star trek picard q actor

John de Lancie Talks Reprising Q on ‘Star Trek: Picard’: ‘You Can Never Go Back’ (EXCLUSIVE)

By Adam B. Vary

Adam B. Vary

Senior Entertainment Writer

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When John de Lancie was first cast as Q on the pilot of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” his expectation was that he was only supposed to play the wily omnipotent being — who challenges Capt. Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) with proving humanity’s worthiness — for that single, two-part episode. But three days into shooting, “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry took de Lancie aside.

“He said to me, ‘You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into,'” de Lancie says. “And oh my god, was he right.”

De Lancie reprised his performance as Q on seven more episodes of “TNG,” including the series finale, when Q promised he would visit Picard again “from time to time.” Despite appearances as Q on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and “Star Trek: Voyager” (as well as a brief cameo on the animated series “Star Trek: Lower Decks”), however, Q never did drop in on Picard for another verbal tête-à-tête.

That is, until Monday’s announcement that de Lancie would return as Q in Season 2 of the Paramount Plus series “ Star Trek: Picard ,” which will premiere in 2022.

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A prolific character actor in TV, film and theater, de Lancie’s played everything from “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic” as the voice of the villain Discord to “Breaking Bad” as Donald Margolis, the distraught father of the heroin-addicted Jane (Krysten Ritter).

But for many, Q is de Lancie’s signature role. His episodes of “TNG” remain some of the most beloved in the series’ seven-season run from 1987 to 1994, and the news that he would be playing the role again lit up Trekkie Twitter in celebration. In this exclusive conversation with Variety , de Lancie explains his reaction to the news that he was being invited to return to “the dinner party,” as he puts it — and his reservations about reprising a character he hasn’t played since 2001.

When “Star Trek: Picard” was first announced, did that cause you to wonder, “Oh, what if Q could come back?”

Well, it’s interesting. Terry [Matalas], one of the executive producers, when I met with him, he said, “Oh, of course, you knew you were going to be coming back.” And I said, “You know what, Terry, ‘Star Trek’ has done a lot of movies and other shows without me. So I did not assume that that was going to be the case.” I just sort of discipline myself as a professional over the years to go, “look, it’s somebody else’s dinner party. You cannot spend your time worrying about whether you’re getting invited. Just take it off the radar. You get invited or you don’t get invited, that’s all.”

So when were you first invited back to this dinner party?

Well, I want to say, six months ago. This whole COVID year has been disjointed, but it was after their first season.

How did that feel to know that they were interested in bringing Q back?

You know, it was, and is, a little bit of a mixed bag. One of the issues that I have is you don’t want to fall into the trap of re -creating. I was obviously a little concerned — very concerned — about the issues having to do with, well, excuse me, this is 20 years later. I’m supposed to be immortal and I certainly look very mortal. There were issues about all of that. I was flattered. Of course, I said yes. I didn’t have to think about that part. And then I wondered, where are they going to go with this?

Did the producers talk with you at that point about what was planned for Q, or was this more of a mystery to you?

There was generalized talk, which intrigued me. One of the things that’s sort of unusual, having played a character that has had such a long history — I’ve only done, I think, nine episodes [of “Star Trek”], between the three shows. [ Editor’s note: It’s been 12. ] I’ve always thought of it as being kind of a diamond in the rough, and having new facets of that stone that’s going to be cut. So here it is, many years later, we’re still cutting that stone. There will be elements of that stone which have already been cut, and they will simply need to be burnished up. And then there will be elements of this stone that will be newly cut, for which there will be people who go, “Oh I always thought you would go in that direction,” and then others, “Oh, I like him the way he was before!”

It solved one major problem for me, and that is I feel very strongly about the whole thing of, you can never go back. Dare I say, how often have we gone back to meet with old girlfriends or boyfriends or what have you and you go, “Oh, I think it would have been better just keeping this in my imagination!” Here, we are not, in fact, going back. We are taking what we have and we are moving forward. And to me, that’s exciting.

Have you shot anything yet?

How did it feel to act against patrick stewart again.

It was fun. My own issues have always been the same. I have to put in a lot of homework because I’m very dyslexic and I just have to work really hard to get all of that into RAM, as it were. And then once that’s done, I’m there to play . And so it was just fun. That type of preparation has paid off and you’re just ready to rock and roll.

Did you pay any attention to the way that the announcement of your return was received?

I saw the little trailer, which I thought was really well done, where there’s a playing card that disappears and then you just see the Q. I felt that that was very befitting this character. This is thin ice for all of us: There are expectations . In the case of that little announcement, I thought they exceeded expectations on that. It was a really nice little morsel of, “Here he comes!”

“Star Trek” fans are notoriously picky, but I have not seen negative reactions to Q’s return — it’s been quite enthusiastically received. How does it feel to have people be so interested in seeing you continue to play this role?

Well, as you were saying that just now, what I felt was mostly was, Oh shit . [ Laughs ] The pressure is on! That’s how I feel about it. I find that to be a challenge. I hope that I can match it. I hope that we all can match it, and more to the point, exceed it. [ Laughs ] This is one of the reasons I stay away from all this stuff. I kind of just have to stay in the world of what can be done, and what cannot be done, and not to get too pressurized in all this.

One common reaction I’ve seen is people saying, “oh, thank god, I can feel good about the letter Q again.” Obviously, in the last few years, the letter Q has taken on a much different connotation with the rise of the QAnon conspiracy cult. How strange has that been for you, given how identified you’ve been with the role?

[ Sighs ] I’m really grateful for that character that I played — and I have become protective of that, of what Q means and all that. Certainly with this other thing, I’ve chosen not to dumpster dive into it. I don’t want to bring those two elements together in any way whatsoever. There’s a part of Q that I’m playing that is frankly more real and more positive and more life-affirming than the [ pause ] ridiculousness that I hear about this other stuff.

Since we’re talking about reprising one of your most memorable roles, I did want to ask — given that “Better Call Saul” is a prequel series for “Breaking Bad,” have you ever wondered if Donald Margolis would pop up on that show?

I would have loved for that character to have continued. Through my career, I was always hired to play the very aggressive, wordsmith-y sort of character, which ironically is difficult for me because I just tend to work seemingly twice as hard as anybody else. That character allowed me to just relax a little bit, and to just feel , as opposed to trying to dominate or bulldoze. But again, you brought it up and I appreciate it and I take it as a compliment, but I just don’t think about it ever. I just can’t.

Let me just tell you, it’s very interesting what different characters can do for somebody. In this case, just imagine a 22-year-old, shy, kind of strung out kid who comes up to me and says, “Hey, are you Jane’s father?” And I go, “Uh yeah.” And he’s looking at me kind of askance, and he goes, “Yeah, well, now I guess I know what my parents went through.”

I’m sure his parents did everything to try to keep him from, you know — “Please, you can’t keep on doing this, you’re going to ruin your life.” And he couldn’t hear any of it, but he could be affected when he saw it in a story. So I’m really happy to have played that role.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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Published Apr 5, 2021

Q Returns to Star Trek: Picard

Catch up on this, and other announcements from First Contact Day inside!

StarTrek.com

Paramount+ today revealed a first look at season two of its hit original series Star Trek: Picard with an all-new teaser trailer. The teaser trailer was introduced by series star Patrick Stewart at the top of today’s First Contact Day virtual global panels, which also revealed that season two will premiere in 2022. Actor John de Lancie made a surprise appearance during the panel, confirming that he will appear in season two of Star Trek: Picard as his iconic Star Trek character, Q.

Teaser Trailer | Star Trek: Picard - Season 2

The free First Contact Day virtual panels will be available to view on-demand on Paramount+’s YouTube Channel and on Paramount+ in the U.S., following their initial airing on StarTrek.com/FirstContact today from 12:00-2:45 PM, PT/3:00-5:45 PM, ET.

Star Trek: Picard features Patrick Stewart reprising his iconic role as Jean-Luc Picard, which he played for seven seasons on Star Trek: The Next Generation , and follows this iconic character into the next chapter of his life. The series is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. For season two, Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman, Terry Matalas, Michael Chabon, Doug Aarniokoski, Dylan Massin, Patrick Stewart, Heather Kadin, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth serve as executive producers; Aaron Baiers (Secret Hideout) and Kirsten Beyer serve as co-executive producers. Akiva Goldsman and Terry Matalas serve as co-showrunners for season two.

