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Star Trek: Picard

Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life. Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life. Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life.

• Kirsten Beyer
• Michael Chabon
• Akiva Goldsman
• Patrick Stewart
• Michelle Hurd
• 2.8K User reviews
• 78 Critic reviews
• 14 wins & 54 nominations total

Episodes 30

• Jean-Luc Picard

• Raffi Musiker

• Seven of Nine

• Dr. Agnes Jurati

• Cristóbal Rios …

• Adam Soong …

• La Sirena Computer

• Jack Crusher

• Doctor Beverly Crusher

• Captain Liam Shaw

• Ensign Sidney La Forge

• Ensign Esmar

• Titan Computer …
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• Trivia The Chateau Picard vineyard first appeared in Family (1990) . It was run by Jean-Luc Picard's brother Robert and his wife Marie, and their son René. Jean-Luc would learn in Star Trek: Generations (1994) that Robert and René had both burned to death in a fire, leaving Jean-Luc as the last in the Picard line.
• Goofs Commodore Oh often wears sunglasses. Star Trek lore establishes that Vulcans have an inner eyelid to protect against harsh sunlight on their desert planet. Oh's shades are a fashion statement, not a protective measure.
• The first season features a Borg cube and the planet Romulus.
• The second season features a Borg ship, a wormhole and hourglass, and the Borg Queen's silhouette.
• The third season does not have an opening titles sequence.
• Connections Featured in Half in the Bag: Comic Con 2019, The Picard Trailer, Streaming Services, and Midsommar (2019)

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• Mar 8, 2024

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• January 23, 2020 (United States)
• United States
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• Star Trek: Captain Picard
• The Sunstone Villa and Vineyard, Santa Ynes, California, USA (Château Picard)
• CBS Television Studios
• Roddenberry Entertainment
• Secret Hideout
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 46 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Star Trek: Picard

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Star Trek: Picard is an American television series created by Akiva Goldsman , Michael Chabon , Kirsten Beyer , and Alex Kurtzman for the streaming service CBS All Access (later rebranded as Paramount+ ). It is the eighth Star Trek series and was launched in 2020 as part of Kurtzman's expanded Star Trek Universe . The series features a retired Jean-Luc Picard , who has been deeply affected by the death of Data in the film Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and the destruction of the planet Romulus in the film Star Trek (2009).

Patrick Stewart executive produces the series and stars as Picard, reprising his role from the series Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as other Star Trek media. Alison Pill , Isa Briones , Evan Evagora , Michelle Hurd , Santiago Cabrera , Harry Treadaway , Jeri Ryan , Orla Brady , and Brent Spiner also star. The series was first rumored in June 2018, and was officially announced that August. Stewart had previously said he would not return to the franchise after Nemesis . The series is produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Secret Hideout , Weed Road Pictures , Escapist Fare, and Roddenberry Entertainment , and was designed to be slower and more character-focused than previous series in the franchise. Filming takes place in California , which granted the series large tax credits. Chabon served as showrunner for the first season , with Goldsman and Terry Matalas taking over for the second and third seasons .

Star Trek: Picard premiered on CBS All Access on January 23, 2020, and its first season ran for 10 episodes until March 26. The second season is set to debut on Paramount+ in February 2022, with the third premiering in early 2023. The series was met with positive reviews from critics, who praised Stewart's performance and the focus on character over action, though some criticized the series' slow pace. Several tie-in projects were created for the series, including an episode of the companion series Star Trek: Short Treks .

• 2.1 Season 1 (2020)
• 2.2 Season 2
• 2.3 Season 3
• 3 Cast and characters
• 4.1.1 Background
• 4.1.2 Announcement and creative team
• 4.2 Writing
• 4.3 Casting
• 4.5 Filming
• 4.6 Visual effects
• 6.1 Viewership
• 6.2 Critical response
• 6.3 Accolades
• 7.1 Star Trek: Short Treks
• 7.4.1 The Ready Room
• 7.4.2 Official podcast
• 8 References
• 9 External links

Premise [ ]

The series begins 20 years after Jean-Luc Picard 's last appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), [1] [2] and finds the character deeply affected by the death of Data in that film as well as the destruction of the planet Romulus in the film Star Trek (2009). [3] [4]

Episodes [ ]

Season 1 (2020) [ ].

Star Trek: Picard (season 1)

Season 2 [ ]

CBS officially announced a second season renewal in January 2020, [8] with production taking place from February 16 to September 2, 2021. [9] [10] Michael Chabon wrote two episodes of the season, [11] and Jonathan Frakes returned as a director. [12] Lea Thompson also directed for the season, [13] as did Michael Weaver who directed the tenth and final episode. [10] The season is set to premiere in February 2022. [7]

Season 3 [ ]

The series received an informal third season green-light by January 2020 to allow the second and third seasons to be developed together and filmed back-to-back . [8] Production on scenes for the third season began during filming of the second, by April 2021. [14] Production on the third season began in full after filming ended for the second on September 2, [10] and it was officially announced shortly after. [7] The season is set to premiere in early 2023. [7]

Cast and characters [ ]

• Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard : A former Starfleet admiral who previously commanded the USS Enterprise . [15] Picard retired from Starfleet in protest when the Federation chose not to aid the Romulans when their planet was destroyed. Co-creator Alex Kurtzman saw the series as a redemption story for Picard who is now at the end of his life and must face the consequences of his choice to abandon Starfleet and the Romulans, with the series depicting the suffering that has happened since he retired and Picard's attempts to make up for his past actions. [16]
• Alison Pill as Agnes Jurati: A former Starfleet doctor and expert on synthetic life who joins Picard's mission. [17]
• Isa Briones as Dahj and Soji Asha: Twin androids with organic bodies created as the daughters of Data . [18] Briones also portrays Sutra, an earlier android model. [19]
• Evan Evagora as Elnor: A Romulan refugee whom Picard abandoned as a boy and was raised by the Qowat Milat, a sect of all-female warrior nuns. [17] [16] [20]
• Michelle Hurd as Rafaella "Raffi" Musiker: Picard's former Starfleet first officer who struggles with substance abuse. [21]
• Santiago Cabrera as Cristobal "Chris" Rios: A former Starfleet officer and the pilot of La Sirena . [17] Cabrera also portrays the emergency holograms aboard La Sirena . [22]
• Harry Treadaway as Narek: A Romulan agent sent to seduce and spy on Soji Asha. [17]
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine [23] [24]
• Orla Brady as Laris [23] [25]
• Brent Spiner as Data [17] and Altan Inigo Soong [23] [26]

Production [ ]

Development [ ], background [ ].

In June 2018, after becoming sole showrunner of the series Star Trek: Discovery , Alex Kurtzman signed a five-year overall deal with CBS Television Studios to expand the Star Trek franchise beyond Discovery to several new series, miniseries, and animated series. [27] One of these new series was reported to star Patrick Stewart , reprising his role of Jean-Luc Picard from the series Star Trek: The Next Generation . [28] [29] Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman (who worked on the first season of Discovery ) were attached to the project. [29] When CBS had first approached him about making more Star Trek series, Kurtzman believed Picard was the greatest Star Trek captain and included a series featuring the character on his wish list, [3] despite Stewart having said that he did not want to return to the franchise. [15] While developing ideas for the short form companion series Star Trek: Short Treks , Kurtzman and his team developed a story that would have featured Nichelle Nichols reprising her original Star Trek role of Uhura . The short would have seen a young Picard visit Uhura in hospital and receive a mission related to the Borg . The short did not move forward, but it led to discussions of a short starring Stewart as an older version of Picard. [30] [31]

After developing the older Picard story, the team decided that they had enough to pitch a full series focused on the character to Stewart; [31] Kurtzman and Goldsman contacted the actor before January 2018 to discuss this idea, and met with him along with Discovery writer Kirsten Beyer at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel . [3] [31] Stewart took the meeting with the intention of turning the project down, but after Beyer convinced him to reconsider he agreed to read a four-page document outlining their ideas. [3] [31] At that time, Goldsman invited novelist Michael Chabon , a friend, to work on the project as well and the four ultimately produced a 35-page document that they sent to Stewart. [3] [31] Stewart asked to meet with the group again in March 2018, where he expressed his approval of their pitch. [3] Stewart said the pitch felt like "something very unusual, and I was intrigued." [32] While deciding whether to join the project, Stewart asked Kurtzman that the series be "so different" from previous Star Trek stories, "both what people remember but also not what they're expecting at all, otherwise why do it?" [3] He was also concerned that the series would be "jokey", but received assurances from the project's creative team that it would not be. [32]

Announcement and creative team [ ]

On August 4, 2018, Stewart made a surprise appearance at the annual Las Vegas Star Trek Convention to officially announce the series and confirm that he would star in it. He explained that after last portraying the character in the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis , he felt his role in the franchise "had run its natural course", but in the years since he was humbled by stories of the impact the character had on the lives of fans and so was now happy "to research and experience what comforting and reforming light he might shine on these often very dark times". In addition to starring, Stewart was also set to executive produce the series alongside Kurtzman, Goldsman, Chabon, Discovery ' s James Duff , Heather Kadin of Kurtzman's production company Secret Hideout , and Rod Roddenberry (the son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry ) and Trevor Roth of Roddenberry Entertainment . Beyer also remained part of the creative team, serving as supervising producer for the series. [15] The series was set to premiere in 2019. [33]

Kadin revealed in October that the series was intended to be ongoing rather than a limited miniseries, and said that its release dates would not overlap with Discovery or any other new Star Trek series. Kurtzman added that the Picard series would be "its own thing", [35] later elaborating that where Discovery is "a bullet", the Picard series is "a very contemplative show" with its own rhythm and more of a real-world feeling. [36] CBS CCO David Nevins confirmed in December 2018 that the series was intended to debut on CBS All Access at the end of 2019, after the full release of Discovery ' s second season and several Star Trek: Short Treks shorts. [37] Stewart revealed a month later that the series would consist of 10 episodes, and reiterated that the intention was for it to continue for multiple seasons, [32] adding in February that "we are set up for possibly three years of this show". [38] A production listing in March gave the series' title as Star Trek: Destiny , which CBS had trademarked in 2018. [39] However, the official title was announced to be Star Trek: Picard at CBS's upfront presentation that May. [40] At that time, Kurtzman said the series was being "shepherded" by a larger creative team rather than having a traditional showrunner. [41]

In late June, Chabon was named sole showrunner of the series to work closely on the day-to-day production with Kurtzman and Goldsman. [42] A month later, the series was scheduled to premiere in January 2020. [17] It was reported to have a budget of $8–9 million per episode. [43] In October, Kurtzman said a second season of the series was "already in the works". [44] Chabon signed an overall deal with CBS Television Studios in early December to create several new series for the studio, which meant he would be exiting as showrunner of Picard in 2020 though he would remain involved in a potential second season as an executive producer. [45] CBS officially renewed the series for a second season a month later and revealed that Terry Matalas had joined the series as an executive producer to fill the void that would be created by Chabon's planned departure. [8] Goldsman and Matalas took over as showrunners once Chabon left. [23] The series was also reported to have an informal green-light for a third season that would be developed at the same time as, and filmed back-to-back with, the second. This was to save costs and simplify scheduling, [8] and was officially confirmed in September 2021. [7] By then, CBS All Access had been expanded and rebranded as Paramount+. [46] Goldsman said the creative team had discussed a three-season plan and a five-season plan for the series, but ultimately would just keep making it until Stewart wanted to stop. [47] He added that though each season tells a separate story, he saw the three seasons as being "of a piece". [48]

Writing [ ]

The series is set 20 years after Stewart's last appearance as Picard in the film Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). [2] Kurtzman revealed that the series would find the character "radically altered" by the destruction of Romulus several years after the events of Nemesis , as depicted in the film Star Trek (2009), [3] and explained that the mandate for the series was to make it "a more psychological show, a character study about this man in his emeritus years". He noted that it was rare for a television series to star an older actor like Stewart. In the series, the character must find his way back to Roddenberry's original optimistic vision for the franchise, which Kurtzman hoped would reinforce that original vision while allowing the character to "go through deep valleys". [41] In July 2019, Goldsman said the series would not be a direct sequel to The Next Generation and would be more character-focused than that series. He described Picard as "slower, more gentle, more lyrical" than previous Star Trek series, [17] and specifically compared the tone of Picard to that of Discovery by describing the latter as a sci-fi action-adventure series while Picard is a sci-fi drama series that tells dramatic stories within an otherworldly setting. [49] Stewart compared the series to when he reprised his X-Men role of Professor X in the film Logan (2017), where he was the same character but the franchise's world and tone was "blown apart". [4]

Casting [ ]

With the series announcement in August 2018 came confirmation that Stewart would star as Picard. [15] At the start of March 2019, Santiago Cabrera and Michelle Hurd were both set to co-star in the series, with Cabrera being one of the most sought-after actors during the 2019 television pilot season and choosing this series over other offers. [50] Later that month, newcomer Evan Evagora was cast in another series regular role. [51] In April, Alison Pill , Harry Treadaway , and Isa Briones joined the cast. [52] Characters for the new cast members were announced in July, with Briones as Dahj, Pill as Agnes Jurati, Cabrera as Cristobal "Chris" Rios, Hurd as Raffi Musiker, Treadaway as Narek, and Evagora as Elnor. [17] The series reveals that Briones portrays several androids: Dahj, who dies in the first episode; her twin sister Soji Asha; [18] and Sutra, an older android model. [19]

While developing the series, the creative team discussed not bringing back any other characters from The Next Generation to allow Picard to stand alone and not become reliant on nostalgia. Part of this was to allow newcomers who had not seen the previous series to enjoy Picard . However, the writers wanted to be respectful to longtime fans of Star Trek and felt they were missing opportunities by not including certain characters, so they decided to add some returning guests who organically served the new story. [53] Several actors from previous Star Trek series were announced as guest stars for Picard in July 2019, including The Next Generation ' s Brent Spiner as Data , Jonathan Del Arco as Hugh , Jonathan Frakes as William Riker , and Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi , as well as Star Trek: Voyager 's Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine . [17] In January 2020, Stewart said it was his hope that all of the main cast of The Next Generation would appear on Picard before the end of the series, [54] while Kurtzman said if Michael Dorn reprised his Klingon role Worf in Picard he would appear as he did in The Next Generation and not be changed to match the new Klingon designs in Discovery . [55] At that time, Whoopi Goldberg agreed to appear in the second season of the series as her The Next Generation character Guinan . [56]

In June 2020, the entire main cast of the series was confirmed to be returning for the second season, except for Treadaway. [57] In April 2021, Ryan, Spiner, and first season guest star Orla Brady were revealed to also be main cast members for the second season, with John de Lancie appearing in the season as his Star Trek character Q . [23] That July, Voyager 's Robert Duncan McNeill revealed that he had been in discussions to reprise his role as Tom Paris in both seasons of the series, but scheduling conflicts had prevented this. [58]

Several members of the design team from Star Trek: Discovery returned for Picard , including production designer Todd Cherniawsky and creature designer Neville Page of Alchemy Studios. [59] [49] Christine Clark served as costume designer for the series. [60] Acknowledging that the series would be set further in the future than any previous Star Trek film or series, Kurtzman explained that the production was aiming for a "grounded" approach rather than having things like "crazy floating skyscrapers and all the cliches of science fiction". [61] The opening title sequence for the show was created by Prologue , the company that created the Discovery opening sequence. [62]

Filming [ ]

The series is filmed at Santa Clarita Studios, California , under the working title Drawing Room . [39] It received large tax credits from the California Film Commission for the production to take place in California, rather than in Toronto, Canada , where Star Trek: Discovery is filmed. [63] Location shooting for the first season also took place around California, including at Sunstone Winery in Santa Ynez Valley to depict Picard's French vineyard, [64] at long-time Star Trek filming location Vasquez Rocks in the Sierra Pelona Mountains in Los Angeles County where Raffi's home is found in the series, [65] and in the Malibu area for the planet Coppelius. [66]

Visual effects [ ]

Visual effects for the series are provided by Pixomondo , [67] DNEG , [68] Crafty Apes , [69] Ghost VFX, [70] Gentle Giant Studios, Technicolor VFX, and Filmworks/FX. [71] with Jason Zimmerman returning from Discovery as visual effects supervisor. [72] Pixomondo worked with the series' production design department to help flesh out their designs into 3D assets, and then shared those assets with the other vendors. For the first season, these digital models included the Borg Cube, La Sirena , and the Romulan ships. [70]

Star Trek: Discovery composer Jeff Russo was revealed to be composing the score for Picard in July 2019. [73] Russo's relationship with Star Trek began as a fan of The Next Generation , and he asked Kurtzman if he could work on Picard after seeing Stewart's announcement of the series at the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention. Kurtzman took time to consider this before officially asking Russo to score the new series. Russo noted that his prior work on Discovery served as his audition for Picard . Russo wanted his music to remain truthful to previous Star Trek scores without repeating them, and especially wanted to avoid his music for Discovery to differentiate the two series. Russo felt that Picard was a more intimate story than Discovery and wanted to take a more personalized approach by featuring more solo instrument performances in his score for Picard . [74] Russo's music for Picard is recorded at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros. Studios in California, where his score for Discovery was also recorded. [75]

Russo had several ideas in his head when he began work on the main title for Picard , but the first melody that he played became the idea that he associated with Picard and the series. [76] He then had to fashion this into a theme that matched the tone of the show, and went through several different iterations: a "swashbuckling" version, a "'space' show" version, a darker and more contemplative version, and finally a more emotional and stirring version which became the actual theme. [74] It is bookended with a piccolo, which Russo felt sounded similar to the fictional Ressikan flute that Picard played in the Next Generation episode " The Inner Light ", while the main melody is played on a cello which Russo often uses since it "fills that same harmonic space as the human voice". [76] [74] Additionally, Russo uses Jerry Goldsmith 's theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) to connect the story back to The Next Generation , as that series used Goldsmith's theme in its main title, while Russo also references Alexander Courage 's original Star Trek theme to "evoke the idea of Star Trek in general". He felt that using these previous themes was "not technically necessary" but appreciated how meaningful they are to fans. [74]

A soundtrack album for the first half of the first season was released on February 7, 2020, [77] followed by a complete soundtrack album covering the full season on April 3. [78] [79]

Release [ ]

The first season of Star Trek: Picard was released on the streaming service CBS All Access in the United States. [17] Like Discovery before it, each episode of the series is broadcast in Canada by Bell Media on the same day as the All Access release, on the specialty channels CTV Sci-Fi Channel (English) and Z (French) before streaming on Crave . [81] Amazon Prime Video streams the episodes within 24 hours of their U.S. release in over 200 other countries and territories around the world; this is separate from Discovery , which is released internationally by Netflix . [82] The deals with Amazon and Bell were made by international distributor arm CBS Studios International . [82] [81] The first season remained on the rebranded Paramount+, where future seasons are being released. [83]

Reception [ ]

Viewership [ ].

A week after the series premiere, CBS said that Picard had set a new record for the total streams of a CBS All Access original series by its subscribers, with 115 percent more total streams than the previous record set by Star Trek: Discovery . CBS also partly attributed the premiere of the series for the month of January 2020 breaking the service's record for the most new subscribers in a month, helped by the week of Picard ' s premiere being the second-most new subscribers in a single week for the service. [84]

Critical response [ ]

For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 87% approval rating with an average rating of 7.63/10 based on 67 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Anchored by the incomparable Patrick Stewart, Picard departs from standard Starfleet protocol with a slower, serialized story, but like all great Star Trek it tackles timely themes with grace and makes for an exciting push further into the final frontier." The average rating for each of the first season's individual episodes is 85%. [85] Metacritic , which aggregates reviews using a weighted average, assigned a score of 76 out of 100 based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [86]

Accolades [ ]

Tie-in media [ ], star trek: short treks [ ].

:Main article: Star Trek: Short Treks

When the first season of the Discovery companion series Star Trek: Short Treks was being released in December 2018, CBS CCO David Nevins stated that there would be more shorts released before the premiere of Picard . [37] In February 2019, Kurtzman said future shorts could tie directly into series other than Discovery . [94] At San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Kurtzman announced that the second season of Short Treks would include a "teaser" for Picard set 15 years before the start of the series. [95] The episode, titled " Children of Mars ", was released on January 9, 2020, and depicts the synthetic attack on Mars from Picard ' s backstory but from the perspective of two school children. [96] [97]

In September 2019, CBS announced a new three issue comic book titled Star Trek: Picard – Countdown , to be released beginning that November by IDW Publishing . Written by Mike Johnson and Picard supervising producer Kirsten Beyer, [98] the comic is set in 2385, and depicts Admiral Picard's actions during the evacuation of Romulus. [99]

In September 2019, CBS announced a new novel written by frequent Star Trek author Una McCormack to be published by Simon & Schuster in February 2020. Titled The Last Best Hope , the novel leads directly into the events of the series and introduces several new characters that are featured in the first season. [98] A second prequel novel, Dark Veil by James Swallow , was published in January 2021 and follows Riker and Troi aboard the USS Titan a year after Picard retired from Starfleet. [100] Yet another prequel novel, Rogue Elements by John Jackson Miller , was released in August 2021, and tells the backstory of Cristóbal Rios. [101]

Aftershows [ ]

The ready room [ ].

:Main article: The Ready Room

In January 2020, CBS All Access announced that The Next Generation actor Wil Wheaton would host a new season of the Star Trek aftershow The Ready Room , to stream after the release of each Picard episode. Wheaton replaced Naomi Kyle, who hosted the series for its first run after episodes of Discovery ' s second season. [102]

Official podcast [ ]

After the series premiere on January 23, 2020, Deadline Hollywood released the first episode of the Star Trek: Picard Podcast , a weekly podcast sponsored by CBS All Access and hosted by Deadline ' s senior editor Dominic Patten and genre editor Geoff Boucher. Each episode of the podcast features interviews with the series' cast and creative team. [103]

References [ ]

• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named 20YearsLater
• ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Frakes
• ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named AfterRomulus
• ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named StewartVariety
• ↑ Patten, Dominic (December 16, 2019). " 'Star Trek: Picard' Renewed For Season 2 Ahead Of Series Debut On CBS All Access Next Month ". Deadline Hollywood .
• ↑ Porter, Rick (December 16, 2019). " 'Star Trek: Picard' Renewed for Season 2 Ahead of Series Premiere on CBS All Access ". The Hollywood Reporter .
• ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Season3Official
• ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named OfficialS2Order
• ↑ Stowe, Dusty (February 17, 2021). " Star Trek: Picard Showrunner Confirms Season 2 Has Begun Filming ". Screen Rant .
• ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 " 'Star Trek: Picard' Wraps Production On Season 2, Moving On To Season 3 ". TrekMovie.com (September 3, 2021).
• ↑ Patten, Dominic (March 5, 2020). Star Trek: Picard Podcast: Reunion With Riker & Building The Borg . Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved March 8, 2020 . <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• ↑ " Jonathan Frakes Talks 'Discovery' And 'Picard' Critics, And His Future Directing Two New Star Trek Shows ". TrekMovie.com (April 14, 2020).
• ↑ Parker, Ryan (July 26, 2021). " 'Howard the Duck' Turns 35: Stars Revisit Notorious Bomb Amid New Fervor for Marvel Character ". The Hollywood Reporter .
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named FilmingS2&3
• ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Announcement
• ↑ 16.0 16.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named DeadlinePodcastEp4
• ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 17.6 17.7 17.8 17.9 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named SDCC2019
• ↑ 18.0 18.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named TVLinePremiere
• ↑ 19.0 19.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named SutraSoong
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ElnorAbandoned
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named RaffiFirstOfficer
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named DeadlinePodcastEp3
• ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named S2Teaser2022
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named RyanS2
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Chabon110Questions
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named SpinerLast
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KurtzmanDeal
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KurtzmanDeal2
• ↑ 29.0 29.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KurtzmanDeal3
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named UhuraShortTrek
• ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 31.4 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named NYCCShortTrek
• ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Stewart10
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named WritersBegun
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ChabonVarietyS1
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KurtzmanKadinOct2018
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KurtzmanDec2018
• ↑ 37.0 37.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named NevinsDec2018
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Stewart3Years
• ↑ 39.0 39.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named FilmingDetails
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Title
• ↑ 41.0 41.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named LATimesMay2019
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ChabonShowrunner
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Prodigy
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named EPsTCOct2019
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ChabonDeal
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ParamountPlus
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named GoldsmanColliderMay2020
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named GoldsmanStarTrekDay
• ↑ 49.0 49.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ReadyRoomEp2
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named CabreraHurd
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Evagora
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Apr2019Trio
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named AlmostNoReturners
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named TCAJan2020
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named WorfDesign
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Goldberg
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Season2Cast
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named NoMcNeill
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Cherniawsky
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ClarkCostumes
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KurtzmanIWJan2019
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named PrologueIW
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named TaxCredits
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named SunstoneWinery
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named VasquezRocks
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ChabonGoldsmanTHR110
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Pixomondo
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named DNEG
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named CraftyApes
• ↑ 70.0 70.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named PixomondoFXGuide
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ZimmermanVFXVoice
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named PicardBoldVFX
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named RussoPicard
• ↑ 74.0 74.1 74.2 74.3 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named RussoJan2020
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named BlueSkies
• ↑ 76.0 76.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named RussoMainTitle
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named PicardSoundtrack1
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named PicardSoundtrackS1Complete
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named PicardSoundtrackS1Complete2
• ↑ Lovett, Jamie (July 24, 2020). " Star Trek: Picard Season 1 Blu-ray, DVD Release Date Revealed ". ComicBook.com .
• ↑ 81.0 81.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named BellMedia
• ↑ 82.0 82.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Amazon
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ParamountPlus2
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named CBSViewershipJan2020
• ↑ " Star Trek: Picard: Season 1 ". Rotten Tomatoes .
• ↑ " Star Trek: Picard  : Season 1 ". Metacritic .
• ↑ " Emmys 2020: List of Nominations ". Variety (July 28, 2020).
• ↑ Turchiano, Danielle (September 16, 2020). " Disney Plus and 'The Mandalorian' Win First Emmys on Night Three of Creative Arts Ceremonies (Full Winners List) ". Variety .
• ↑ " Costume Designers Guild Awards Nominations ". Deadline.com . Deadline.
• ↑ " Critics' Choice Super Awards ". Critics' Choice Super Awards (November 19, 2020).
• ↑ Giardina, Carolyn (February 18, 2021). " 'Bill & Ted Face the Music' Leads Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards Nominations ". The Hollywood Reporter .
• ↑ " 2021 Golden Reel Award Winners ". MPSE.org . Motion Picture Sound Editors (April 17, 2021).
• ↑ Del Rosario, Alexandra (February 2, 2021). " NAACP Image Awards Nominations: Netflix Tops List With 'Bridgerton', 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' & 'Da 5 Bloods' ". Deadline Hollywood .
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KurtzmanFeb2019
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named SDCC2019Kurtzman
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ShortTreksSeason2
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ChildrenOfMarsReview
• ↑ 98.0 98.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named FirstPublishingTieIns
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named CountdownSR
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named DarkVeil
• ↑ Lovitt, Maggie (August 17, 2021). " Review: John Jackson Miller's 'Star Trek: Picard: Rogue Elements' ". Your Money Geek .
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ReadyRoom2
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named OfficialPodcast

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Star Trek: Picard

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Star Trek: Picard —Everything You Need to Know to Prepare

By Joanna Robinson

In the age of near-constant reboots, remakes, and legacy sequels, here comes another one in the form of Star Trek: Picard , which premieres January 23 on CBS All Access. The show follows Patrick Stewart’s enormously popular Starfleet captain turned admiral turned winemaker Jean-Luc Picard who originally starred in the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1987 to 1994 and was last seen in the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis . Stewart’s Picard will return for 10 new episodes, followed by an already announced second season.

Unlike some properties, Star Trek: Picard isn’t hamstrung by leaning too hard on the past. The all-new ragtag crew—including salty former intelligence officer Raffi ( Michelle Hurd ), rakish pilot Cristobal “Chris” Rios ( Santiago Cabrera ), anxious yet brilliant scientist Agnes Jurati ( Alison Pill ), and skilled Romulan fighter Elnor ( Evan Evagora )—allow newcomers to the franchise a fresh start and easy-access to new adventures. The pilot episode also features some very handy exposition and recapping of previous events. Still, this is a show that hopes to please old, loyal fans as well, so a quick recap of some of the elements that crop up in Picard shouldn’t hurt, should it?

Here are the basic who, what, where, when, and why to expect from Star Trek: Picard .

France: The series opens with Jean-Luc Picard deep into his retirement from Starfleet and holed up on the family vineyard in France. Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation will recall that after a harrowing encounter with the Borg (more on that in a bit), Picard returned home in the season four episode titled “Family.” It’s not the only episode featuring the vineyard, but it focuses on Picard connecting with his older brother and, more importantly, his own humanity. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the vineyard is a way for Picard to feel his earthly roots. So it should come as no surprise that this is where he would find himself after leaving his career behind.

San Francisco: The premise of Star Trek sees our heroes boldly going to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, but the fictional Starfleet has its roots in the U.S. Navy and so the show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, chose a real naval town, San Francisco, as the home of Starfleet Command. (In actuality, Command appears to be positioned in Marin County—across the bay from San Francisco—but let’s not split hairs.) More recent Star Trek properties like 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness have spent plenty of time in fictional futuristic buildings in and around the very real Golden Gate Bridge, so don’t be surprised when you see it pop up in Picard .

Whose Timeline Is It Anyway?: In order to unshackle itself from the continuity of other Star Trek properties, the recent film franchise launched by J.J. Abrams in 2009 saw Captain James T. Kirk and friends thrown into an alternative timeline from the original series. The 2017 CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery has also played with alternative timelines. But Star Trek: Picard is very much set in the universe fans have come to know and love and follows directly from the events of the final filmed Picard story, Star Trek: Nemesis , which saw Brent Spiner ’s android character Data sacrifice himself to save Picard. (More on Data in a bit.) But—and here’s where it gets mildly complicated— Star Trek: Picard also draws from the Abrams films.

You may or may not remember that in 2009’s Star Trek , Leonard Nimoy’s Mr. Spock traveled back in time from a future where a supernova destroyed the planet of Romulus. That time travel is what helps start the fractured Abrams timeline, but that initial supernova and the destruction of Romulus? Still very much a thing in Star Trek: Picard and a huge aspect of the show’s premise.

The Romulans: Okay, let’s talk about the Romulans, shall we? They are the main antagonists of Star Trek: Picard and, here’s a very tricky thing to remember, virtually indistinguishable from the angle-eyebrowed, pointy-eared Vulcans. According to Trek lore, the logical Vulcans and the violent Romulans were originally the same race. Once upon a time, Star Trek used to distinguish the two by giving Romulans some bumpy bits on their brows and easily identifiable big-shouldered uniforms. Those days, alas, are over—as are the signature bowl cuts that marked both Vulcans and Romulans.

The good news, however, is that if you see someone with angled eyebrows and pointy ears in Star Trek: Picard , like Harry Treadaway’s Narek, they are almost certainly Romulan. Spock’s cool, detached Vulcan brethren are barely around. In the wake of the destruction of their home planet, there are some Romulans who are clearly grateful to Earth for some manner of refuge and want to live, peaceably, among the humans. But, for the most part, Romulans are very anti-human and anti-Earth. Same as it ever was. So be on the lookout for those ears and eyebrows, know they may be friend or foe. Above all else, pay close attention to who identifies as Romulan and who identifies as Vulcan.

By Savannah Walsh

By David Canfield

By Chris Murphy

The Borg: Though the Romulans have been popular antagonists throughout the whole of Star Trek , probably the most famous race of threatening aliens in Picard’s The Next Generation adventures were the pasty, black-armored Borg. These are cybernetic creatures, not unlike the Cybermen of Doctor Who , who want nothing more than to conquer and assimilate every culture they encounter. Their captives become part of the Borg “Hive” called “the Collective,” which thinks and acts as one. You may be familiar with their favorite slogan: “Resistance is Futile.” Their spaceships are famously cube-shaped.

In the Next Generation season three and four two-parter, “The Best of Both Worlds,” the Borg captured Picard and turned him into one of their own: a creature known as Locutus of Borg. This was an incredibly traumatic experience for poor Jean-Luc and briefly turned the famously open-minded man into an anti-Borg bigot. Not that we blame him. But Next Generation —and, more directly, Star Trek: Voyager after it—spent time examining what would happen to members freed from the Borg collective. How does one reclaim his or her individuality? Both Next Generation ’s Hugh ( Jonathan Del Arco ) from the season five episode “I, Borg” and Voyager’s former Borg Seven of Nine ( Jerri Ryan ) have roles to play in Star Trek: Picard .

Data, Androids, and “The Measure of a Man”: Just as Next Generation’s use of the Borg sparked debates about humanity, individuality, and which creatures deserve their own dignity and our respect, the show’s treatment of Spiner’s Data provides the backbone for the show. Data and his evil twin brother, Lore (Spiner), were created by Doctor Noonien Soong (also Spiner) and were synthetic creatures with highly advanced artificial intelligence. It was Data’s ongoing quest in Next Generation to become human and Picard’s sympathetic treatment of that desire that make up what many consider to be the show’s first great episode: season two’s “The Measure of a Man.” In that episode, Picard must defend Data’s right to his own autonomy against an eager cybernetic scientist Bruce Maddox ( Brian Brophy ) from the Daystrom Institute, who wanted to take Data apart and figure out what made him tick. Though Maddox lost the case, he and Data remained in touch and become friendly. Maddox, Daystrom, twins, and the rights of androids. Got all that? Good.

Data’s pursuit of humanity and this idea of androids with emotions was the strongest thread that stretched across all of Picard and crew’s adventures. It’s a very popular notion in sci-fi, generally, with Battlestar Galactica , Blade Runner , and more all toying with the same questions. If you have limitless time, there are a number of Data episodes worth revisiting including “Datalore,” “The Offspring,” “Brothers,” and “The Descent” part one and two. In the Nemesis film, Data discovers a more primitive version of himself called, imaginatively, B-4, and copies some of his core memories into that body before he dies.

Why?: So why is CBS All Access making this particular Star Trek show now? The easy answer is nostalgia. In addition to Stewart, Spiner, and Ryan, a number of other beloved members of the Star Trek family will have a chance to appear in Picard , including Jonathan Frakes as William Riker, Marina Sirtis as his wife, Deanna Troi, and, joining in season two , Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan.

But there has to be more than just familiar IP driving the show, and what’s clear from the first three episodes is that Star Trek: Picard is invested in not only bringing us the comforting familiarity of Stewart’s kind, wise, brave, intellectual Jean-Luc Picard, but using Star Trek the way it’s always been meant to be used: as a sometimes thinly veiled metaphor for our current questions about race, gender, authoritarian governments, and the triumphs of compassion. In other words, it’s an enormously comforting and aspirational story. In Picard we find the kind of steady leadership we could all use right now.

Joanna Robinson

Joanna robinson is a senior staff writer at *vanity fair.*.

By Joy Press

By Tara Ariano

By Eve Batey

Here's How Star Trek: Picard Fits Into The Fractured Franchise Timeline

Patrick Stewart and showrunner Alex Kurtzman delve into the details of Jean-Luc Picard's new life.

During a panel at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Sunday (January 12), showrunner Alex Kurtzman offered some clarification on the show's timeline, where it sits within the ever-expanding Trek universe.

"We are in the Prime timeline," Kurtzman confirmed, referring to the original series timeline as opposed to the alternate "Kelvin" timeline established in JJ Abrams' 2009 Star Trek movie. "Events from the Kelvin timeline impacted Picard , but if you look at that movie, the destruction of Romulus was in the Prime timeline. It is what enabled the Kelvin timeline jump to happen. So that is very consistent with canon." In other words, the fall of Romulus is the inciting incident for both the Kelvin timeline, and for Star Trek: Picard, which is the first onscreen Trek story to explore the aftermath of that event.

It's fair to say that things are a little bleak for Picard as the series picks up – per Stewart, "Picard's life has changed. He's troubled, disturbed, lonely, and with feelings of strange, unnatural guilt." But there is one extremely significant piece of good news about Picard's new life: he has a really, really excellent dog named Dinero. Even better? Dinero was Stewart's idea.

"To just see him with a dog seemed to me to write a lot of things that didn't have to be said," Stewart explained, "because the presence of the dog alone means that he's looking for some form of comfort, which he cannot find anywhere else, but he finds it in the dog." Stewart pushed for the dog to specifically be a pit bull, he added, "because I'm passionate about these dogs, and they are abused and treated appallingly all over the world. I'm now campaigning in the UK for the laws to be changed and for them to be allowed into the country. So it's terrific to have Dinero in the sequel, and I hope we see much more of him." Hard same.

Later in the panel, Kurtzman shared some insights on how the show compares to other current Star Trek series, particularly CBS All Access's Discovery and Lower Decks . "I think the proposition is that every time you watch a Star Trek show, it has to feel and look totally very different from every other show," he said, adding that Picard will spend substantially more time on our planet than is typical for Trek . "The first chapter is really earthbound. It's very rare that you see a lot of time spent on the planet Earth in the world of Star Trek , and we did not want to rush that. We wanted to take the time to show the condition of Picard's life, and to watch him evolve to taking off into the stars, and we were not in a hurry to do that."

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Published Feb 27, 2024

First Look at Star Trek: Picard: The Art and Making of the Series

Everywhere books are sold now!

StarTrek.com

From Joe Fordham, get an inside look behind Star Trek: Picard , with the release of Star Trek: Picard: The Art and Making of the Series — a must-have for all Star Trek fans.

This beautifully illustrated hardback, available now everywhere books are sold , features behind-the-scenes and on-set photography, and a range of production art, is an in-depth exploration of a hugely popular and seminal Star Trek character.

Alongside interviews with showrunners, writers, cast, and crew, discussing concepts and character arcs, "Spotlight" features explore makeup, costumes, art, and visual effects. A final section features reflections on the much-beloved character from its original incarnation in Star Trek: Next Generation through to its final satisfying conclusion.

Star Trek: Picard stars Patrick Stewart, reprising his role as Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation . The book explores each of the three separate season-long narratives, which tell the story of Picard in later years, as he is brought out of retirement on his family château to face old enemies such as the Borg, take command of a new starship, and ultimately reconcile with his past.

New characters such as Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd), Dr. Jurati (Alison Pill), Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabrera), Soji (Isa Briones) and Elnor (Evan Evagora) feature alongside appearances by old enemies and friends, such as Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching), Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg, Ito Aghayere), Data (Brent Spiner), and Q (John de Lancie). Season 3 sees a full-scale Next Generation reunion, featuring Worf (Michael Dorn), Dr. Beverley Crusher (Gates McFadden), and Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton).

Thanks to our friends over at Titan Books, StarTrek.com has an inside look at Star Trek: Picard: The Art and Making of the Series!

VADIC CHANGELING AVENGER

The Shrike captain announces herself as Vadic (Amanda Plummer), leader of a rogue faction of Changelings, liquid-based shapeshifters from the Gamma Quadrant. "Amanda Plummer was the only person I ever thought of for this role," states Terry Matalas. "Early on, I didn’t know that she would do it. I knew that Amanda had Star Trek lineage as her father, Christopher Plummer, played General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .

To our delight, she said ‘yes’ and she brought so much to the character. She made Vadic one of the great Star Trek villains."

Vadic’s tortured history sprang from a clandestine operation, an offshoot of the Dominion War against the Federation. "They were held captive on Daystrom Station by a nefarious group within Starfleet, Section 31," Matalas explains. "They were trying to make Changelings that were undetectable down to an organ level in a way that Changelings had not been before. Vadic and her people escaped from that lab with their new abilities, and they found a like-minded dying species, the Borg, who teamed up with them to put an end to Starfleet once and for all."

The makeup team explored designs for Vadic and her Changelings that acknowledged their genetic origins, as seen in Deep Space Nine ’s amorphous shapeshifting security chief Odo (René Auberjonois), with a twist. "We tried a variety of prosthetic designs for Vadic," recalls Vincent Van Dyke. "We ended up creating scars as a design element on her face. They were quite symmetrical, even beautiful. The idea was these were scars that had injured her, symmetrically, on each side of her body. Technically, they were quite simple for us to create, not extensive makeup. But what a wonderful actress."

"Amanda was fantastic," concurs James MacKinnon. "Talking to her about what we were going to do, she was very particular, and quiet. But when she started talking about how she was going to play the part, it was awesome to watch. We ended up taking the color out of her eyebrows. We gave her a pale face and some cheek scars as silicone transfers. The idea was that, as a Changeling, she’d been partway through forming into another character when she stopped and that left subtle scarring on her face. We gave those scars a natural lip color."

"Changelings loyal to Vadic carry disruptor weapons illicitly acquired on their travels through the Delta Quadrant. Vadic brandished a femme-fatale-style smoking device. "Terry and Amanda wanted her to be wreathed in smoke sitting on her bridge," recalls Jeff Lombardi. "We’ve not seen many aliens smoking cigarettes before in Star Trek . Amanda does smoke, which helped. We got her blend that she was comfortable with, and we designed an alien cigarette holder and different papers. It was a simple device, the end of the holder held a rolled joint and the two melded together as a smoking apparatus. We also gave her some old French lighters and a Romulan knife — one of the Reman blades that Picard’s clone, Shinzon, had used in Star Trek Nemesis ."

Go behind-the-series with Star Trek: Picard: The Art and Making of the Series , on-sale now!

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In addition to streaming on Paramount+ , Star Trek: Picard also streams on Prime Video outside of the U.S. and Canada, and in Canada can be seen on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Picard is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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Star Trek: Picard Series-Finale Recap: Captain’s Log, Final Entry

Star trek: picard.

Star Trek: Picard  began as a series partly dedicated to giving Jean-Luc Picard, the aged but unbowed former captain of the  Enterprise , a late-in-life shot at returning to the stars and partly as a torch-passing exercise that surrounded Picard with new characters (a kind of next generation, you could say). Across three seasons, that mission didn’t so much drift as grow in scale. This third and final season has extended the autumnal adventures to almost all of the original cast of  Star Trek: The Next Generation  (while keeping Jeri Ryan and Michelle Hurd around from the preceding  Picard  seasons) and making the torch-passing theme even more explicit by bringing in Picard’s previously unknown son, Jack Crusher, and a pair of Geordi LaForge daughters to boot.

That’s a lot to ask of any series, much less one that has to give the beloved  TNG  characters the proper send-off (maybe?) they were denied by the less-than-beloved  Star Trek: Nemesis.  And, by and large, the season has shouldered that burden well. The  TNG  characters have all had their moments in the spotlight as the show reassembled the team, Ryan’s Seven of Nine and Hurd’s Raffi have had plenty to do (as did Todd Stashwick’s Captain Shaw, RIP), and Jack has proven to be a charismatic addition when he could have felt like an interloper shoehorned in to bring down the cast’s median age.

But does this final episode stick the landing? Pretty much, yeah. “The Last Generation” both brings the season-long story — which began as a confrontation with the Dominion before that dread foe essentially handed over villain duties to the Borg — to an exciting conclusion and gives the original cast a nostalgic valedictory moment while also leaving the door open for future adventures.

As it opens, however, any possibility of a happy ending seems unlikely. Federation President Chekov (not that one but his son) issues a dire warning that the Federation’s younger generation has been assimilated, and there’s little to be done about it, but in the words of his father, “There are always possibilities.” Picard and the crew are not an easily dissuaded bunch, and recognizing, as Data puts it, they “are the cavalry,” they come up with a plan.

Sure, it’s a desperate plan, but a plan nonetheless: Head to Jupiter, board the Borg vessel, and shut down the beacon that allows the Borg to do what they do. (And hopefully rescue Jack in the process.) For Picard, it’s personal. The Borg have his son (whom he’s come to like quite a bit despite a messy start), and he’s been plagued by their threat for over 35 years. For everyone else, it’s, well, also pretty personal. If this is truly a last stand, it’s a last stand against an enemy with whom they have a long, nasty history. The newly emotional Data sums it up as they approach: “I hate them.”

No one knows that better than Seven, of course, who leads a party to reclaim the  Titan.  She and Raffi will play a crucial role in the confrontation that follows, but it’s the newly reunited  TNG  crew that drives the action. And, in classic  Trek  faction, that means breaking into smaller groups. Picard, Will, and Worf head into the cube. (“And I will make it a threesome,” Worf says, by way of announcing his intentions.) Their farewell is one of the episode’s first heart-tugging moments. Could this be the last time these characters see each other? The look on Deanna’s face as Will walks away says it all.

On the cube, they find a lot of rotting Borg drones but little action. Then it’s time to split up after another wrenching farewell scene in which Picard can’t bring himself to tell Will how much he means to him. “You know that I know. Always,” Will says, letting him off the hook while making the scene that much more intense, with Worf’s own final words about Klingon’s not knowing the words “defeat” and “farewell” providing poignant punctuation.

When Picard reaches Jack, it’s worse than he feared. His son appears fully Borgified and the Borg Queen (voiced by Alice Krige and looking more like a nightmarish H.R. Giger creation than ever) looms over him. She’s mostly interested in mocking “Locutus,” calling his arrival a homecoming. The Borg Queen also announces that assimilation is old news. The new Borg goal is evolution. And it looks like that plan is working out for them. Thanks, unwittingly, to Jack, Starfleet is now filled with unwitting hybrids walking around with Borg DNA just waiting to be told what to do.

But despite the odds stacked against them, our heroes prevail via a series of pretty good fight scenes that mix aerial combat, a hand-to-hand battle with Borg drones, some fancy flying from Data, and a battle for Jack’s soul. The latter involves Picard plugging himself into the Borg network and selling Jack on the pleasures of life outside the Borg cube, despite the possibility of loneliness and fear. Picard’s pitch includes freely expressing his emotions (never an easy thing for the captain), including his feelings for his son. “You are the part of me that I never knew was missing,” he says. Later, they hug. (This episode just does not let up on big emotional moments. Will’s farewell to Deanna, if anything, hits even harder: “I’ll be waiting. Me and our boy.”)

Star Trek  is a franchise dedicated to following intriguing science fiction concepts wherever they lead, but it’s also one in which occasionally love saves the day, and the Borg Queen’s dying shout of “No!!!” shortly before her cube explodes signals that this is one of those  Star Trek  installments. (Even Seven’s in a hugging mood when the Borg control lifts from the  Titan  crew.) It’s a happy ending for all, and the tableau of everyone posing on the  Enterprise  bridge (an image that includes Will and Deanna embracing and Worf asleep) could be a fitting end to the series.

But there’s more to be done. That includes giving the  TNG  crew some more time together and setting up future adventures. Will’s log reveals that Beverly has developed a method to eliminate Borg DNA and scan for Dominion holdouts. Tuvok, the real Tuvok, is still alive, it’s revealed. Seven learns that Captain Shaw actually liked and respected her, even recommending she be promoted to the rank of captain. Data is still sorting through his new emotions with a lot of help from Deanna, who’s a little distracted planning a vacation during the latest of their marathon sessions. But, essentially, all is well.

One year later, the long good-bye continues as Will, Picard, and Geordi put the  Enterprise  D to bed. A bit later, Picard and Beverly escort their son to his first Starfleet assignment aboard … the  Enterprise ? Rechristened in honor of Starfleet’s fabled flagship, the  Enterprise  is now under Seven’s command, with Raffi and Jack by her side. That looks like a setup for a whole new series featuring this crew. (I would watch.)

We’re not done: Over drinks and a stirring recitation of one of Brutus’s speeches in  Julius Caesar  from Picard (“There is a tide in the affairs of men”), the  TNG  crew spends the evening in each other’s company, reflecting on their time together before, in a nod to “All Good Things …,” the original  TNG  finale, a game of poker breaks out with Picard enthusiastically participating. It’s an indulgent moment that calls on decades of accumulated affection for these characters, and boy does it work. It feels like a fitting farewell, albeit one that suggests all good things, or at least all good shows, don’t always come to an end. They just kind of lay around waiting for someone to pick them up again.

