Open hailing frequencies, we are getting word from Starfleet. This comes directly from San Diego, where at Comic-Con we got our first teaser from Star Trek: Picard, Season 3.
Back when Star Trek: Picard was announced in 2018, it was made very clear that this series wasn’t going to be a Star Trek: The Next Generation sequel. Patrick Stewart wanted Jean-Luc to have grown since leaving the Enterprise. “Jean-Luc Picard is back,” he told an audience at the Star Trek convention. “He may not be the Jean-Luc that you recognize and know so well… Someone who has been changed by his experiences.”
That was clear when the series finally arrived in 2020. The new series dealt a lot with who Picard had become. That story did not leave the Enterprise crew a lot of room, having gone their separate ways after the events of Star Trek Nemesis.
Bringing The Gang Together Again
Season Three, however, finally brings back the whole Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) cast. Until now, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, and Brent Spiner have already appeared on Star Trek: Picard. The first two appeared in Season 1 as their original characters, Will Riker and Deanna Troi. Older, wiser, and with a family of their own.
Spiner’s role was a bit more complex. Data, the android, was destroyed at the end of Star Trek: Nemesis, the last film to feature the cast of TNG. Spiner appeared as the ghost of Data’s memory that haunts Picard. He also played two new characters connected to Dr. Noonien Soong, the human creator of Data. Spiner does not appear in the trailer with the rest of the original cast, but his presence, or the lack of it, is sure to be felt.
Also from the TNG family is Wil Wheaton. Wheaton played Wesley Crusher in the original series. He returned briefly in Season 2, but in a way that asks more questions than answers about Wesley’s fate and leaves the door open to his return.
Now in Season 3, the rest of the crew finally come aboard. Levar Burton, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, and the rest of the Enterprise crew join Picard, along with Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Raffi (Michelle Herd), for one last hurrah.
Trek‘s Past and Future
It’s a renaissance of Star Trek. The nearly 60-year-old property currently has 4 series in production. That’s almost as many as it had in its first 40 years. The original Star Trek launched the franchise “where no man had gone before.” Prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise left the air in 2005. In between, we joined Starfleet crews into the 24th Century to The Next Generation, to Deep Space Nine, and across the galaxy with Voyager.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 is just one of 5 shows set in the Star Trek Universe that is currently in production. It joins Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which is set just a few years before the events of the original Star Trek series. Strange New Worlds is currently shooting its second season. Meanwhile, the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ third season is just about to arrive on Paramount+. It is a comedic take on the life of junior officers on board the USS Cerritos in the 24th Century. Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 was announced back in January. It will continue telling the story of the rebuilding of the Federation in the 32nd Century. Star Trek Prodigy, another animated series, has Season 2 in the works. It follows a crew of young runaways on board a stolen Star Fleet vessel, along with a Holographic Katheryn Janeway. It airs on Nickelodeon.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 warps to Paramount Plus in 2023. Watch the trailer below:
