans. Combined with the reality that Bajorans started developing a planet-wide civilization in 500,000 BC, it could be assumed that the Bajorans evolved millions of years ago, meaning these Prophets could easily be Bajorans.

23 Where In Time Is Jonathan Archer?

Star Trek: Enterprise was known for a few things; wacky first season (as every Star Trek is known for, minus Discovery), being canceled into its fourth season, and some interesting pre-Federation and Starfleet timelines. It had a few interesting stories as well involving Romulans, the Vulcan/Andorian War, and the reaching of warp 5. Future Guy is in there somewhere.

Future Guy is a holographic shadow that is from the future. Enterprise had quite a few story lines that involved time travel and future wars, and enemies influenced by people from different parts of time, and one character at the forefront of it all was Future Guy. However, the theory was that Future Guy was actually Captain Jonathan Archer of the Enterprise NX-01. Of course, nobody could know for sure, but eventually it was revealed by producer Brannon Braga that the eventual story line would have had Future Guy as Archer.

22 The Borg Are Coming! The Borg Are Coming!

During The Next Generation episode Q Who, Q demonstrates how ill-prepared Starfleet is by sending the Enterprise D into distant space. For many years it was thought that this was a spiteful decision done by Q to show that the Federation is not prepared for the galaxy. And we bought into that!

Upon examination further into the episode, we realize that Q is in fact giving them a warning about the Borg.

And how do we know that? Because Data says so in a later episode. In The Best of Both Worlds, a Borg sphere wipes a crater size colony off the face of their planet. Data stated that this was the exact same destruction during TNG episode The Neutral Zone. This means that the Borg have been here and were coming anyway, and Q was warning them of it.

21 Figment Of My Imagination

Benny Russell is a character from the Deep Space 9 episode, Far Beyond the Stars. In it, Benny is a struggling, black science fiction writer who can’t seem to get his editor to read and like his stuff. It is the 1940s and 1950s, but the main book he’s written (Deep Space 9) is considered outlandish for the time. Insofar that Benny is dubbed as crazy.

Supposedly, Benny has created all the characters in the Star Trek universe on his own. It isn’t that far fetched to believe that the barely published stories of a black man in the 1940s with a black captain of a black ship aren’t well known, but maybe Star Trek: Deep Space 9 is all a dream to the black writer. There are a few revealing aspects of both DS9 and Benny Russell’s story that say it’s a dream state.

20 Virtual Reality Forever

We have reasons to believe that the holodeck is a permanent facet of the Star Trek universe. Firstly, Elon Musk, head of Tesla and billionaire scientist, says so about our world. Secondly, we can see from some episode the possibility of it. The Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager is shown in the episode Projections that he can bleed and feel things and that Voyager is a fake program.

For the longest time, he’s convinced that every holodeck he escapes leads to a new one.

We see this in TNG’s Ship in a Bottle episode. Dr. Moriarty create a fake Enterprise D inside of the Enterprise D, fooling people into believing that they are in reality. Further, the solution is to beam him into a casing where he pretends to live out the rest of his life. Thus, entirely possible that all of this is a holodeck.

19 Ash = Voq

Obviously, Star Trek: Discovery was recently shown on the CBS network, and therefore there are recent things that were spoilers that aren’t anymore. This show was predicted down to a ‘t.’ And one of the first predictions was that the new crew member, Ash Tyler, was actually Voq. It helps that Voq disappears and we never see him again, but we do see Ash Tyler constantly.

Eventually it was revealed later in Discovery that this was true, but it also helped that the actor who plays Ash Tyler used his father’s name for the actor who ‘played’ Voq. The fans had this predicted pretty early, but it was still a shock to see and figure out in the long term. Especially with the ramifications of the end.

18 Ash = Brainwashed Klingon Spy

So Ash Tyler is a Klingon. Got it! But why? The fans had a semi difficult time figuring this one out! It ended up being pretty simple. In the short term it really wasn’t too clear on why Voq had to do all this stuff. However, it was eventually revealed that it had to do with being a spy for the Klingon House Mo’Kai. The House of Mo’Kai was known for being the ‘dishonorable’ spying House.