Captain’s Log

• Hello! No, I am not your regular  Picard  recapper (though I did cover the first season). I’m just filling in for the excellent Swapna Krishna, who was unexpectedly unable to cover this episode.

• This episode pretty clearly sets up a Seven/Raffi/Jack–focused series and that’s a pretty exciting prospect. Ryan is, of course, already a  Trek  legend and her reprise of Seven has broadened the character and confirmed she has a range we never saw on  Voyager . Hurd was always a  Picard  highlight and Ed Speleers has fit right in when Jack could easily have been the series’ Poochie.

• If there is a series, please, please find room for the “Ma’am, I’m just a cook!” guy. He’s great.

• Over the end credits, there’s one last surprise: Q is back and ready to put Jack to the test. Nothing really ends or dies with this franchise, does it? (Okay, except for Ro Laren, Capt. Shaw, etc., etc.) After a first season partly dedicated to putting Data down, he’s back and the Data who wanted to die got hand-waved away. Now Q’s mortality, a big part of the second season, is out the window. It’s inconsistent, but is any going to complain, particularly after a season this strong?

• That said, the sudden transition to a mostly different supporting cast hasn’t been without some awkwardness. Whither Laris?

• Is this the last time we’ll see the  TNG  characters all in one place together again? Another reunion seems unlikely, but then  this  reunion seemed pretty unlikely. If it is the end, it’s a warm, affectionate send-off. If not, let’s hope the next reunion strikes as deft a balance between nostalgia and adventure.

• star trek: picard

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Screen Rant

All 3 times star trek: discovery has mentioned jean-luc picard.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard's Starfleet legacy continues into the 32nd century, and his name has come up three times in Star Trek: Discovery.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 1 - "Red Directive"

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard's legacy lives on in Star Trek: Discovery, as he's been mentioned 3 times in the 32nd century.
• Captain Michael Burnham may have a different command style, but her missions still echo Captain Picard's influence in the future.
• Star Trek: Discovery season 5 deepens connections to Picard & Star Trek: The Next Generation, highlighting the impact of Picard's achievements.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) has been referenced three times in Star Trek: Discovery , proving that his legacy extends all the way into the 32nd century. Introduced as the Captain of the USS Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation , Jean-Luc Picard has become one of Star Trek's most beloved and enduring characters . Picard commanded the Enterprise for seven seasons of TNG and four movies, and returned years later in three seasons of Star Trek: Picard . With his diplomatic skills and collaborative command style, Picard remains one of Starfleet's most celebrated and accomplished officers.

As seen in Star Trek: Discovery seasons 3, 4, and 5, Captain Picard's accomplishments continue to be referenced in the 32nd century. Star Trek: Discovery's Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) may have a different command style from Picard, but her action-oriented approach works well for the fragile United Federation of Planets of the 32nd century. Even over 900 years in the future, Burnham's missions sometimes call back to those of Captain Picard. Although Burnham and the Discovery crew are from a time before Jean-Luc Picard was even born, his name has come up three separate times during their adventures in the 32nd century.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

3 “unification iii” - star trek: discovery season 3, episode 7, references picard's meeting with ambassador spock in tng's "unification".

The first mention of Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: Discovery comes in an episode that serves as a sequel to an iconic Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter . In TNG's "Unification," Starfleet sends Captain Picard to look for Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy), who was last seen on Romulus. Picard eventually finds Spock and learns that the Vulcan Ambassador has been working on a "personal mission of peace" to bring the Romulans and Vulcans back together. Spock has come to realize that his goal cannot be achieved through traditional diplomatic means, but he is pleased to find that many young Romulans are beginning to embrace Vulcan philosophies.

Among the 'personal files of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard,' Michael finds footage of Spock as he speaks about his goal.

In Star Trek: Discovery's "Unification III," Burnham seeks information about a project known as SB-19, which involved the Vulcans and Romulans working together to find a faster form of space travel. As Burnham prepares to make her request, she learns that her foster brother Spock was responsible for starting the process of Vulcan/Romulan reunification . Among the "personal files of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard," Michael finds footage of Spock as he speaks about his goal. Spock knew that his ultimate goal of reunification would not be achieved until long after his death, but even in the 32nd century, he is remembered as the one who made reunification possible.

The Qowat Milat, Romulan warrior nuns introduced in Star Trek: Picard season 1, were also revealed to have lasted into the 32nd century in Star Trek: Discovery season 3.

2 “Anomaly” - Star Trek: Discovery Season 4, Episode 2

References picard's synthetic golem body from star trek: picard season 1.

As the crew of the USS Discovery investigate the Dark Matter Anomaly, also called the DMA, Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) and Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio) work together to find a way to save Adira's partner, Gray (Ian Alexander). Despite Gray's supposed death, Adira was still able to see and speak with him, so Dr. Culber began researching ways to reunite Gray's consciousness with a new body. Culber came across the experiments of Dr. Altan Soong (Brent Spiner) , who had developed a method of transferring a consciousness into a synthetic golem body. Although the Soong Method had a very low success rate, Culber notes that it worked for Admiral Jean-Luc Picard.

Jean-Luc Picard's name drops in Star Trek: Discovery show a synergy with Star Trek: Picard.

In Star Trek: Picard season 1, episode 10, "Et in Arcadia Ego: Part 2." Jean-Luc finally succumbed to his terminal brain disease. Before Picard's consciousness fully dissipated, however, Dr. Altan Soong transferred it to the synthetic golem body he had constructed. Picard's new synthetic body was identical to his human one and would allow him to live the life he would have had if not for the abnormality in his brain. Gray receives his own golem body in Star Trek: Discovery season 4, episode 3, "Choose to Live." With help from Trill Guardian Xi (Andreas Apergis), Gray's consciousness was successfully transferred to the synthetic body, allowing him to continue with his life.

In Star Trek: Picard season 3, Admiral Picard's brain abnormality was revealed to be the result of dormant Borg DNA that had been left from his time as Loctus of Borg.

10 Star Trek: Discovery Positives You Only Notice On Rewatch

1 “red directive” - star trek: discovery season 5, episode 1, references picard's meeting with the progenitors in tng's "the chase".

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5's premiere , Captain Burnham and the USS Discovery get pulled into a galactic treasure hunt with connections to Captain Picard. The Federation's Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg) sends Discovery on a top-priority mission classified as a "Red Directive," to find and retrieve an artifact from an 800-year-old Romulan science vessel. Discovery arrives too late to retrieve the artifact, a Romulan puzzle box, which had already been stolen by couriers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis). After Michael tries and fails to retrieve the puzzle box, she confronts Kovich for more information about the mission.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 already has more connections to Star Trek: The Next Generation and Captain Jean-Luc Picard than any previous season.

Kovich reveals that the Romulan puzzle box contains information regarding the Progenitors, the ancient humanoid race that is believed to have created all humanoid life. In his briefing, Kovich says that Captain Picard "found a message left by a race of ancient beings," referencing the events of TNG season 6, episode 20, "The Chase." A Romulan scientist, Dr. Vellek (Michael Copeman), had been present on that day and had continued to research the Progenitors, eventually storing his diary within a Romulan puzzle box. After two episodes, Star Trek: Discovery season 5 already has more connections to Star Trek: The Next Generation and Captain Jean-Luc Picard than any previous season.

Star Trek: The Next Generation & Star Trek: Discovery are streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star trek: the next generation.

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Star Trek: Discovery is cracking open a box Next Gen closed on purpose

The USS Discovery is on a mad chase across the galaxy for one of Star Trek’s biggest secrets

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Calling back to a single 30-year-old episode of television is a time-honored Star Trek tradition , one that’s led the franchise to some of its most fascinating detours. And in its two-episode season premiere, Star Trek: Discovery seems to be kicking off an entire season calling back to one particular episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

And not just any episode! The 1993 installment of Next Gen in question delivered a revelation so seemingly earth-shaking that it should have rewritten galactic politics on a massive scale. But then, as was the way in the 1990s era of episodic TV, nobody ever mentioned it again.

At least until now.

[ Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5.]

Writer Michelle Paradise and director Olatunde Osunsanmi lay out the connection at the end of the first of two episodes released this week, “Red Directive.” Discovery’s mission is to follow a series of ancient clues leading to a cache of ancient technology, and to get there before a couple of professional thieves, Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis), do.

The technology, as Doctor Kovich (David Cronenberg) explains, belongs to the so-called Progenitors, a barely understood ancient spacefaring species that “created life as we know it […] every humanoid species in the galaxy.” Presumably such tech holds the key to understanding how the Progenitors did that, and how that power could be used again.

The Progenitors are from the Star Trek episode “The Chase”

Kovich also calls up a helpful video presentation of the moment the Progenitors were discovered by an assembled group of Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and Cardassian captains, including Jean-Luc Picard. But you don’t have to be a Star Trek lore nerd to know you’re actually just looking at clips from an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Specifically, from the 20th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation ’s sixth season, “The Chase,” in which Picard and crew discover pieces of a computer program hidden inside the DNA of species from dozens of different planets. Questions abound: What does the program do? And what kind of entity could have been so ancient and powerful that it had determined the genetic legacy of most of the known galaxy before sentient life had even evolved here — and then left no trace of its existence except the genetic codes themselves?

In a nutshell, the mysterious death of Captain Picard’s old archeology professor (did you know that if he hadn’t gone into Starfleet, Jean-Luc was studying to be a space archeologist? Well, now you do) sets the captain and the Enterprise on a search for the missing DNA fragments necessary to complete his unfinished work.

The action of the episode becomes a grand chase, as Klingon and Cardassian captains come to believe the program must be a great weapon or dangerous secret. Eventually Picard and his rivals all discover the lonely planet with the final DNA strain — and when they get there, some Romulans who’ve been secretly following all of them show up, too, just to make things even more tense.

In the end, the program isn’t a weapon or a secret, but a message from an ancient race of humanoids that apparently created sentient life in our galaxy as we know it.

Actor Salome Jens appears as a Progenitor hologram, and delivers a speech that’s stirring by any standard of Star Trek monologues, telling the story of a race of sentients that took to the stars and found them empty. They had evolved too early to meet other forms of sentient life, and knew that their time was too limited to ever expect to.

“We knew that one day we would be gone; that nothing of us would survive, so we left you,” Jens’ Progenitor explains. The Progenitors seeded humanoid life across the galaxy in their own image; life that tended to evolve into bipedal, tailless, largely hairless creatures with two eyes and two arms and five fingers on each hand. And they left clues in the genetic signature of their work, broken up among the stars.

Wait, was this really all about lampshading the limits of Star Trek’s alien design?

Kinda, yes! The writers of “The Chase,” Ron Moore and Joe Menosky, were inspired by elements of Carl Sagan’s Contact , but also by Menosky’s pet fascination creating an in-universe explanation for why all the common alien species in Star Trek are basically shaped like humans (albeit with latex on their faces).

In other hands, it would be hokey and trite, but even under heavy makeup, Jens sells the hell out of her single scene on voice and stance alone — it’s no wonder she was asked back to the Trek fold to play a major antagonist role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .

“It was our hope that you would have to come together in fellowship and companionship to hear this message, and if you can see and hear me, our hope has been fulfilled,” the Progenitor hologram concludes, with gentle compassion. “You are a monument, not to our greatness, but to our existence. That was our wish: That you, too, would know life. [...] There is something of us in each of you, and so something of you in each other.”

But though “The Chase” carried a sweeping revelation, nothing ever really panned out from it. You’d think that a message of togetherness that fundamentally rewrote the origin of life in the universe would have to have tweaked Star Trek’s galactic politics a bit, right? Seems like this would give the Star Trek setting a radically different understanding of the origins of life than we have in the real world — this is literally intelligent design! At the very least there’d be some other characters talking about how humans and Vulcans, Klingons and Romulans and Ferengi and Cardassians and Trill and Bajorans, all share the same genetic ancestor.