Star Trek: Picard season two cast members include Patrick Stewart, Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera, Jeri Ryan, Orla Brady and Brent Spiner.

Star Trek: Picard streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and is distributed concurrently by ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories and in Canada, airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.

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One of the things that’s sort of unusual, having played a character that has had such a long history… I’ve always thought of it as being kind of a diamond in the rough, and having new facets of that stone that’s going to be cut. So here it is, many years later, we’re still cutting that stone. There will be elements of that stone which have already been cut, and they will simply need to be burnished up. And then there will be elements of this stone that will be newly cut, for which there will be people who go, “Oh I always thought you would go in that direction,” and then others, “Oh, I like him the way he was before!” It solved one major problem for me, and that is I feel very strongly about the whole thing of, you can never go back…. Here, we are not, in fact, going back. We are taking what we have and we are moving forward. And to me, that’s exciting.

Already at work on  Picard Season 2, de Lancie also shared his thoughts about getting to work with Patrick Stewart again — the last time Q and Picard interacted was in the 1994  Next Generation series finale “All Good Things…,” so this makes a 27-year reunion for the two actors.

I have [been filming]. It was fun. My own issues have always been the same. I have to put in a lot of homework because I’m very dyslexic and I just have to work really hard to get all of that into RAM, as it were. And then once that’s done, I’m there to play. And so it was just fun. That type of preparation has paid off and you’re just ready to rock and roll.

Finally, the actor shared his feelings about the fan response to Q’s return to  Star Trek  after all these years.

This is thin ice for all of us: There are expectations. In the case of that little announcement, I thought they exceeded expectations on that. It was a really nice little morsel of, “Here he comes!” What I felt was mostly was, ‘Oh shit!’ [Laughs] The pressure is on! That’s how I feel about it. I find that to be a challenge. I hope that I can match it. I hope that we all can match it, and more to the point, exceed it.

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 is in production now, and is expected to debut sometime in 2022.

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John de Lancie

• View history

For "Qpid", he filmed his scenes between Wednesday 6 February 1991 and Thursday 7 February 1991 and Tuesday 12 February 1991 and Friday 15 February 1991 on Paramount Stage 8 , 9 , and 16 and on the location shooting at the Descanso Gardens .

In 1996 , de Lancie co-founded Alien Voices with Leonard Nimoy and writer-producer Nat Segaloff. The audio production company/troupe produced several sci-fi audio productions (including the two Spock Vs. Q audios), as well as a few televised specials for the Sci-Fi Channel , which co-starred Nimoy, de Lancie, and several other Star Trek alumni.

In 2008 and 2010 , de Lancie and Robert Picardo co-hosted " Star Trek: The Music ," a concert covering the music of all the Star Trek eras.

• 1.1 Appearances as Q
• 2 Personal information
• 3.6 InAlienable (aka Illegal Alien )
• 4 Weakest Link
• 5 Other Trek connections
• 6 Bibliography
• 7 Star Trek interviews
• 8 External links

Star Trek appearances [ ]

As First of Four in the video game Star Trek: Borg

Appearances as Q [ ]

• " Encounter at Farpoint " ( Season 1 )
• " Hide And Q "
• " Q Who " ( Season 2 )
• " Deja Q " ( Season 3 )
• " Qpid " ( Season 4 )
• " True Q " ( Season 6 )
• " Tapestry "
• " All Good Things... " ( Season 7 )
• DS9 : " Q-Less " ( Season 1 )
• " Death Wish " ( Season 2 )
• " The Q and the Grey " ( Season 3 )
• " Q2 " ( Season 7 )
• LD : " Veritas " (voice) ( Season 1 )
• " The Star Gazer " ( Season 2 )
• " Penance "
• " Assimilation "
• " Watcher "
• " Fly Me to the Moon "
• " Two of One " (archive footage; uncredited)
• " Farewell "
• " The Last Generation " (uncredited) ( Season 3 )

Personal information [ ]

de Lancie and Marnie Mosiman in 1991

Born John Sherwood de Lancie, Jr. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 20 March 1948 , he was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child and, as such, did not learn to read until he was 12. [2] Despite this affliction, he began to act at the age of 14, performing in a high school production of William Shakespeare's Henry V .

He went on to study acting at Kent State University (he was in attendance during the Kent State shootings on 4 May 1970) and won a scholarship at Julliard. He has performed in numerous stage productions, participating at such engagements as the American Shakespeare Festival and the Mark Taper Forum, as well as establishing a successful career in film and television.

On 20 March 1984 (on de Lancie's birthday), de Lancie married to Marnie Mosiman , who appeared in the Next Generation episode "" Loud As A Whisper "." They have two sons: Keegan de Lancie , the oldest, portrayed Q's son Q Junior in the Voyager episode " Q2 "; Owen de Lancie, their youngest, portrayed Q's son in Star Trek World Tour .

Coincidentally, de Lancie is a long-time friend of Kate Mulgrew , who portrayed Kathryn Janeway in Voyager .

Acting career [ ]

de Lancie got off to a busy start following his television debut in Captains and the Kings , which also featured Cliff DeYoung , Kermit Murdock , Bill Quinn , and Richard Herd . The following year, he was seen in SST: Death Flight with Barbara Anderson , Brock Peters , Robert Ito , and Richard Derr and The Man with the Power with Persis Khambatta , Noél De Souza , James Ingersoll , Tim O'Connor , Roger Perry , and Jason Wingreen . That same year, he had a role in Testimony of Two Men with Theodore Bikel , Jeff Corey , Logan Ramsey , and TOS star William Shatner . de Lancie later co-starred with Shatner in The Bastard (also starring Kim Cattrall , John Colicos , William Daniels , Ike Eisenmann , James Gregory , and Alex Henteloff ) and Little Women (with William Schallert and Logan Ramsey). Also in 1978, de Lancie and Marc Alaimo appeared as divers in the Six Million Dollar Man television special Sharks , produced by Fred Freiberger and Harve Bennett and co-written by Freiberger.

Besides a number of other television films and miniseries, de Lancie also made appearances in various television series, including an episode of Battlestar Galactica (with Ken Lynch , Nehemiah Persoff , and Logan Ramsey) and various episodes of Emergency (with Kevin Tighe ). This ultimately culminated in his major motion picture debut, appearing as a police lieutenant in The Onion Field (co-starring fellow Star Trek alumni Phillip Richard Allen , K Callan , Ronny Cox , Richard Herd, Christopher Lloyd , Michael Pataki , and John Savage ).

de Lancie's next film appearance occurred the following year in Loving Couples , starring Stephen Collins and Sally Kellerman . He also found himself working on Scruples , co-starring fellow Trek performers Kim Cattrall, Paul Carr , Walker Edmiston , Gary Graham , John Hancock , and Bill Quinn.

He starred in a series pilot entitled Nightside , but the pilot was not sold; this project co-starred Larry Cedar and Vincent Schiavelli . de Lancie later took a role in The Thorn Birds ; his many co-stars in this program included Philip Anglim , Antoinette Bower (portraying a relative of de Lancie's character), Brett Cullen , Richard Kiley , Christopher Plummer , Jean Simmons , and Meg Wyllie .

From 1982 through 1986 and again in 1989, de Lancie starred as Eugene Bradford in Days of Our Lives . For his work on this series, he won two Soap Opera Digest Awards, one in 1984 and another in 1985, and was nominated for a third in 1986. Afterward, de Lancie was cast as a regular on a CBS sitcom called Trial and Error , but this series was cancelled after only eight episodes, premiering in March of 1988. Between these projects, he returned to guest-starring on other TV shows, including a 1986 episode of The Twilight Zone , in a segment co-starring Jimmie F. Skaggs , James Lashly , and Brent Spiner . de Lancie and Spiner would work with each other again on Star Trek: The Next Generation , beginning the following year.

de Lancie continued expanding his resume throughout the 1990s, including roles in several popular films. He and his TNG co-star Gates McFadden appeared together in Taking Care of Business . The following year, de Lancie appeared briefly as a television executive near the end of The Fisher King . In 1992, he appeared as a doctor in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (starring Matt McCoy and Charles Lucia ) and in 1993, he appeared in the psychological drama Fearless (also featuring Steven Culp , Stephanie Erb , Eric Menyuk , and John Towey ). He then starred in Evolver , portraying the creator of the title robotic menace.