Of course, this worked to their advantage. By the end of the season, House Mo’Kai is the head of the Klingon Empire through people such as Ash Tyler, the Klingon spy for House Mo’Kai. So while this reveal came midway through the season, its usefulness came at the end.

17 Mirror, Mirror On The Wall...

And to round out our easy predictions, we have Captain Lorca, who commandeered Discovery for a short time, ended up being from the Star Trek Mirror universe. Discovery did an excellent job of setting up this villain (even if his ending was off base).

But Captain Lorca was a bit more brutal than the average fan liked.

In fact, a small minority of Star Trek fans thoroughly disliked how brutal Lorca was. Turns out they were right all along. He wasn’t a Starfleet Captain! He ended up being a confirmed mirror universe baddie who simply wanted to take control of the mirror universe throne from not as bad of a people! Like we said, never worked out for him. But fans were put at ease knowing he ain’t Starfleet!

16 ...Who's The Greatest Terran Of Them All

Michael Burnham was the first officer of Captain Georgiou aboard the USS Shenzhou. She was a natural second in command for the captain. She also betrayed the captain by causing a mutiny against her. This mutiny ended up ending a bunch of Klingons, but also getting Georgiou captured, and eventually ended. Karma pie ain’t done with you yet, Burnham!

Michael, of course, had the universe against her in some way! When they accidentally traveled to the mirror universe, Burnham was meant to confront the Emperor of that alternate reality. And who could it be other than the glorious Emperor Georgiou! Yes, the captain she betrayed would be an emperor in another timeline! Of course, she saved this one instead, and brought her back to Burnham’s own timeline and they lived... decently.

15 Roma Invicta!

Emperor Georgiou surmised that the Federation reality had democratic values of equality, freedom, and liberty in them. The Federation to her was a bastion of hope and peace, none of which she liked, nor enjoyed. She was against those ideas at all costs. When speaking down to Burnham she mentions how they got rid of those ideas a long time ago. How long ago?

The Terran Empire may have existed since the time of the Roman Empire!

For example, although the Terran salute would have people thinking it belongs to the German Fascists, it truly belongs to the Roman Empire (where do you think the fascists got it from?). Also, the term Terran itself comes from the Roman primeval god, Terra. Also, the symbol for the Empire uses Latin, which was the official language of the Roman Empire.

14 Muddly Dudd

The subject of much discussion among trekkies was who Rainn Wilson would be playing in the series. He played roles of Dwight Schrute in The Office, a store clerk in Juno, and a dumped metal musician in The Rocker. All of them comedic roles, it was expected that his role would be comedic. Surprise, surprise when we hear a rumor about an episode involving Harry Mudd.

Harry Mudd is known for his crazy antics, his androids, and his ability to access technology that isn’t well known yet. Speculation paid off when he was shown as Mudd in a Klingon prison ship. And as revenge to Captain Lorca for abandoning him on the ship, he came back with a vengeance, destroying Lorca hundreds, if not thousands, of times.

13 The Collective "FINALLY"

In the far flung past of Star Trek series, the idea of having a gay character or couple was considered of having less value. For all the progressive attitudes of Star Trek, this was a sad and overlooked mistake. Luckily, it was fixed when rumors came around that a happily gay couple would be coming about in Star Trek Discovery. Can we all have a collective, “FINALLY!”

We saw this coming together in the vein of Paul Stamets and Hugh Culber. They had the first normal and average kiss of gay characters on a Star Trek series. It wasn’t overdone, and their being gay wasn’t the basis of their characters on the show. For once, Trek successfully used the adage “post-discrimination society.” The theory of a necessary gay couple came true in the end.

12 How Old Are You?

In the first trailers for Star Trek Discovery we see Klingons that do not look like the Klingons we know. They look very different. This was done on purpose, as a renewal of the Star Trek Klingons we know and love into a new (and honestly, improved) warrior race. One theory about the change was that these Klingons were actually ancient Klingons, or an offshoot of the race of Klingons we have seen.

And although these Klingons are now considered the new Klingons, the ancient Klingons thing isn’t that far off.

The main ship they use in Discovery that helped them obtain the cloaking technology is called The Sarcophagus. Basically, it’s a Klingon Ship of the Dead that uses coffins as shields for the ship itself. Not only quite cool, metal, and brutal, but also expected of this ancient warrior race!

