A Star Wars Icon Defects to Star Trek for a New Deep Space Nine Thriller

Published Oct 8, 2026, 12:05 PM EDT Willa Rowe is a contributing writer at Polygon, covering games and entertainment. She is a New York-based journalist and critic whose work has been featured in Kotaku, Digital Trends, the A.V. Club, GamesRadar+, and more. She also co-hosts the Girl Mode podcast. Grand Admiral Thrawn's creator joins Star Trek for the first time in 2027 Image: Lucasfilm Sign in to your Polygon.com account Next to George Lucas, Timothy Zahn may be one of the most important names in Star Wars. The author wrote the Thrawn trilogy of novels in the 1990s, which is largely credited for reviving public interest in the sci-fi series and defining much of the franchise's expanded universe. Even today, much of what Zahn created has made its way into the current Star Wars canon. This makes it that much more surprising that Zahn is jumping ship to work on Star Trek. Ahead of New York Comic Con, IDW Publishing revealed to The Nerdist that Zahn will be writing Star Trek: Roc's Egg. Ángel Hernández, who has worked on a number of Star Trek comics, will provide art for the graphic novel. Here's the official synopsis: Something is rotten on Deep Space 9. When a mysterious artifact known as a Roc’s Egg arrives on the station—and is seemingly destroyed in transit—a Federation JAG investigation is called in to uncover what really happened. But the deeper the team digs, the stranger the mystery becomes: a secret auction, a station full of wealthy collectors and dangerous criminals, a priceless artifact that may not be what it seems, and a murder waiting to happen. From acclaimed author Timothy Zahn and artist Ángel Hernández comes Star Trek: Roc’s Egg, a twisty new mystery set aboard Deep Space 9 where everyone has something to hide—and the truth may be more valuable than the treasure itself. Regarding Zahn's move to Star Trek, IDW's Heather Antos said: "I can’t wait to see what Timothy does with this corner of the Star Trek universe. And I think fans are going to have an absolute blast trying to solve the mystery alongside him.” The graphic novel is set to be released in October 2027. Star Trek could use Timothy Zahn right now Photo: Jan Thijs/Paramount Plus It isn't a great time to be a Star Trek fan. Two shows are currently airing—Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy—but both are set to conclude next year. That will mark the first time since 2017 that there hasn't been a Star Trek show on television. There is a film reboot in the works, but progress on that seems to be going slowly. This means that Trekkies will soon have virtually nothing new. Zahn is the perfect person to help fix that. By the time Zahn wrote the Thrawn trilogy in the 90s, Star Wars wasn't very popular. It had been a long time since the original films released and more weren't coming. Zahn's books revived interest and in many ways helped give the franchise the popularity it needed to encourage Lucas to create the prequel movies. At a time when it seemed like the franchise was dying, Zahn saved it. That is the situation Star Trek is about to find itself in. Hiring talent like Zahn to tell new stories in the Star Trek universe is a great way to show fans that there is still a reason to care.