On television, he made guest appearances in such television series as L.A. Law (working with Corbin Bernsen , Larry Drake , Diana Muldaur , and Charles Napier ), The Young Riders (with his TNG / DS9 co-star Jennifer Hetrick and Anthony Zerbe ), and Matlock (in a 1993 episode with Daniel Roebuck ). He also voiced Eagleton in two episodes of Batman: The Animated Series , one which also featured the voices of Loren Lester and Paul Winfield and another with the voice of L.A. Law co-star Diana Muldaur.

After TNG ended in 1994 , de Lancie was cast as a regular in Legend , created by Michael Piller and Bill Dial and co-starring Richard Dean Anderson of MacGyver and Stargate SG-1 fame (de Lancie had previously appeared on an episode of MacGyver and went on to appear on Stargate SG-1 ). Katherine Moffat , Stephanie Beacham , Douglas Rowe , and Terry Jackson also appeared in the pilot episode with de Lancie. However, the series lasted only 12 episodes, airing from April through August 1995.

Aside from a supporting role in Multiplicity (co-starring Ann Cusack , George D. Wallace, and Harris Yulin ) and an uncredited voice-over role in Saving Private Ryan , the remainder of de Lancie's screen acting credits throughout the 1990s were in television. He made guest appearances on Murder One (with Daniel Benzali , Barbara Bosson , Roy Brocksmith , Juliana Donald , John Fleck , and John Carroll Lynch ), Picket Fences (with Louise Fletcher and Ray Walston ), Dave's World (with Bruce McGill ), and appeared in two episodes of Fired Up , which was executive produced by Kelsey Grammer . He also starred in a number of made-for-television films, including 1997's Final Descent (with Gwynyth Walsh ) and its 1999 sequel Final Run .

Off-screen, de Lancie lent his voice to Interstate '76 , voicing Antonio Malochio.

In the year 2000, de Lancie starred in an episode of The Outer Limits with series regular Kevin Conway , who portrayed the infamous Control Voice, and was further featured in an episode of UPN's Secret Agent Man with series regular Dina Meyer . In 2001, he portrayed Colonel Frank Simmons in several episodes of Stargate SG-1 during the series' fifth season; he also appeared in an episode of the sixth season the following year. He appeared in two episodes of Gene Roddenberry 's Andromeda and later portrayed Odin in several episodes of Charmed (working with Elizabeth Dennehy , Maury Sterling , and Joel Swetow ).

He made guest appearances on such shows as The West Wing , Special Unit 2 , The Guardian (starring Raphael Sbarge , in an episode with Vaughn Armstrong ), NYPD Blue (starring Gordon Clapp ), Without a Trace (starring Enrique Murciano , in an episode with Tracy Middendorf ), and Shark (starring Jeri Ryan , in an episode with Ivar Brogger and Michael Buchman Silver ). His recent television credits have included recurring roles on The Unit (which starred Abby Brammell and on which de Lancie and Ann Cusack played a married couple), the acclaimed AMC Network drama Breaking Bad which also guest-starred Mark Margolis (including an episode with Jonathan Banks ), and the comic drama Greek .

On film, de Lancie had supporting roles in two romantic comedies: 2000's Woman on Top (with Anne Elizabeth Ramsay ) and 2001's Good Advice . In 2004, he worked with George Takei and Tucker Smallwood in The Eavesdropper . He was also seen in Reign Over Me , which also featured Jonathan Banks . In 2008, de Lancie was seen in such films as Pathology (with Larry Drake and Sam Witwer ), Quality Time (with Gail Strickland , Rif Hutton , Mary Elizabeth McGlynn , and Jeanette Miller ), and the independent film You (with Jerry Hardin , Amy Pietz , and Brenda Strong ).

In 2009, he appeared as a sardonic, atypical newscaster in Crank: High Voltage , which co-starred Clifton Collins, Jr. , Keone Young , Menina Fortunato , Nicole Randall , Jimmy Ortega , Henry Hayashi , and Spice Williams . He later had a role in Gamer . He also voiced Santa Claus in Elf Sparkle Meets Christmas the Horse , which also featured the voices of Pamelyn Ferdin and Richard Chaves . He had also filmed a role in the science fiction thriller Recreator .

In 2011, de Lancie appeared in Torchwood: Miracle Day , the fourth season of the Doctor Who spin-off series, Torchwood as Allen Shapiro . Nana Visitor also appeared in the series, and Jane Espenson and John Shiban wrote some of the episodes; de Lancie appeared in the last three. [3] In 2011, de Lancie also appeared in the drama-comedy television series Franklin and Bash , along with Clayton Landey , Robert Pine , Jason Alexander , Geoffrey Blake , Patrick Fischler , David Gautreaux , J. Patrick McCormack , Mark L. Taylor , Ivar Brogger , Gates McFadden and Malcolm McDowell . He currently plays the Q-inspired near-omnipotent trickster Discord , a recurring antihero in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic , starting with the character's introduction in the two-part Season 2 episode "The Return of Harmony" [4] . He later tweeted , comparing the My Little Pony fanbase (known as Bronies) to that of Star Trek .

de Lancie lent his voice to several video games during this decade; in 2012, he portrayed Professor Fitz Quadwrangle in Quantum Conundrum . He also provided the voice of Assassin leader William Miles, father of protagonist Desmond Miles - voiced by Nolan North - in the fourth and fifth Assassin's Creed games, Assassin's Creed: Revelations , and Assassin's Creed III ( Roger Aaron Brown and Robin Atkin Downes also appeared in the games, but de Lancie did not share any scenes with them).

In 2015, he portrayed a demon in the episode "And the Infernal Contract" from The Librarians , directed by Jonathan Frakes , and starred in the film Visions alongside Anson Mount and Gillian Jacobs .

InAlienable (aka Illegal Alien ) [ ]

In 2003, de Lancie was attached to star in a science fiction film called Illegal Alien , executive produced and written by TOS star Walter Koenig . The film would have co-starred Koenig and Robert Picardo . [5] (X) [6] As time went on, however, de Lancie became unhappy with the changes being made to the film and dropped out. (Picardo also had to drop out due to another commitment.) The film was re-named InAlienable and was released in 2008 with such Trek performers as Marina Sirtis , J.G. Hertzler , Patricia Tallman , Courtney Peldon and Gary Graham . [7]

Weakest Link [ ]

In 2001, de Lancie participated in the Star Trek edition of the game show Weakest Link along with LeVar Burton , Denise Crosby , Roxann Dawson , Robert Picardo , William Shatner , Armin Shimerman , and Wil Wheaton . De Lancie was the first contestant eliminated with Anne Robinson saying to him " John, I am afraid that's your Q to leave ".