11 DNA Testing

Back before Star Trek Enterprise premiered, the Klingons underwent another great redevelopment. TNG had them bring on ridges on the forehead and other such outstanding anamolies. However, in TOS the Klingons looked like poorly painted people in blackface. The change was mostly ignored until the DS9 episode Trial and Tribble-ations. Worf stated that it was a different time. Boy, he got that right!

During the events of Enterprise, the Klingons did genetic testing and research, trying to enhance themselves with augmented genes. Through this, the fan theory that Klingons were trying to genetically test themselves became not only confirmed, but true. It was through Arik Soong’s tests on augments that these tests came about for the Klingons. Arik would go onto produce offspring who would create Data.

10 Black Badges

In the first few Star Trek Discovery episodes, it was flaunted that some of the Starfleet officers were wearing black badges. The fans didn’t know what to think. The only thing anyone could think of were that they were either special ops of some sort or the purposefully not so famous Section 31. Section 31 wasn’t supposed to exist. They weren’t supposed to be noticeable in the Star Trek universe.

However, in a revealed deleted scene for the final episode of season 1 for Star Trek Discovery, former emperor Georgiou would be approached by Starfleet officer who would offer her a position in Section 31. Although she would scoff at the position at first, when the man explained what the organization was, she opened a box and out came a black Starfleet badge, thus confirming the theory.

9 Who's A Good Boy!

In The Next Generation episode The Chase, we are confronted with multiple species having to work together to accomplish a goal that all of them want to fulfill. Some think it’s a weapon, some think it’s a higher intelligence, some think it’s a map. It turns out being a hologram from an ancient race of beings called the Progenitor Race. They coded all aliens in the galaxy to look like them in some small form.

Eventually we jump to Genesis, an episode about how the crew of the Enterprise D is devolving into animals. It doesn’t make much sense alone. Why would Barclay devolve into a bug, while Spot (a cat) devolve’s into a lizard (yep, didn’t see that coming, did ya)? Unless all races and species were the animals of the Progenitor Race. In that case, it would make sense! Theory confirmed!

8 Warp 36! Engage!

People got disgruntled with warp speed changes. How could ships ever go faster than warp 9.9? What happens when we get to 9.99999999999999? It doesn’t make sense ultimately. Some races went to Warp 36, while Voyager had their laughable episode about Tom Paris going warp 10 (and then devolving into a salamander and having kids with Captain Janeway...rough time for Voyager). So what happened?

Well, between TOS and TNG they changed the speeds. Warp factor works by constantly ramping up the speeds through a greater factor than before. Eventually the speeds are too high in number. So why not readjust those numbers? If warp 1 is always speed 1, then it simply involves changing the factor itself by 3 or 4. Thus, a greater warp is now smaller. It makes sense, considering we are from the perspective of the Federation, the greater group.

7 They Knocked, But No One Answered

Let’s talk about the elephant in the Star Trek Enterprise room. Trip Tucker had a terrible passing in the final episode of the series, and it should never have been. The episode was universally panned as being a quick end without any real legitimacy. Deanna Troi and Will Riker are in a holographic program that is the final episode of the series.

Trip’s passing ended up being pointless and highly questioned by the fans.

At the same time, we might have a fix already realized. Trip passing was only a part of the holonovel that was activated. We don’t actually know if he was a part of a real universe passing. Further evidence points to a beta-canon book that reveals Trip actually did not perish, but became a part of Section 31. That would make him a part of the universe and still alive.

6 Tom Paris = Nick Locarno

Robert Duncan McNeill was a Star Trek actor that played in two different roles during the series. He was known most widely as being Tom Paris, the admiral’s son and main comm and nav officer for Voyager. He was also known as Nicholas Locarno, a student expelled from Starfleet Academy for leading his team in a banned starfighter maneuver that got a student ended. The truth is not always widely seen though.

Some have theorized that both people are the same. The last time we see Nick he is taking credit for the passing of a student and expelled. The first time we see Tom is in a penal facility and also known as former Starfleet. Being an admiral’s son, he would have had to potentially have a fake name as not to get shown favoritism. Likewise, it makes sense considering both had a penchant for bad life choices.