Star Trek Online already explained it:
The idea had crossed my mind, and the timeline of the “ancient artifact” lines up well enough. I’d also like to see the Romulan supernova addressed…
However, I’d actually prefer it to be handled by “Lower Decks”, which is set in that rough timeframe.
Even the Romulan-heavy Star Trek: Picard Season 1 avoided addressing or explaining the supernova in any detail.
Explaining? Stars go supernova occasionally, there’s your explanation. There doesn’t need to be further cause or intervention behind it.
IMO this is a solution (or really several) looking for a problem that just doesn’t exist. As it stands and despite fan speculation, Romulus was destroyed by a natural disaster, which is actually something that happens on Earth and in the wider universe.
Stars go supernova occasionally
Not spontaneously, with only a handful of years’ notice, they don’t.
I’m all for Trek science being a little weird, but it seems very likely that there was some funny business going on for the star to suddenly blow up and threaten the entire galaxy.
Yeah, with Star Trek-level technology, you should be able to tell to the week when a star will nova about 10,000 years in advance.
The wiggle room within Star Trek is that the Tkon Empire was supposedly wiped out by a supernova despite being a highly advanced civilization, and in “Second Sight” the DS9 crew boosts the top speed of a ship to warp 9.5, which suggests that a supernova can have superliminal consequences.
But there’s nothing to suggest the Tkon supernova was a natural phenomenon, and the hijinks they were up to in “Second Sight” certainly wasn’t.
Explaining? Stars go supernova occasionally, there’s your explanation. There doesn’t need to be further cause or intervention behind it.
Stars don’t just randomly supernova. Stars have extremely predictable lifecycles. It’s hard to believe a warp-capable species never made it past a 19th century understanding of how their sun works, especially given how fundamental the underlying principles are to our own ability to observe and understand the universe.
It’s a plot hole in ST '09, though I agree that maybe it is best ignored unless they can come up with a truly compelling explanation.
Especially since 2009 had it not be the romulan star, but one near enough for the shockwave to tank Romulus
From the script:
SPOCK PRIME: (voice-over) That is where I’m from, Jim. The future. The star went supernova…
SPOCK PRIME: (voice-over) …consuming everything in its path. I promised the Romulans that I would save their planet…
If the sun in question was the Romulan star, then turning it into a black hole to contain the explosion would not save the planet.
Killing the star would not save their planet.
Anything involving Romulus’ star means that ‘saving the planet’ is completely impossible.
Uhm, I don’t need the Romulan Supernova to be tied up with a bow.
But I also appreciate that writers like to be able to be the ones to bring closure to their own stories. Alex Kurtzman was the cowriter of Star Trek (2009). I can see how he would like to be the one to lay down the incontrovertible canon that ties the loose ends that the Kelvin movies and Picard have left us with. And he’s co Showrunner of Discovery so it was his vehicle to do it with.
So, I would be cool if this resolves some things and helps us to understand better the butterfly effect that destroyed a civilization, split the resilient Prime time and perhaps even give us some deeper hints on what caused the Mirror Universe to split off.