Other Trek connections [ ]

• McMillan & Wife episode "Affair of the Heart" (1977) with Barbara Babcock, John Schuck, and Jason Wingreen
• Emergency: Survival on Charter #220 (1978 TV movie) with Jason Evers, Vince Howard, and Kevin Tighe
• The Six Million Dollar Man episode "Just A Matter of Time" (1978) with Paul Carr
• Black Beauty (1978 mini-series) with Edward Laurence Albert, Ike Eisenmann, Diana Muldaur, and Brock Peters
• Barnaby Jones episode "Terror on a Quiet Afternoon" (1978) with Lee Meriwether
• Nero Wolfe episode "Might as Well Be Dead" (1981) with Bruce Gray and Allan Miller
• It's a Living episode "The Wedding" (1981) with Bert Remsen and Wendy Schaal
• Murder, She Wrote episode "If The Frame Fits" (1986) with Norman Lloyd and directed by Paul Lynch
• On Fire (1987 TV movie) with Bill Erwin
• Hooperman episode "High Noon" (1988) with Barbara Bosson
• Christine Cromwell: Things That Go Bump in the Night (1989 TV movie) with James Cromwell and Ellen Albertini Dow
• Get Smart, Again! (1989 TV movie) with Cecily Adams , Stanley Adams , and Kenneth Mars
• Angel of Death (1990 TV movie) with Brian Bonsall and Ray Walston
• Missing Pieces (1991 film) with Bob Gunton
• Arcade (1993 direct-to-video movie) with Don Stark
• Schemes (1994 direct-to-video movie) with John Glover and George D. Wallace
• Without Warning (1994 TV movie) with Ron Canada and Marnie McPhail
• Raven Hawk (1996 TV movie) with John Fleck and Ed Lauter
• Spy Game episode "And That Concludes Our Session" (1997) with Keith Szarabajka
• You Lucky Dog (1998 TV movie) with James Avery
• Border Line (1999 TV movie) with Michelle C. Bonilla , Len Cariou , Josh Cruze , Christopher Michael , and Mikael Salazar
• The Practice episode "Payback" (2001) with Diane DiLascio and Jeremy Roberts
• Crossing Jordan episode "Payback" (2002) with Susan Gibney
• Judging Amy episode "Picture of Perfect" (2003) with Miriam Flynn
• The Closer episode "Flashpoint" (2005) with Ellen Bry and Raymond Cruz
• Breaking Bad 4 episodes (2009-2010) with Raymond Cruz , Mark Margolis , and Jonathan Banks

Bibliography [ ]

• " The Gift ", 1990
• I, Q , 2000 – Co-author with Peter David
• Star Trek: The Visual Dictionary , 2013 – Foreword

Star Trek interviews [ ]

• TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Beginning"
• TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis" ("Character Notes")
• TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Two: Memorable Missions" (" Loud As A Whisper "), interviewed on 27 August 1991
• TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Three" ("Visual Effects " Deja Q ""), interviewed on 21 August 1991
• TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Four", interviewed on 21 August 1991
• TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "A Tribute to Gene Roddenberry " ("Gene Roddenberry Building Dedicated to Star Trek's Creator"), interviewed on 19 March 2002
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Special Profiles Year Seven" ("Q"), interviewed on 19 March 2002
• The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 2 , pp. 4-7, "John de Lancie - Q", interviewed by Edward Gross
• The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine , Vol. 3, p. 48, "The Encore of Q", interviewed by Edward Gross
• All Good Things Blu-ray special feature The Unknown Possibilities of Existence: Making "All Good Things" ( 2014 )
• " To Boldly Ask... John de Lancie " video interview with Ian Spelling (20 October 2022)

External links [ ]

• John de Lancie at Wikipedia
• John de Lancie at X (formerly Twitter)
• John de Lancie at the Internet Movie Database
• John de Lancie at Battlestar Wiki
• 2009 interview with John de Lancie at AMCtv.com
• 2012 interview with John de Lancie at TrekCore
• John de Lancie at SF-Encyclopedia.com
• John de Lancie at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• John de Lancie at StarTrek.com
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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‘picard’ star john de lancie had single question before returning to ‘star trek’ as q.

The highly anticipated Paramount+ series once again beamed down Thursday with some familiar faces from 'The Next Generation.'

By Ryan Parker

Ryan Parker

Former Senior Reporter

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Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry told John de Lancie during production of The Next Generation pilot “Encounter at Farpoint” that the actor had no idea what he was getting himself into with joining the franchise. Thirty-five years later, de Lancie can’t help but chuckle at the accuracy of the statement.

Star Trek: Picard once again beamed down Thursday with the premiere episode of the second season, “The Star Gazer” arriving on Paramount+. And fans were treated to some familiar faces from TNG , including Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan and de Lancie back in his iconic role of the troublesome all-powerful, extradimensional being, Q.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter prior to the premiere, de Lancie admitted he was as shocked as anyone when the request came for him to once again reprise Q,  one of Star Trek ‘s most popular antagonists.

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“I did [the TNG series finale] ‘All Good Things,’ and then they went off to do some movies. No one asked, no one called,” de Lancie begins. “It is not as if I was expecting it or waiting for it. As I have said in the past, I don’t spend too much time worrying about if I am going to be invited to someone’s dinner party, so I put it out of my mind. And then one day, my agent called and said, ‘They would like to have you on Picard and want you to go over to Paramount for a chat.'”

The actor’s mind began to swirl with what he called “infinite possibilities,” knowing better than anyone that a storyline involving Q had zero barriers. So, de Lancie took the meeting and shortly thereafter found himself across from Picard showrunner Terry Matalas. Their talk began with a single query from the actor, whose costume as Q in TNG was a bit of a monstrosity.

“I said, ‘I just have a preliminary question: You’re not putting me in tights again, are you?'” de Lancie says. “And Terry goes, ‘Oh, no, no, no.’ I said, ‘OK. We can proceed.'” Of course, the actor had several more questions about how his character would be handled and was impressed by everything he heard.

“I asked how they were going to deal with the age and that type of stuff. And Terry said, ‘We will [make it happen] and more importantly, we want you how you are now,'” de Lancie says. “He explained to me how the story arch would go, and I said, ‘That sounds great.'”

The first day of production was electrifying for de Lancie. He and star Patrick Stewart had crossed paths a number of times since the TNG finale, which aired in May 1994. But now they were back in front of cameras; once again their iconic sci-fi characters playing a mental game of chess with the fate of the galaxy in the balance

Simply put, de Lancie says, “It was fun,” before expanding. “We shot outside at a winery. They rolled cameras, and then they cut. And unbeknownst to me, Terry had come up from the studio to see that first shot. And he threw his hands up and said, ‘The magic!'”

As far as what fans should expect in the way of Q returning for Picard , de Lancie shares no spoilers as he pulls back the curtain a touch in order to manage expectations. “When I was on TNG , they were Q episodes. Here, I am more of a catalyst,” the actor explains. “I do six out of 10 episodes. I did have to readjust because I thought it would be like before, wall-to-wall words with just me and Patrick. And when I got there, I realized that just cannot be the case. I tried to get an overview and not just an egocentric view of it. And I said, ‘This makes sense. I am getting the ball rolling.'”

All that said, de Lancie cannot wait for audiences to experience the second season of Picard , noting Star Trek fans are like the franchise’s stories: unique.

“These are people who have watched the show, and they come back and want to talk about it. So I have gotten to understand the show from their point of view really well,” de Lancie said of fans’ investment in the material and characters. “And Star Trek storytelling is important. In the end, it has to be about something that is meaningful and deep and has social relevance. That is the essence of Star Trek . And as long as we always have that, we will always have our audience.”

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Yep, The Picard Finale Has A Credits Scene, And We Need To Talk About It

This post contains  spoilers for the series finale of "Star Trek: Picard."

The third season of "Star Trek: Picard" was long ago declared to be its last . Lead actor Patrick Stewart is hanging up his communicator and the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" will finally split up for good. The final season of "Picard" largely served as their encore, a late-in-life reunion that allowed the character to have a few conversations — and to be in utter peril — one last time. It seems the Next Generation is no longer their generation. 

Indeed, "Picard" ends with a Next Generation of its own. Flashing forward to a year after the season's climactic Borg battle, a new crew has been assembled. Sidney La Forge (Ashlei Sharp Chestnut), the daughter of Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), is already sitting at the helm of the U.S.S. Titan-A. Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), the son of Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden), has passed through Starfleet (in only one year!) and will sit as the special counselor to the captain of the Titan. The captain, incidentally, is Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and her first officer will be Raffi (Michelle Hurd), her one-time girlfriend. This is "Star Trek: The Next, Next Generation."

Also, to assure that legacy is on everyone's mind, the U.S.S. Titan is, at the last minute, rechristened the U.S.S. Enterprise-G (it seems that the Enterprise-F was wiped out quickly). Jack will begin his career on the namesake ship of his father's two most famous commands. 

With the circumstances so arranged, naturally, the showrunners decided to fold in one last notable guest star to link everything back to NextGen. In a mid-credits scene, the presumed-dead trickster god Q ( John de Lancie ), alive again, appears to Jack.