But nope: The Pandora’s box of Progenitor lore remained closed. Gene Roddenberry’s successor and Trek producer Rick Berman seems to have been disenchanted with the episode’s reveal — and you can’t really blame him for not wanting to rock the whole cosmology of Star Trek in an episode that’s mostly about explaining how if you turn the DNA snippets like this they make a cool spiral. Now look at this computer screen with the spiral :

Except now, Star Trek: Discovery is opening the box and rocking the boat. This new mad, puzzle-box chase around the galaxy promises to expand on the Progenitors, an idea so big that not even The Next Generation was willing to touch it. It’s a tall order, but Discovery has never been more free to shake up Star Trek continuity than it is right now — we’ll have to wait for more episodes of the show’s final season to find out how free it intends to be.

Star Trek: Discovery is finally free to do whatever it wants

The 10 horniest episodes of star trek, ranked by cultural impact, the picard legacy collection puts one of the greatest remasters of all time in sprawling context, loading comments....

Star Trek Discovery showrunner says that they will be following up a 30-year-old mystery that was never addressed: "You don’t just let that go"

S tar Trek Discovery may have gone far, far beyond any other point in the franchise’s timeline after its third season leap to the 32nd Century – but its final season is still finding time to address one of the biggest, oldest mysteries in the Star Trek universe.

Having being given a Red Directive (essentially, a Starfleet mission that must succeed at any cost) during the Discovery season 5 premiere, Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) discovers that she’s on the hunt for technology belonging to a group known as the Progenitors. 

You may not recognize the name, but Star Trek fans of a certain vintage will certainly know of the ancient, life-creating beings: they form the basis of the 1993 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode ‘The Chase’, which sees Patrick Stewart’s Picard uncover perhaps the great mystery left in the universe: where do we come from?

As it turns out, all sentient life was formed thanks to the one race (now known as the Progenitors) – who had hoped to fill the galaxy with all manner of beings in part due to their desire to leave a lasting legacy.

Audiences in the early ‘90s must have had their minds blown but, frustratingly, it was never brought up again – until now.

Speaking to SFX , Star Trek Discovery showrunner Michelle Paradise opened up about why now was the right time to follow up on a mystery 30 years in the making.

"The Chase was such an incredible episode. It raises these huge ideas, huge thematic explorations. Who are we? Where did we come from? And then the episode ends and Picard goes on and there's just this huge thing that they've discovered, and we just found ourselves wondering, 'Well, what happened after that? What did the message mean? And what was it all about? And then what did Picard do?' And you just don't let that go," Paradise explained.

The showrunner continued, "And so we found ourselves wondering about what might have happened after, and that really became the catalyst for the journey this season. We know in The Chase that these beings seeded life as we know it. And so we take that and we ask the question, 'Well, how did they do that?' 

"They must have had a technology and this technology is out there. And it seemed kind of fun to explore, where would that be and what if it's still out there somewhere? And ultimately, that's what our heroes and the bad guys are now in a race to find. And it's just a really cool thing."

Star Trek Discovery season 5 is currently airing weekly on Paramount Plus. Not a subscriber to SFX? Then head on over here to get the latest issues sent directly to your home/device .

Imposters (episode)

• View history

Caught by Starfleet and facing court martial, paranoia grows as Picard struggles to uncover whether a prodigal crewman from his past has returned as an ally – or an enemy hellbent on destroying them all.

• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.2 Production
• 4.3 Cast and characters
• 4.4 Continuity
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Special guest stars
• 5.3 Guest starring
• 5.4 Co-starring
• 5.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 5.6 Stunt doubles
• 5.7 Stand-ins
• 5.8.1 LCARS references
• 5.9 External links

Summary [ ]

The crew of the USS Titan -A is making their way back home after their ordeal in the Ryton system ; Lieutenant T'Veen is examining the material left over from the spaceborne creatures' birth, Lieutenant Mura checks in with Ensign Kova Esmar about an update on repairs, and Ensign La Forge struggles to keep awake as she checks the status of the thrusters from the helm . Suddenly, Jack Crusher , wearing a red Starfleet uniform, comes up to the bridge and begins shooting them all down with a phaser . As the wounded Esmar tries to crawl away, Jack walks right up to them. Esmar tells him they knows what he really is, before his phaser comes up to finish the ensign off. The hull around him, and Esmar's face, begin to grow the same red roots he had seen in his mind's eye.

Jack is suddenly standing in his quarters, the phaser in his hand. His shaking hands drop the weapon to the deck, as his eyes begin to glow red, and he hears his mother Beverly in his mind telling him to come home.

Act One [ ]

Picard and Riker meet with Captain Shaw and Seven of Nine in the Titan 's observation lounge , wondering how a Changeling was able to get aboard the ship undetected. Riker recalls that Changelings could mimic appearances on sight alone, but not internal physiology. Seven explains that all new crewmembers go through an internal imaging chamber before reporting to verify they are not shapeshifters, standard protocol since the Dominion War . Riker thinks Starfleet will want to look into that, but he knows they will want something else: Answers from him and Picard about their commandeering the Titan and endangering the crew. " Time to go home and face the music, " Picard agrees. Riker rises and officially returns command of the ship back to Shaw. Shaw then tells them that he has already contacted Starfleet, and they are already sending a ship to meet them. He then turns to Seven, asking if she would like to "face the music stated or un-stated." She replies "stated," and so he reinstates her as his first officer . He then decides to step outside, so the three of them can get their "bullshit story" straight. After he leaves, Picard tells them he will bear the brunt of the responsibility himself.

" Most important is that you are safe. You have a chance to return to your lives and… I hope to be a part of them. "

Picard then meets with the Crushers, explaining the situation. Beverly apologizes for putting him in that position, but Picard waves it off, saying that the important thing is that they are safe and can return to their lives, and that perhaps he could be part of it. Beverly, however, doesn't think it's over, wanting to find out how a Changeling got past the ship's internal security systems, and asks to examine the dead Changeling who had impersonated Ensigns Foster and La Forge. Picard gives her the go-ahead, wanting to find out more about Vadic's intentions to better strengthen their case with Starfleet. After she leaves, Jack jokingly asks if he should find a comfortable pair of restraints. Picard assures him that Starfleet was built on reason, and that he could be persuasive if need be, something Jack can believe. Picard asks if he might consider a more "honest vocation", given that many "rebels" from all corners of the galaxy have found their way to Starfleet. Jack doesn't think that likely, and says that once he is done with Starfleet, he will be on his way.

Meanwhile, aboard the SS La Sirena on M'talas Prime , Musiker is sparring with metal fighting sticks against Worf 's kur'leth . Worf is able to disarm her and headbutt her to the deck, holding his blade to her neck. He warns that the enemy's aggressiveness will always reveal their weakness, and that she could have sacrificed a move to reveal his. Musiker thinks she already knows his weakness – talking. Worf retorts that impulsiveness, stubbornness, and shortsightedness are hers. After getting as good as he gives, Worf blocks Musiker's attacks with one hand and tosses her to the ground once more. As Musiker gets back on her feet, Worf suddenly sets his blade on the deck and goes into a meditative pose, stopping Musiker short. Just then, a priority communication comes in from Starfleet Intelligence . Worf's handler is making contact, 24 hours after he made his request for access to Daystrom Station . Musiker is impatient, thinking that if the attack on the recruiting center was just a distraction, a bunch of "terrorist goo-freaks" were out there planning another attack. To their surprise, however, the request is denied. The unknown handler tells them to "find another way" before terminating contact. Musiker wonders why they would be denied access and yet still told to pursue; Worf assumes this comes from someone higher up in the chain of command. He accepts that they will be standing down, but Musiker refuses, willing to break into the station herself, thinking that Worf has not sacrificed nearly half as much as she has. Worf hurls a d'k tahg into the deck, warning her not to presume what he has or has not sacrificed. He reminds her that Daystrom Station was protected by a sophisticated AI system that requires security clearance from Starfleet Command to bypass. In that case, Musiker wonders, how did Changelings from District Six get in? Worf concedes only Sneed could have answered that, had he not been forced to decapitate the Ferengi to save Musiker. However, he is aware of someone in Sneed's circle: Krinn , the kingpin of the V'Lashi crime syndicate , who specializes in high-security infiltration.

As Worf and Musiker walk the streets, they suddenly begin to clear out. Worf explains that they were now the "alphas" of District Six, having destabilized the criminal element there. Musiker decides to go with it (not quite jokingly saying that sometimes "work is fun"), before drawing her phaser and firing a shot into the air. She loudly announces they are looking for Krinn, and that what happened to Sneed will happen to them if they don't give him up. Getting no answer, she turns to find Worf kneeling in the middle of the street. When asked what he is doing, he replies that he is waiting for the ecology of District Six to right itself. Musiker muses that they will indeed need a backup plan.

The Titan is met by the Duderstadt -class USS Intrepid , which orders them to stand down. Seven reports receiving a secure transmission that the Intrepid is sending a shuttlecraft over with a security team. Shaw wonders what might be wrong with their transporters, and all Esmar can report is that their security officer insisted on using a shuttle, something Shaw considers strange. Picard and Riker share uneasy glances, before Picard leans over to Seven, quietly telling her he might need one more favor. Seven replies he had better do it while he can.

Picard and Riker accompany Shaw, humming a tune and looking rather pleased with himself, in the turbolift . When Picard asks him to stop, he apologizes, saying he feels "chipper," though of course not about their impending discipline. Riker reminds him that they have saved the galaxy a few times, and Picard adds he hopes they'll remember. Shaw, on the other hand, thinks they might remember when they crashed the saucer section of the USS Enterprise -D into a planet , or when "someone" (tilting his head at Picard) violated the Prime Directive so they could " snog a villager on Ba'ku ," or when they nearly wiped out all of humanity with a time paradox in the Devron system , remarking on a "real chicken-and-egg thing happening" when it came to rescues from danger. " Those were the days, " Picard says wistfully. As they round the corner, both Picard and Riker are shocked to see Ro Laren , a former officer from the Enterprise -D, now back in uniform as a Starfleet commander , walking towards them. Ro glances at them for a moment before turning to Shaw, formally asking permission to come aboard. Meanwhile, Seven runs into Jack in the corridor and takes him by the arm, saying she is taking him somewhere they can't find him. Ro informs Picard and Riker that Starfleet is requesting them to submit to questioning, and that anything they say could be used against them if charges are brought up. Riker asks what they could be charged with, and she replies simply: " Treason . "

Act Two [ ]

Seven takes Jack into guest quarters; when he protests that he can handle himself, she replies that his father asked her to hide him, handing him a duffel bag. When he looks inside, he immediately refuses, but Seven tells him it would be better for him to hide in plain sight when the security officers come searching. Inside the bag is a Starfleet uniform.

In sickbay , Beverly and Dr. Ohk conduct the autopsy on the dead Changeling, still in the image of Ensign La Forge. Beverly asks the real La Forge to confirm for the record that the corpse is indeed not her; the sight of 'her' corpse causes La Forge to turn away and vomit onto the deck, which Beverly takes as a "yes" as she and Ohk turn back to their devices. Beverly reviews the facts: On death, most Changelings return to their liquid form, but this one remained in its most recent replicated form. She slices into the skin, which to her surprise begins to bleed. The Changeling body has no DNA whatsoever, and yet projects a blood-like plasma, which means it could fool the traditional blood screening . La Forge wonders what that could mean.

Picard wonders how Ro could be back in Starfleet, thinking that she should be in prison for what she did . Riker points out that it has been thirty years , and that the Maquis are no longer an enemy. Picard is not convinced, saying that she was sworn to protect the Federation from terrorists, but instead became one, and points out that the last time Riker saw her, she pulled a phaser on him. Riker reminds him that Ro has always been an outsider, and that Picard had indeed been the one to send her to infiltrate the Maquis, knowing full well that she would empathize with them. To Picard, however, empathy was one thing and betraying one's commanding officer was another; he is incensed that she is the one accusing them of treason. He is not convinced she will treat them justly; he had been the one to mentor her, to make a bond with her, and she had broken that bond.

