Who is Rachel Garrett? If you’ve seen the first episode of Star Trek Picard season 3, you might have recognised a familiar name.
In the newest Star Trek series, there’s a small moment where Rachel Garrett gets a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shout-out. Her name flashes on the screen, and she’s linked to Raffi’s search for the mysterious Red Lady.
The reference to the Star Trek character‘s name will get the ears of Star Trek fans pricking up like a Vulcan. But, given that she was last mentioned in a Star Trek TV series decades ago, we could all do with a refresher on precisely who Rachel Garrett is and why we recognise her name.
Who is Rachel Garrett?
Rachel Garrett is a Starfleet captain from the mid-24th century who commanded the Enterprise-C. She was, therefore, the predecessor to Captain Picard and an essential character in the long line of Star Trek captains who had commanded various versions of the USS Enterprise.
Rachel Garrett in Yesterday’s Enterprise
Rachel Garrett makes her Star Trek appearance in the famous Star Trek episode Yesterday’s Enterprise. This is widely regarded as one of the greatest TNG episodes of all time, and more than that, one of the best science fiction stories ever told in a TV series (yes, at its best, TNG really is that good).
It sees the Enterprise phase into a different reality where Starfleet is at war with the Klingons. In this reality, the USS Enterprise-D is a military vessel fighting in a war that it’s about to lose.
This version of reality was created because Rachel Garrett’s Enterprise-C was saved by Picard’s Enterprise-D (thanks to a temporal anomaly), rather than being destroyed by Romulan attackers. To restore the timeline, Garrett’s Enterprise-C must return to its own time and sacrifice itself to the attackers, therefore allowing the timeline to progress naturally and preventing the future Klingon war.
After some deliberation (and help from Guinan), Rachel Garrett decides to return to her own timeline to save the future. Her sacrifice, and the sacrifice of the Enterprise-C, prevents the Klingon war and restores the timeline.
This means that Rachel Garrett’s sacrifice saved countless lives, and she ranks among the bravest and most influential Star Trek characters of all time. No surprise that she’s getting commemorated with a statue in Star Trek Picard season 3 episode 1, then.
For more on Star Trek Picard, check out our Star Trek Picard season 3 review, or take a look at our guide to Star Trek’s Moriarty, or the USS Titan and its Captain Liam Shaw. Or, take a look at how to watch Star Trek Picard season 3 to keep up to date with the new sci-fi series.