The trial never ended

Q died during the finale of the second season of "Star Trek: Picard." So how can he be back to wreak inconvenience on Jack Crusher? Seeing as he is an omnipotent being that lives beyond the normal laws of time and space, there's no reason why he couldn't have lived another several billion years, only to return to the time when Jean-Luc Picard was alive to bid him farewell. He explains to Jack that humans think in linear terms and that his death was not to be taken as permanent. 

Jack tells Q that he knows all about his appearances to Jean-Luc, and how Q infamously put humanity on trial for their aggression and brutality. Q first appeared in the "Next Generation" pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint" (September 28, 1987) dressed as a post-apocalyptic judge in control of his own kangaroo court. In the show's final episode, "All Good Things..." (May 23, 1994), Q declared that the trial never ended and that Picard, through his own witlessness, will accidentally destroy humanity. It wasn't until Picard could understand the real existence of paradoxes that humanity began to show a glimmer of promise. Q withdrew, having proven his point.

Q would return a few times on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager," and would close out his story in "Picard," hugging Jean-Luc in a bizarrely sentimental farewell. It seemed that his infinite lifecycle came to an end.

But, as audiences now see, the trial seemingly continues in perpetuity. Q says to Jack that his own trial is just starting. Picard's progeny now bears the responsibility of proving humanity's worthiness to continue existing. 

What does it mean?

Audiences have long been trained to accept mid-credits teasers as previews for an upcoming film or TV series; we have the Marvel Cinematic Universe to thank for that. As such, the appearance of Q might serve as a miniature pilot for another new "Star Trek" TV series. Showrunner Terry Matalas has even said that he would love to make a series called "Star Trek: Legacy," which would presumably be about life on the Enterprise-G with a young ensign Crusher and Captain Seven seeking out new life and new civilizations. 

With a new Enterprise, a new crew, and a godlike antagonist, it seems that we're exactly back to where we were in 1987 with the launch of "Next Generation." Only this time, a whole season of television presaged it, establishing characters and scenarios the way a pilot episode might. The groundwork has been laid. It seems all Matalas needs is a green light. 

As for reusing the "Next Generation" premise of a Picard standing in as humanity's avatar while Q puts our species on trial, I have no problem. Repeating an idea may be cheap from a writerly perspective, but it makes logical sense given Q's nature. He is pretty much immortal, we see, and experiences time on a vast scale. When one can live billions of years, a millennium is but a drop in the bucket. Q knew Picard for, what, five decades? That's not even the single beat of a bumblebee's wing to Q. It makes sense that the trial of humanity would continue into the next generation, or even into multiple generations beyond. Q is the Picard family Devil now. 

Whether or not audiences see it happening, we can rest assured that Q will make Picards miserable for thousands of years to come. 

Star Trek: The history of Picard and Q in 6 episodes

Tracking the complicated relationship between Q and Jean-Luc Picard

Star Trek: Picard is back, and the pesky trickster Q (played by John de Lancie) is already up to his old ways, meddling with time, space and Jean-Luc Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) dwindling patience in Star Trek: Picard season 2 .

For the uninitiated, Q is part of the Q Continuum, a race of God-like beings who can manipulate almost anything and anyone. Q can transport spacecraft across the galaxy with a click of his fingers, move back and forth through time and summon a wardrobe full of inextricable costumes. In the words of Picard: “He’s devious and amoral and unreliable and irresponsible and definitely not to be trusted.”

If you’re new to Star Trek or haven’t watched The Next Generation in a while, you might want to scrub up on Picard and Q’s decade-spanning, volatile relationship.

In this guide, we’ve selected six episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation to help you understand Q and Picard’s history, including the time Q hurled Picard into the Borg’s backyard through to the incident when Q forced Picard to cosplay as Robin Hood.

There are plenty more Q-focused episodes to watch, both in Star Trek: The Next Generation and other series (like Voyager, Deep Space Nine and even Lower Decks ), but if you’ve only got an afternoon to catch up, these are the episodes we recommend you watch.

The one where Q holds Picard personally responsible for all of humanity's sins

Encounter at Farpoint, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2)

The best place to start for a complete picture of Q’s antics and Picard’s frustrations is right at the beginning of Star Trek: The Next Generation . The first episode of the series is a fantastic watch, and it introduces us to both the crew of the USS Enterprise D and Q for the very first time. 

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This is also Q's first encounter with humans, and his way of greeting us? Putting Picard and his crew on trial on behalf of all humanity, calling us a “dangerous, savage, child-race.” (I mean, he's not wrong?) 

Picard argues that Q is unfairly judging humanity for its past mistakes, decades and centuries before, not for how far they’ve come since. So, he strikes a deal with Q and proposes they're tested in the present to prove humans have moved on from their violent tendencies. 

What follows is the first of many tests that Q puts Picard through, a mission to Farpoint Station, where the crew must unravel the mysteries of a new space station and why things aren't quite as they seem.

Q eventually deems Picard, the crew and, therefore humanity, to have passed the test. But not before he ominously warns Picard he hasn't seen the last of him.

Best quote: Q to Picard: "Temper, temper mon capitaine, I'm merely trying to assist a pitiful species."

The one where Q teaches Picard the life-affirming value of a good bar fight

Tapestry, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 6, Episode 15)

If you only have time to watch one episode about Q and Picard, make it this one. 

Not only is this an excellent episode for learning more about Q and Picard’s complex dynamic, it’s a must-watch for those who love Picard, as it gives us all a look at the life of a young Jean-Luc fresh out of Starfleet Academy — as well as who he could have become.

At the start of the episode, Picard is fatally wounded. As he’s on death’s door, Q shows up. He tells Picard that he’s dying because of his artificial heart, which he received back in his youth after getting into a bar fight with a Nausicaan.

Q gives him the chance to go back in time, so he doesn’t get into the fight, doesn’t get stabbed and doesn’t get the artificial heart that later threatens to kill him. He does, but things go awry when Picard learns how formative the experience was and helps shape who he becomes later in life. 

The important thing to note about this episode is that as annoying as Q is, he’s not evil. His actions do, eventually, end up enriching Picard’s life. It's just frustrating his methods are so maddening. 

Best quote: Picard to Q: "I refuse to believe that the afterlife is run by you; the universe is not so badly designed."

The one where Q dumps Picard in the Borg's backyard

Q Who, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 2, Episode 16)

In this episode, Q asks Picard if he can join the Enterprise. He promises that he could play a vital role in helping the Enterprise navigate the galaxy and all of the scary things that lurk in the depths of unexplored space. 

Picard, rightly suspecting Q is probably up to no good, declines. This makes Q upset, and, as a form of punishment, he clicks his fingers and sends the Enterprise 7,000 light-years into an unknown part of the galaxy that’s two years away from the nearest space station.

The crew soon learn they’re not just in unknown space, they’re in Borg space. This is the first time the Borg appear in Trek, and there's an edge-of-your-seat pursuit that almost gets the Enterprise destroyed.

As the Enterprise’s shields are down, and the crew are probably minutes away from assimilation, Picard begs Q for help. “If we all die… you will not be able to gloat!” he says. “You wanted me to say I need you… I NEED YOU.” With another click of Q’s fingers, the Enterprise is back where it was before. 

Best quote: Picard to Q: "I understand what you've done here, Q, but I think the lesson could have been learned without the loss of eighteen members of my crew."

The one where Q hits Picard up on LinkedIn

Deja Q, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 3, Episode 13) 

If Q drives you as nuts as he does Picard, you’ll like this episode as it involves a satisfying scene in which he's stabbed with a fork — go Guinan! 

Q shows up on the Enterprise again, but this time it’s because the Q Continuum is sick of his antics, so he's been stripped of his powers and sent away to live as a mortal. He chooses to become human and seeks asylum on the Enterprise, and Picard (reluctantly) grants it to him, despite assuming he’s pulling yet another prank. 

While aboard the Enterprise, Q learns more about what it means to be human, striking up an unexpected (sort of) friendship with Data. However, after living just a few days as a human, he’s sick of it and melodramatically whizzes off in a shuttle with a high risk of being killed.