Just then, Ro enters, and Riker advises Picard to let him do the talking. Ro explains that the Titan is under official security review, and most of the crew will be going to the Intrepid for reassignment. Riker notes the tone of her voice, that their guilt has already been predetermined. Ro replies that their cooperation will bear weight on their sentence. She elects to begin with Picard, and has the security officers escort Riker out. Riker holds them off, going of his own volition. After they leave the room, Picard questions how a lieutenant who betrayed Starfleet and her commanding officer got reinstated, but Ro ignores this, beginning her official questioning on Picard's deception to get aboard the Titan . Picard does not relent, asking how a traitor can pose as a Starfleet officer. Ro mentions the Changeling problem Shaw reported, drawing a knife from her boot and slicing her hand to show she is not one herself. Picard then notices her earring is missing, recalling that it was a symbol of her faith – or is she "turning [her] back on another institution?" Ro coldly tells him to save his animosity, as it is not entirely about him. " Let's talk about your son, " she says, and his glare of contempt only deepens.

In the guest quarters, Jack again hears his mother's voice echoing in his mind, telling him to "find" her, to "hear" her, to "connect" them. He then heads to the transporter room , where he is stopped by one of the security officers, asking if he has been ordered to beam aboard the Intrepid yet. Jack asks to be sent anywhere, as long as it's not a Starfleet ship. When he is denied, he draws a phaser and shoots the man down… or so he thinks. In actuality, he stares, almost haunted, at the man, who asks if he is alright. Shaken, Jack quietly leaves.

On M'talas Prime, Worf and Musiker are still waiting in the street when targeting lasers train onto them. Several armed individuals hold their weapons on them, as Krinn, a Vulcan with an IDIC pendant hanging around his neck, approaches. He tells them that a Vulcan master had once taught him that pride inevitably leads to downfall, and yet here they were. Sneed's death had showed him that pride also led to traps, but patience led to rewards. Worf tells them that they have the upper hand, and orders them all to yield their weapons. Krinn suddenly draws a phaser and shoots at Musiker, who suddenly vanishes, a mobile emitter falling to the ground. Krinn knew they had prepared for him, so he had prepared for them. He looks directly up into the real Musiker's gunsights, just as one of his men comes up from behind her.

Back on the Titan , the autopsy on the dead Changeling continues. Beverly has determined that the Changeling has somehow managed to completely replicate internal organs, which only revert to their natural liquid state under intense dissection. Ohk wonders if this is some kind of new species, but Beverly doesn't think so; she believes it to be evolution, which means they could be anywhere… or any one .

Ro asks Picard to tell her about Jack. Picard doesn't think he can do so, as he has only known him a few days, and wonders how it is relevant anyway. Just then, Beverly calls from sickbay, and Ro allows him to answer it. Tapping his combadge , Picard explains he is with Commander Ro, and Beverly replies that she has his test results. He asks her to send it up to him, before turning to Ro, explaining that he has a "private" medical issue. Picard goes over to a nearby terminal to receive Beverly's warning: These Changelings can fool blood screenings, and their capabilities are "beyond superficial", warning him again to trust no one. Turning back to Ro, he asks why she is so interested in Jack. Ro answers that perhaps it's because he is avoiding her questions about him, calling him "central" to the investigation. Picard, however, thinks it strange she is not so concerned about Vadic or the Shrike , thinking that the Ro he knew was more "thorough." Ro counters that perhaps he never knew her at all. He asks her to enlighten him, wondering how a defector "clawed" her way back into Starfleet. Ro explains that after years with the Maquis, she turned herself in to Starfleet, faced a court martial , and was imprisoned. But due to her experience with terrorist groups, she underwent an "arduous" rehabilitation program and joined Starfleet Intelligence, working her way up the ranks once again. He dismisses this as "mere facts," asking how she could become an enemy and betray her honor. " My honor? " she asks. " Or do you mean Starfleet's? " She dismisses the idea of blind faith in any institution making one "honorable," before asking what he knows about the Changeling onboard. Picard tells her he knows nothing, and that they killed it. She then asks to see the remains.

As the security officers search the ship for Jack, Picard leads Ro to sickbay, telling her that they should be alerted to their arrival. But Ro suddenly pulls a phaser, telling him there is a "change of plans," and has him step into the holodeck with her. Still set to 10 Forward Avenue , Ro locks the holodeck doors so no one else can enter. Stepping behind the bar, Picard disables the holodeck safety protocol . She tells him to keep his hands above the bar, and he agrees, "top shelf only." Ro considers the walls "a little thin" on the ship, and asks if the place has music; Picard enables the nearby jukebox , the sound of which causes Ro to turn… which allows Picard to draw a replicated phaser of his own. He reminds her that this was Guinan 's bar, asking if she remembered Guinan. She tells him to drop it, threatening to kill him, but Picard wants to know who she really is. Both believe the other may be compromised. Picard remembers that when Ro first came aboard the Enterprise , her earring was a violation of the uniform code. She had said it was for the family she had lost, but he now thought it was simply for her own ego. " An ego that led you to betray me, " he snaps at her in the Bajoran language . She notes his skill with the language has improved, and Picard tells her he has been rehearsing this conversation for thirty years. Ro tells him he has no idea what it was like living under his "relentless judgment," but Picard thinks they had a bond based on mutual respect, and he feels she betrayed everything he believed in. Ro accuses him of wanting to mold her in his image, and that his affection and mentorship had been conditional. She is offended that he would question her honor, saying she had joined the Maquis to stand up against injustice, even if that meant betraying Starfleet. That was who she was, but he had confused morality with duty, and that is his dishonor. He says he believed in her, but she counters that he only did so when it was easy for him; if he truly felt the way he claims, he would have understood. " You broke my heart, " he tells her. " And you broke mine, " she replies.

Both finally lower their phasers; Picard is convinced that their mutual pain proves who they truly are, before he asks why she's really here. Ro admits that Starfleet is compromised at its highest level. Addressing him as "Jean-Luc," she asks him if he trusts her. After a long moment, he finally nods, and says that he does.

Act Three [ ]

Krinn's men bring Worf and Musiker to their knees, as the Vulcan crime lord asks if they recognize the location. It was here that Worf killed Sneed, a man he considered a brother, as they grew up together in District Seven . Worf mentions that they both work for Starfleet Intelligence, and that Sneed was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocents, a fact Krinn is aware of. He also knows they figured out that Sneed was the Changeling's facilitator, and that Krinn himself helped arrange the break-in at Daystrom. Musiker admits she could never imagine a Vulcan being "dumb enough" to become a gangster, but Krinn thinks that no utopia could exist without crime, and therefore an organized crime syndicate is logical. His associates place a pair of knives in front of Worf and Musiker, the latter of whom recognizes that they expect the two of them to fight to the death. Krinn admits some of his associates think that the Klingon , by nature, has the upper hand and will kill a Human within thirty seconds, while others believe the inverse. " Let's settle the wager, " he says. Neither move to cooperate, to which Krinn gives them sixty seconds to begin combat, or they will both die. Worf quietly reminds her of what he had said about an enemy's aggression showing their weakness, and that he has sacrificed a great deal for this mission… and will now do so again. He tells her it has been an honor, before taking the blade and rising. Krinn notes that "Klingons seldom disappoint." Worf tells Musiker not to hold back, because he cannot. After a short and brutal duel, Musiker's blade is true, and he collapses to the ground. She is apologetic, but he tells her that she is a warrior, and that this is a worthy death, before collapsing onto the street.

Aboard the Titan , the security officers continue their search for Jack, but based on slight vocal cues, it is clear both are actually Changelings. In the holodeck, Ro explains her belief that Changelings have infiltrated Starfleet in all levels, replacing several key personnel, and she is convinced there are more on the Intrepid . She can't even trust the ship's captain, and had insisted on the shuttle because she couldn't trust the transporters. She then asks what he knows about the preparations for Frontier Day . Picard knows it was the anniversary of Starfleet, and that he is supposed to give a speech. Ro is worried that the security preparations are classified, even to her, and that the festivities are mere days away. There have been twelve separate incidents aboard multiple starships for the past several months, all being kept quiet. Picard wonders what this has to do with Jack. Ro admits she doesn't know, but Starfleet insisted she retrieve him, and his name has come up multiple times in Intelligence chatter. She also mentions the attack on the Starfleet recruitment center on M'talas Prime, using a portal weapon similar to that used by Vadic. He suggests going to Admiral Janeway or Chancellor Roll , even letting him try, but Ro reveals she has been stonewalled at every turn; all she has are a pair of intelligence assets on the ground she can trust, trying to link the theft of the portal weapon to something else the Changelings want, and that they are close, even as they speak.

On M'talas, Krinn finds the situation "most unexpected," before having one of his men check the body. The Vulcan kneels next to him and takes Worf's pulse, then shakes his head. Krinn had calculated that Worf had a ten-to-one chance of winning, before remarking on how the smell of Klingon blood sickens him, and has two of his associates take him away. Krinn then tells Musiker that she works for him now, and that he knows she has far more to lose – an ex-husband , a son , and a granddaughter. Musiker threatens to kill him before he would ever own her. " Would you care to wager on that? " he replies, just as the lights fade… and his men suddenly fall to the ground, knives in their chests. Worf suddenly appears behind Krinn, holding a blade to his throat. He has mastered what he calls the " Kahless technique " of slowing his heart rate to imperceptible levels; however, he has lost a great deal of blood, and is still losing a great deal more, and thus advises skipping to the interrogation. Krinn gambles on being needed alive, but Musiker warns him to factor in the impatience of a Klingon in dire need of medical attention. Krinn finally admits that he brokered for a device that allows one to exploit the flaws in Daystrom Station's AI security, and concedes that it would be logical to give the device to them.

Ro tells Picard that she has transferred most of the Titan 's crew to the Intrepid , leaving him with a skeleton crew, warning him to ensure they are loyal. She urges him to take the Titan and run. The two security officers searching for Jack catch up to her, having found she was in the holodeck but were unable to gain access. She tells them they are returning to the Intrepid . Quietly taking him aside, Ro places something into his hand, and admits that she wishes he could look into her heart and understand she did what she thought was best, and that for all the years since, she wishes they had known each other. With tears slipping down her cheeks, Ro says goodbye to Picard and quickly wipes her tears away before turning to the security officers. The security officers protest that they had been instructed to find Jack, but she says simply they are leaving. As he watches her leave, Picard looks at the item she handed him: her earring.

As Picard and Riker arrive on the bridge, Shaw remarks on how that was the "fastest court martial" he had ever seen, before Picard tells him that they have to take the ship and run, telling him what Ro had revealed about Starfleet, and the Intrepid , being compromised. Shaw immediately beckons security, but Riker belays that. Picard pleads with Shaw to trust him. The Intrepid shuttle begins to return to the ship. The Changeling security officers, realizing their deception has been discovered, set an explosive onto the deck of the shuttle, arm it, and transport back to the Titan , where they morph into members of her crew to continue the search for Jack. Ro tries to contact the Intrepid , but finds her comms to the ship are jammed. She hails the Titan , warning them of what has happened. Riker tells Seven to beam her out, but the signal is inhibited ; she has to get closer to the Titan . Riker urges her to turn back, but Ro doesn't have time to disarm it. She tells Picard to finish what she started. La Forge reports that the shuttle is moving away; Seven sees it heading for the Intrepid 's port nacelle. Picard begs Ro not to do it, but Ro answers that she is giving them what he gave her when they met all those years ago: a fighting chance. Picard asks her to forgive him, as he does truly see her now. Just then, the connection is lost, and the shuttle impacts with the nacelle, the explosion severely damaging it.

Picard has little time to grieve, however; the Intrepid raises shields and arms weapons. Seven reports they are instructing the Titan to surrender. Riker realizes they are being framed for attacking the Intrepid by the Changelings on board the ship.

Act Four [ ]

Riker urges Shaw that they need to run, but Shaw hesitates, not wanting his crew to become fugitives. Seven reminds him that most of the crew is on the Intrepid ; if they engaged, they'd be risking the crew anyway. Picard adds his voice, saying that if they did not flee, Ro will have died for nothing, and many more would follow. Riker knows Shaw may not trust them, but he urges his fellow captain to trust his own eyes. Shaw orders red alert , telling La Forge to take them away the second the warp core is online. Over the P.A., he sounds battle stations , having nonessential personnel return to quarters, and informing them that emergency order 7-6-2-Alpha is in effect: Starfleet has been compromised.

Meanwhile, the two security officers find Jack on deck 10, and call two of their fellows for support. They inform him they will place a transport beacon on him and take him into custody. Something in Jack kicks in, and he is able to swiftly disarm and eliminate all four of the Changeling agents. He again sees the red roots crawling across the corridor, and a red door at the end of it, before reality reasserts itself.

Shaw orders the helm to bring them about; Seven reports the Intrepid is giving them one final warning to surrender. The Intrepid 's torpedo bays are loaded and ready to fire. The warp core goes online, and Shaw gives the order to engage warp drive. The Intrepid fires a photon torpedo at each of the Titan 's warp nacelles, but the Titan jumps to warp just before they can connect. Riker knows the Changelings will be coming for them. Shaw wonders who exactly they would be coming for, and Riker grimly replies "everyone."

Accessing Ro Laren's secret files.

Picard sits alone in the conference room when Riker enters, offering his condolences, knowing what Ro had meant to him. Picard replies that Riker doesn't know; in fact, neither did Picard himself. He shows her Ro's earring, not sure why she had given it to him. Riker, however, does know, recognizing it as "old-school spycraft:" There is a data chip hidden in the earring, showing the entire course of her investigation, and showing that the infiltration reaches the upper levels of Starfleet Command. Just then, a transmission comes in through the earring, and both are astonished to see Worf on the other end; he is just as surprised to see them. He then wonders what happened to Ro.

In sickbay, Shaw is stunned to find four more Changelings on his ship, now dead, before complimenting Jack on his shooting. Beverly asks for a moment alone with Jack. After Shaw and Ohk leave, Beverly sees that Jack has not been sleeping. She remembers that there was a time when he was growing up that he was afraid to sleep, afraid of what he would see if he did. Jack doesn't remember having nightmares, but Beverly does, and knows he got through it; she believes he will get through what troubles him now, and urges him to talk to her about it. All the stress, meeting his father, the attempts on his life, are affecting him severely. She then notes the four dead Changelings, and wonders how he knew they were all Changelings. With tears in his eyes, Jack confesses he didn't, and confesses to his mother that he thinks something is very wrong with him.

Log entries [ ]

• Acting captain's log, USS Titan (NCC-80102-A)

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Oh, and um, as a courtesy, because of the harrowing ordeal that we all survived together, I'm going to step outside so the three of you can get your bullshit story straight. "

" You know, many a rebel from all reaches of the galaxy have found their way to Starfleet. Perhaps you might consider choosing a more honest vocation. " " Starfleet? Me? For such a brilliant man, you haven't really been paying much attention, have you? "

" You know, we have saved the galaxy more than a few times. " " And hopefully, they'll remember. " " Or they might remember that time that someone hot-dropped the saucer section of the Enterprise -D on a planet . Or that time that someone threw the Prime Directive out the window so they could snog a villager on Ba'ku . Or the time that you boys nearly wiped out all of Humanity by creating a time paradox in the Devron system. Basically, when it comes to rescues from danger, you two have a real chicken and egg thing happening. " " Those were the days… "

" Ro Laren. " " Captain Shaw, permission to come aboard? " " Permission granted. "

" How the hell is Ro Laren back in Starfleet? She should be in prison for what she did ! " " That was 30 years ago. The Maquis are no longer an enemy. "

" Your Bajoran has improved. " " Oh, I have been rehearsing this conversation for 30 years. " " You have no idea what it was like living under your relentless judgment. " " This wasn't about judgment. We had a bond based on mutual respect. Based on… you and I… " " You and I what? " " You betrayed everything I believed in. " " No. You wanted to mold me in your image. Your mentorship. Your affection. It was conditional. "

" You broke my heart. " " And you broke mine. "

" Never imagined a Vulcan being dumb enough to become a gangster. " " There can be no utopia without crime. Ergo, an organized criminal enterprise is logical. "

" Ro... " " I wish, just once… that you could look into my heart and understand that I only did what I thought was best. All these years that I wish you'd known me. And that I'd known you. Goodbye, Admiral. "

" Ro, don't do this! " " I'm giving you what you gave me all those years ago. A fighting chance. " " Ro, I… I do see you. Everything. Forgive me, it's only now. Ro? "

Background information [ ]

• 9 March 2022 : Title publicly revealed in TRR : " No Win Scenario " as "Impostor", and later revealed as "Imposter" in the trailer and as "Imposters" on Paramount Press Express . [1] [2]

Production [ ]

Cast and characters [ ].

• Michelle Forbes reprises her role of Ro Laren after last portraying the character on-screen in the penultimate episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation " Preemptive Strike " in 1994 . The events of that episode and her debut, " Ensign Ro ", are discussed heavily in this episode.

Continuity [ ]

• The USS Titan is shown being repaired by a number of very small craft. It's not clear if these are workbees or DOTs ; if the latter, it would mark the first appearance of them outside of Star Trek: Discovery or Star Trek: Short Treks .
• Shaw mentions the events of Star Trek Generations , Star Trek: Insurrection and the TNG finale " All Good Things... ".
• This is the second episode of the series to feature a stardate and establishes that Season 3 takes place in 2401 , nearly 37 years after the events of TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint " in 2364 .
• Beverly Crusher states that upon dying, a Changeling will revert back to its liquid form. However, the bodies of the Changelings that were seen to die in DS9 turned to ash instead. (" The Adversary ", " The Ship ")
• This episode marks the final appearance of the SS La Sirena on the series.
• The display showing USS Intrepid 's shields rising echoes the style of shield display previously seen on the USS Enterprise and USS Reliant in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan .

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
• Michelle Hurd as Raffaela Musiker / Raffaela Musiker (hologram)
• Ed Speleers as Jack Crusher

Special guest stars [ ]

• Michael Dorn as Worf
• Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren
• Jonathan Frakes as William T. Riker
• Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher

Guest starring [ ]

• Todd Stashwick as Liam Shaw
• Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut as Sidney La Forge / Sidney La Forge (Changeling)
• Kirk Acevedo as Krinn

Co-starring [ ]

• Stephanie Czajkowski as Lt. T'Veen
• Amy Earhart as Titan Computer
• Joseph Lee as Lt. Mura
• Grace Lee as La Sirena Computer
• Jin Maley as Ensign Esmar
• Tiffany Shepis as Dr. Ohk
• Hope Brown as Transport Officer
• Justin Dobies as Bridge Security Officer
• Alessandro Garcia as Intrepid Security Officer #1
• William Greenberg as Male Changeling Ensign
• John Pope as Young Ensign
• Tarina Pouncy as Intrepid Security Officer #2 (first form)

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• Vanessa Cater as Krinn's guard
• Thomas Dekker as Titus Rikka (file photo)
• Chris Derrick as Lurak T'Luco (file photo)
• Andrew Franklin as Changeling security officer #3
• Cina McKenna as Intrepid security officer #2 (second form)
• Phillip O'Riley as Vulcan thug
• Aaron Stanford as Sneed (file photo)
• Jason Sweat as Krinn's guard
• Intrepid comms officer (voice)
• Changeling security officer #4
• Titan -A Vulcan officer

Stunt doubles [ ]

• Alyma Dorsey as stunt double for Michelle Hurd
• Stunt double for Michael Dorn
• Stunt double for Ed Speleers

Stand-ins [ ]

• Margot Muraszkiewicz as stand-in for Jeri Ryan
• Sedríque as stand-in for Michael Dorn
• Thadeus Welch as stand-in for Patrick Stewart

References [ ]

acting captain's log ; admiral ; aggression ; AI ; alpha ; Alpha Quadrant ; Andorian ; Anij ; autopsy ; Bajoran ; Bajoran earring ; Bajoran language ; Bajoran springwine ; Ba'ku ; bar ; baston ; beheaded ; bioelectrical composition ; bleeding ; " blind faith "; blood ; blood-like plasma ; blood oath ; blood test ; body (aka corpse , remains ); bomb ; " broken heart "; brother ; captain ; Changeling ; "chicken and egg" thing ; chipper ; combadge ; command code ; commander ; conspiracy ; Constitution III -class ; conversation ; court martial ; crime (aka criminal activity ); Daystrom Station ; debriefing ; denial ; detection ; Devron system ; disruptor rifle ; dissection ; distraction ; District Six ; d'k tahg ; DNA ; Dominion War ; downfall ; drone ; Duderstadt -class ; ecology ; ego ; Emergency Order 7-6-2 alpha ; enemy ; Enterprise -D, USS ; epidermis ; evolution ; ex-husband ; " face the music "; facts ; family ; father ; Federation ; Federation space ; Ferengi ; Frontier Day ; gangster ; gatekeeper ; Gorkon ; grand theft ; granddaughter ; Guinan ; Haliian ; hand-to-hand combat ; handler ; head ; heart rate ; holodeck ; honor ; hours ; House of Musiker ; Human ; Hwang, Gabriel ; Hwang, Jae ; IDIC ; impostor ; inertial compensation system (aka ICS ); internal imaging chamber ; internal security systems ; interrogation ; Intrepid , USS ; Intrepid captain ; investigation ; Janeway, Kathryn ; judgment ; Kahless technique ; killing ; kingpin ; Klingon ; Krinn's Vulcan master ; kur'leth ; La Sirena , SS ; LCARS ; lieutenant commander ; liquid state ; loyalty ; Luna -class ; Maquis ; media ; medical issue ; meditation ; Milky Way Galaxy ; mobile emitter ; murder ; music ; mutual respect ; natural state ; nebula event ; nonessential crew ; organ ; Orion ; PADD ; pain ; physiology ; portal weapon ; pride ; Prime Directive ; prison ; pushback ; racketeering ; Raffi's granddaughter ; RCS thruster ; rehabilitation program ; reprieve ; restrains ; Roll ; sacrifice ; saucer section ; security officer ; security review ; Shrike ; sickbay ; " sir "; skeleton crew ; Sneed ; snog ; son ; species ; stardate ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Command ; Starfleet Intelligence ; Starfleet Recruiting ; Starfleet uniform ; terrorist ; thing ; time paradox ; Titan , USS ; Titan (NCC-80102), USS ; Titan (NCC-80102-A), USS ; top shelf ; transport inhibitor ; transporter ; transporter room ; trap ; treason ; Trill ; trust ; Type 14 shuttlecraft ; type 2 phaser ; type 3 phaser ; uniform dress code ; utopia ; Vadic ; Veridian III ; V'Lashi crime syndicate ; Vulcan ; Vulcan master ; wager ; walls ; warp core ; weakness ; years

LCARS references [ ]

2024 ; antimatter ; arrest record ; autopsy report ; battle bridge ; biomed ; black site ; breaking and entering ; Binar III ; bridge subprocessor ; Brunt ; chain of command ; communications ; conn ; connection ; control point ; Cole, James ; Croosh, Jeff ; Crusser, Juddah ; District Seven ; encryption ; Enterprise -F, USS ; Ferenginar ; holographic diode ; larceny ; Larell ; lateral array ; long-range sensor ; lower sensor array ; Luria ; magnetic containment field ; main computer core ; matter/antimatter intermix ratio ; medical department ; message ; mission-specific sensor ; Morn ; M'talas Prime ; navigational sensor ; ODN ; Okona, Thadiun ; Omega Sagitta system ; Odyssey -class ; ops ; optical data network ; Rachel Garrett statue ; recipient ; Renhia ; Rikka, Titus ; Romulus ; safety protocol ; sensor array ; science department ; Sneed ; spatial orientation system ; Starfleet Intelligence Record ; subspace receiver ; subcontractor ; tactical sensor ; Ten Forward, 2024 ; terrorism ; T'Luco, Lurak ; transport inhibitor ; transporter system ; upper sensor array ; Vulcan (planet); Vulcan Ministry of Justice

External links [ ]

• " Imposters " at the Internet Movie Database
• " Imposters " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Discovering Imposters " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• 3 Ancient humanoid