“My life as a human being has been a dismal failure,” he says. “As a human, I would have died of boredom.” At this point, another Q intervenes and restores his powers. 

Best quote: Q to Picard: "… in all the universe, you're the closest thing I have to a friend, Jean-Luc."

The one where Q finally gets Picard into a pair of tights

Qpid, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 4, Episode 20)  

Q wants to thank Picard for allowing him to stay on the Enterprise in Deja Q, so shows up uninvited to repay the favour.

“I’ve just been paid a visit from Q [...] he wants to do something nice for me,” Picard tells Riker in a hilariously scathing tone. “I’ll alert the crew,” Riker says.

It just so happens that he turns up when Picard’s old flame Vash, an archaeologist he met on Risa a year before, is on board the Enterprise for a conference. 

Q decides this would be a great time to teach Picard yet another lesson, so he sends Picard, Vash and a few other members of the crew into a Robin Hood-style scenario. You’ve probably seen a meme of this episode before, like Worf head-to-toe in costume saying: “Sir, I protest. I am not a merry man!” 

Q takes the role of the High Sheriff of Nottingham, naturally, and sets Picard or, sorry, Robin Hood, the task of saving Vash, or Maid Marian. His point was to get Picard to admit that he cares for Vash and to show him that isn’t good for his role on the Enterprise, and could end up getting his crew killed. 

The episode ends with Q offering to take Vash on a journey of exploration through the stars to all of the archaeological ruins in the galaxy. She kisses Jean-Luc, puts on her explorer garb and joins Q.

Best quote: From Q: "I had such high hopes for you, Picard. I thought that you were a bit more… evolved than the rest of your species but now I realise you're just as weak as all the others. Still it pains me, to see the great Jean-Luc Picard brought down… by a woman."

The one where Q gives Picard the worst Wordle of all time

All Good Things, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 7, Episodes 25 & 26)  

Picard is moving back and forth through time, from when he first arrived on the Enterprise, to the present day, to far into the future when he’s an elderly man. He’s not sure what’s up. Could it be a problem with his brain? Alien infiltration? A space anomaly? No, silly, it’s Q of course! 

Q reveals this is (surprise, surprise) another test, this time devised by the Q Continuum to find out if humanity is capable of expanding its understanding of the universe and evolving its thinking. 

Although Q might have been instrumental in the time paradox Picard finds himself in, to his credit he dose provide him with some clues about how to solve it. This helps Picard figure out what’s going on and means he manages to stop the anomaly that could wipe out human life entirely.

Picard, obviously, succeeds. He then has a final face-off with Q in which he promises that he’ll continue to watch over humanity. “The trial never ends,” he says. 

Best quote: From Q: "The Continuum didn't think you had it in you, Jean-Luc. But I knew you did.”

Becca has been writing about consumer tech and popular science for over ten years. She’s covered all kinds of topics, including why robots have eyes and whether we’ll all experience the overview effect one day, but she’s particularly interested in VR/AR, wearables, digital health, space tech and chatting to experts and academics about the future. She's contributed to TechRadar, T3, Wired, New Scientist, The Guardian, Inverse and many more. Her first book, Screen Time, came out in January 2021 with Bonnier Books. She loves science-fiction, brutalist architecture and spending way too much time floating through space in virtual reality. 

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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.

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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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• January 23, 2020 (United States)
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Every Star Trek Series, Ranked Worst To Best

Every star trek movie in chronological order, do star trek's uniforms change for different environments.

• Glenn Morshower portrayed five characters across multiple Star Trek series & films, showcasing his versatility as a character actor.
• Morshower's roles ranged from a junior officer to a sneaky alien, displaying his talent for embodying different personas effectively.
• Known for playing military and law enforcement roles, Morshower's commanding presence shines through in each of his Star Trek performances.

Character actor Glenn Morshower has portrayed five different characters across three Star Trek series and one feature film. Morshower's first Star Trek appearance came near the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2, when he portrayed ensign Burke in "Peak Performance." He later appeared as an alien named Mr. Orton in the TNG season 6 episode, "Starship Mine." Morshower briefly appeared as the navigator on the USS Enterprise-B in Star Trek Generations before popping up in episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise .

Glenn Morshower has appeared in numerous films and television shows, often portraying military men or law enforcement officers. He is best known for playing Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce in 24 and Colonel Sharp in the Transformers films. Morshower has also appeared in episodes of The X-Files, CSI, The West Wing, Friday Night Lights, and Agents of SHIELD. More recently Morshower played Marshall Winthrop in 25 episodes of The Resident and President Andrew Johnson in the Apple TV+ series Manhunt . Morshower has also done voice-over work for several popular video game franchises, including Call of Duty and Wolfenstein.

There are 11 Star Trek TV series (and counting) over 58 years. From The Original Series to TNG to Strange New Worlds and Prodigy, we rank them all.

5 Ensign Burke

Star trek: the next generation season 2, episode 21 - "peak performance".

In Star Trek: The Next Generation 's "Peak Performance," the USS Enterprise-D participates in war games exercises, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) faces off against Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) in command of the USS Hathaway. Glenn Morshower portrays Ensign Burke, who serves as a junior operations and tactical officer aboard the Enterprise. When Riker chooses Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) to be a part of his crew on the Hathaway, Burke takes the Klingon's place at the tactical station.

A Ferengi ship commanded by DaiMon Bractor (Armin Shimerman) arrives and attacks, unaware that the two Federation ships are participating in practice exercises. The two Federation ships and their crews are able to outsmart the Ferengi, and bring an end to the wargames. Ensign Burke then serves as a mediator during a game of Strategema between master strategist Sirna Kolrami (Roy Brocksmith) and Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner).

4 Mr. Orton

Star trek: the next generation season 6, episode 18 - "starship mine".

In Star Trek's version of Die Hard , Captain Picard must singlehandedly thwart a group of thieves aboard the USS Enterprise-D. When the Enterprise docks at the Remmler Array to undergo a decontamination process, Captain Picard ends up stuck on the ship when the rest of the crew beams down to the station to attend a party. The party is quickly interrupted when the station administrator, an Arkarian named Mr. Orton, takes the senior officers captive, while his accomplices board the Enterprise.

With his alien appearance and prosthetics, Glenn Morshower is unrecognizable as Orton, who is eventually captured after the captive Enterprise crew members escape. Data and the other crew members had rigged the VISOR of Lt. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) to emit a hypersonic pulse that rendered everyone other than Data unconscious. Orton initially played nice with the Enterprise crew members at the party, before revealing his part in the plot to steal trilithium from the Enterprise.

Tim Russ portrayed the first of the marauders taken out by Captain Picard on the Enterprise. Russ is most known for portraying Vulcan Chief of Security Tuvok in all 7 seasons of Star Trek: Voyager , but he also appeared briefly as a lieutenant aboard the Enterprise-B in Star Trek Generations.

3 USS Enterprise-B Navigator

Star trek generations.

Glenn Morshower's unnamed navigator only appears in the opening sequence of Star Trek Generations as a crewmember aboard the USS Enterprise-B, under the command of Captain John Harriman (Alan Ruck) . Setting out on its maiden voyage, the Enterprise-B soon gets pulled into a rescue mission to save two El-Aurian refugee ships. Morshower's navigator informs Harriman that the Enterprise is the only ship in range of the El-Aurian ships , and he later releases plasma from the warp nacelles as part of the rescue attempt.

When the Enterprise gets trapped in the same energy ribbon that damaged the El-Aurian ships, the navigator is hit by an explosion and presumably killed. From this point forward, Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) takes over the navigator's station and helps the Enterprise escape. Having gone down to the deflector control room to modify the main deflector, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) gets caught in a hull breach and is presumed dead. In reality, he ends up in the mysterious Nexus, where Captain Picard later finds him.

With 13 entries in the Star Trek movie series from 1979-2006, there are a couple of ways to watch the films chronologically.

2 Mokra Order Guard

Star trek: voyager season 2, episode 12 - "resistance".

As Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), Lt. Tuvok, and Lt. B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) try to buy tellerium for the USS Voyager, they are targeted by the planet's ruling body, the Mokra Order. Tuvok and B'Elanna are captured, while an injured Janeway is saved by a local man named Caylem (Joel Grey). Caylem believes Janeway to be his daughter, Ralkana, who was killed years ago trying to rescue her mother from prison.

Glenn Morshower only appears briefly as one of the Mokra Order guards stationed at the prison where Tuvok and B'Elanna were being held. When Janeway and Caylem mount their rescue attempt, Janeway lures this guard away from his post so that Caylem can knock him out. With distinct ridges at the tops of their noses, the Mokra Order soldiers were brutal members of the Alsaurian species opposed by the Alsaurian resistance movement.

1 Sheriff MacReady

Star trek: enterprise season 3, episode 9 - "north star".

As the Enterprise NX-01 explores the Delphic Expanse, they discover a planet inhabited by humans living in a civilization modeled after the 1860s American frontier. Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) , Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer) and Sub-Commander T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) visit the planet to investigate and soon meet Glenn Morshower's Sheriff MacReady. MacReady is immediately suspicious of Archer, and orders his deputy to keep an eye on him.

Archer and his crew eventually learn that the humans were originally brought from Earth by a species called the Skagarans. The humans later overthrew their Skagaran masters and subjugated them, creating laws preventing them from getting an education or owning property. Archer later tells MacReady about modern Earth and emphasizes that humans of the 22nd century have moved past subjugating sentient species. With his penchant for playing law enforcement officers, Glenn Morshower brought a commanding presence to all five of his Star Trek roles.

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Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Character Death Meant For Beloved DS9 Actor

Posted: May 2, 2024 | Last updated: May 3, 2024

Perhaps the most surprising character in Star Trek: Picard was Michael Dorn’s Klingon Worf. In the third season, he was a constant source of Zen-like calm (very different from what we had seen before in The Next Generation), but we could tell he still knew how to kick butt from a shocking scene where he decapitated a conniving Ferengi. If Dorn had it his way, the actor playing that Ferengi would have been none other than Armin Shimerman, who made his Deep Space Nine bartender Quark the most famous Ferengi in all of Star Trek.

Sneed’s Death Could Have Went To Quark

As you may or may not remember, the Ferengi that Worf decapitates is a brutal crime lord named Sneed who helps arrange the catastrophic destruction of a Starfleet recruiting center. Familiar Picard character Raffi Musiker went under deep cover to try to get information from Sneed, but he saw through her ruse and tried to find out who she was working for. When that didn’t work, he tried to have her killed only to belatedly get his answer: she was working for Worf, who showed up to save her life by cutting the Ferengi’s head off.

Michael Dorn Wanted It To Be Armin Shimerman

Michael Dorn has always been heavily invested in his character’s stories, and he had a crazy idea for this episode. According to Quark actor Armin Shimerman, Dorn came up to him with all the bluntness of Worf and said “I’m doing an episode of Picard where I kill off a Ferengi…wouldn’t it be great if it were you?” Shimerman reacted with his own character’s typical bluntness, telling Dorn “No, it would not be great” and “to just forget about that idea, altogether.”

Obviously, Dorn did just that, and it wasn’t Armin Shimerman under that heavy Ferengi makeup. Instead, it was actor Aaron Stanford, and his performance seriously impressed the former Quark actor. Shimerman later said he was “in awe” over Stanford’s portrayal of Sneed, calling it “just outstanding.”

But He Didn’t Want To Kill Quark

At this point, it’s worth emphasizing that Michael Dorn didn’t want Worf to kill the beloved Quark character…instead, he just thought it would be a cool idea if Armin Shimerman played Sneed, an entirely different Ferengi. That’s important to note because some of the Star Trek shows since the end of Deep Space Nine have confirmed that Quark finally succeeded as a businessman.

Both Lower Decks and Picard verify that the Ferengi has created a successful chain of “Quark’s Bar” establishments throughout the galaxy, and it would have been a shame to kill the character at the height of the entrepreneurial success he always wanted.

Shimerman Recently Reprised His Role

Speaking of Lower Decks, it’s worth noting that Armin Shimerman reprised his Quark character for the episode “Hear All, Trust Nothing,” showing how the Ferengi continued his conniving adventures on Deep Space Nine long after we last saw him onscreen in “What You Leave Behind.”

Why would Shimerman come back for one Trek show and not the other? While he didn’t say it outright, it seems likely Shimerman was happy to lend his voice to the animated show but didn’t want to go through the process of putting on the extensive Ferengi makeup for the live-action show.

Leaving Shimerman Out Of Picard Was The Right Call

In retrospect, I’m happy that Sneed was played by someone else…Armin Shimerman is just too recognizable, and whenever I rewatch his Ferengi debut in The Next Generation episode “The Last Outpost,” all I can see is Quark. Simply hearing about his familiar Ferengi a couple of times in Picard was fine, but a direct cameo by Shimerman would have been overkill. If fans really want to see him in Ferengi makeup that bad, they always buy some more merchandise with his likeness on it.

It’s what Quark would want you to do. Heck, you don’t think the Great Material Continuum moves itself, do you? 

Source: TrekMovie

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Star Trek’s Michael Dorn Wanted Worf To Kill A Popular Deep Space Nine Character In Picard Season 3, And I’m Glad This Didn’t Happen

I'm breathing a sigh of relief.

Although Star Trek: Picard Season 3 reunited most of the Star Trek: The Next Generation starring actors for the first time since 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis , they didn’t all show up at once. In the case of Michael Dorn’s Worf , his first scene in the episode “Disengage” saw him rescuing Michelle Hurd’s Raffi Musiker from the crime lord Sneed, and he beheaded the Ferengi on his way out. But if Dorn had his way, he would have killed a different Ferengi instead: Quark, one of the other major characters from S tar Trek: Deep Space Nine , and I’m glad this didn’t happen.

Armin Shimerman, who played Quark for the entirety of Deep Space Nine ’s seven-season run, shared this tidbit of information while appearing on TrekMovie ’s All Access Star Trek podcast. Dorn came aboard Deep Space Nine at the beginning of Season 4 following The Next Generation’s conclusion, so he and Shimerman spent a lot of time together in the mid-late ‘90s, but decades later, the latter wasn’t particularly enthused about the former wanting to slice Quark’s head off. As he recalled:

Dorn called me up and said, ‘I’m doing an episode of Picard where I kill off a Ferengi. Wouldn’t it be great if it were you?’ I said, ‘Michael no, it would not be great.’ I told him just to forget about that idea altogether.

Jonathan Frakes , who was also a guest on this episode, speculated that Michael Dorn didn’t know Worf would be cutting Sneed’s head off, but Armin Shimerman told the William Riker actor and longtime Star Trek director that, at the very least, Dorn was aware Worf was going to kill a Ferengi. In the end though, it was Sneed who met this fate, with the character being played Aaron Stanford, who previously worked with showrunner Terry Matalas on the 12 Monkeys TV show.

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I am so relieved this Quark idea for Star Trek: Picard never came to fruition. Worf killing off a Ferengi criminal lord mere minutes after we meet this character is one thing, but for him to behead a character that not only is beloved by many Star Trek fans, but whom Worf had known for many years is another. Granted, as Dr. Julian Bashir once said, Quark was definitely not Worf’s “favorite person,” and he tried to steer clear of the bar owner whenever possible. But not only do I not believe that Quark would ever become a crime lord on Sneed’s level, I also don’t buy that Worf would have just killed his former… associate without blinking an eye.

If the day comes that Armin Shimerman reprises Quark in live-action, the character needs to be treated with the proper respect and not just be killed off for shock value. Star Trek: Lower Decks had the right idea, as Shimerman voiced Quark for a meaningful role in the Season 3 episode “Hear All, Trust Nothing.” The fan-proposed Star Trek: Legacy would be the best place for that to happen, though there’s still no word if that project stands a chance of becoming one of the upcoming Star Trek TV shows .

Picard , Deep Space Nine and all the other Star Trek shows (except for Prodigy , which is now at Netflix ) can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription . Discovery is currently in the midst of its final season, and Lower Decks ’ final season will follow sometime afterwards on the 2024 TV schedule .

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Description

In the epic, thrilling conclusion of STAR TREK: PICARD, a desperate message from a long-lost friend draws Starfleet Admiral Jean-Luc Picard into the most daring mission of his life, forcing him to recruit allies spanning generations old and new.

Star Trek: Picard, The Complete Series

• Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Season 1, Episode 1: Remembrance

At the end of the 24th Century, Jean-Luc Picard is living a quiet life on his vineyard, Chateau Picard. When he is sought out by a mysterious young woman, Dahj, in need of his help, he soon realizes she may have personal connections to his own past.

• Jan 23, 2020

Season 1, Episode 2: Maps and Legends

Picard investigates the mystery of Dahj as well as what her very existence means to the Federation. Meanwhile, hidden enemies are also interested in Picard's investigation. Without Starfleet's support, Picard is left leaning on others for help.

• Jan 30, 2020

Season 1, Episode 3: The End Is the Beginning

Completely unaware of her special nature, Soji captures the attention of the Borg cube research project's executive director. After rehashing past events with a reluctant Raffi, Picard seeks others willing to join his search for Bruce Maddox.

• Feb 6, 2020

Season 1, Episode 4: Absolute Candor

The crew's journey to Freecloud takes a detour when Picard orders a stop at the planet Vashti where Picard reunites with Elnor, a young Romulan he befriended. Narek continues his attempts to learn more about Soji while Narissa's impatience grows.

• Feb 13, 2020

Season 1, Episode 5: Stardust City Rag

The La Sirena crew begin an unpredictable and lively expedition on Freecloud to search for Bruce Maddox. When they learn Maddox has found himself in a precarious situation, a familiar face offers her assistance.

• Feb 20, 2020

Season 1, Episode 6: The Impossible Box

Picard and the crew track Soji to the Borg cube in Romulan space, resurfacing haunting memories for Picard. Meanwhile, Narek believes he finally found a way to safely exploit Soji for information.

• Feb 27, 2020

Season 1, Episode 7: Nepenthe

Picard and Soji transport to the planet Nepenthe. As the rest of the La Sirena crew attempt to join them, Picard helps Soji make sense of her recently unlocked memories. Hugh and Elnor are left on the Borg cube and must face an angered Narissa.

• Mar 5, 2020

Season 1, Episode 8: Broken Pieces

When devastating truths behind the Mars attack are revealed, Picard realizes how far many will go to preserve secrets stretching back generations. Narissa directs her guards to capture Elnor, setting off an unexpected chain of events.

• Mar 12, 2020

Season 1, Episode 9: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1

Following an unconventional and dangerous transit, Picard and the crew finally arrive at Soji's home world, Coppelius. However, with Romulan warbirds on their tail, their arrival brings only greater danger.

• Mar 19, 2020

Season 1, Episode 10: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2

A final confrontation on the synthetics' homeworld, Coppelius, pits Picard and his team against the Romulans, as well as the synths who seek to safeguard their existence at all costs.

• Mar 26, 2020

Season 2, Episode 1: The Star Gazer

Season premiere. Starfleet must once again call on legendary Jean-Luc Picard after members of his former crew – Cristóbal Rios, Seven of Nine, Raffi Musiker, and Dr. Agnes Jurati – discover an anomaly in space that threatens the galaxy.

• Feb 28, 2022

Season 2, Episode 2: Penance

Picard finds himself transported to an alternate timeline in the year 2400 where his longtime nemesis, Q, has orchestrated one final "trial." Picard searches for his trusted crew as he attempts to find the cause of this dystopian future.

• Mar 7, 2022

Season 2, Episode 3: Assimilation

Picard and the crew travel back to 2024 Los Angeles in search of the "Watcher," who can help them identify the point at which time diverged. Seven, Raffi and Rios venture out into an unfamiliar world 400 years in their past.

• Mar 14, 2022

Season 2, Episode 4: Watcher

With time running out to save the future, Picard takes matters into his own hands and seeks out an old friend for help. Meanwhile, Rios ends up on the wrong side of the law and Jurati makes a deal with the Borg Queen.

• Mar 21, 2022

Season 2, Episode 5: Fly Me to the Moon

Picard discovers an important person from his past may be integral to the divergence in the timeline. Q continues his manipulation of the timeline, taking an interest in Dr. Adam Soong. Jurati faces the consequences of her deal with the Borg Queen.

• Mar 28, 2022

Season 2, Episode 6: Two of One

Picard and the crew infiltrate a gala on the eve of a joint space mission, to protect one of the astronauts they believe to be integral to the restoration of the timeline – Renee Picard. Kore makes a startling discovery about her father's work.

• Apr 4, 2022

Season 2, Episode 7: Monsters

Tallinn ventures inside Picard's subconscious mind to help wake him from a coma and face both his darkest secrets and deepest fears. Seven and Raffi go in search of Jurati. Rios struggles to hide the truth from Teresa.

• Apr 11, 2022

Season 2, Episode 8: Mercy

With time running out before the launch of the Europa Mission, Picard and Guinan must free themselves from FBI custody. Seven and Raffi come face-to-face with Jurati and the horror of what she's become.

• Apr 18, 2022

Season 2, Episode 9: Hide and Seek

Picard and his crew fight for their lives as they come under attack from a new incarnation of an old enemy. But to survive, Picard must first face the ghosts of his past. Seven and Raffi have a final showdown with Jurati.

• Apr 25, 2022

Season 2, Episode 10: Farewell

In the season two finale, with just hours until the Europa Launch, Picard and the crew find themselves in a race against time to save the future.

• May 2, 2022

Season 3, Episode 1: The Next Generation

After receiving a cryptic, urgent distress call from Dr. Beverly Crusher, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard enlists help from generations old and new to embark on one final adventure: a daring mission that will change Starfleet, and his old crew forever.

• Feb 17, 2023

Season 3, Episode 2: Disengage

Aided by Seven of Nine and the crew of the U.S.S. Titan, Picard makes a shocking discovery that will alter his life forever – and puts him on a collision course with the most cunning enemy he's ever encountered.

• Feb 24, 2023

Season 3, Episode 3: Seventeen Seconds

Picard grapples with an explosive, life-altering revelation, while the Titan and her crew try to outmaneuver a relentless Vadic in a lethal game of nautical cat and mouse.

• Mar 3, 2023

Season 3, Episode 4: No Win Scenario

With time running out, Picard, Riker and crew must confront the sins of their past and heal fresh wounds, while the Titan, dead in the water, drifts helplessly toward certain destruction within a mysterious space anomaly.

• Mar 10, 2023

Season 3, Episode 5: Imposters

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.

• Mar 17, 2023

Season 3, Episode 6: The Bounty

Now on the run, Picard and the skeleton crew of the U.S.S. Titan must break into Starfleet's most top-secret facility to expose a plot that could destroy the Federation. Picard must turn to the only soul in the galaxy who can help – an old friend.

• Mar 23, 2023

Season 3, Episode 7: Dominion

Crippled, cornered, and out of options, Picard stages a gambit to trap Vadic and reveal her true motive.

• Mar 31, 2023

Season 3, Episode 8: Surrender

Vadic forces Picard to make an impossible choice: deliver what he can never give… or watch his crew perish.

• Apr 7, 2023

Season 3, Episode 9: Vox

A devastating revelation about Jack alters the course of Picard's life forever – and uncovers a truth that threatens every soul in the Federation.

• Apr 14, 2023

Season 3, Episode 10: The Last Generation

In a desperate last stand, Jean-Luc Picard and generations of crews both old and new fight together to save the galaxy from the greatest threat they've ever faced as the saga of Star Trek: The Next Generation comes to a thrilling, epic conclusion.

• Apr 21, 2023
• 1 Hour 2 Minutes

The Gangs All Here

The producers and cast talk about reuniting The Next Generation cast for Season 3 of Picard and the journey of each of the characters.

• Sep 3, 2023

More Seasons in Series

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Michael Dorn Wanted Armin Shimerman To Play The Ferengi That Worf Killed In Star Trek Picard

| April 26, 2024 | By: Anthony Pascale 28 comments so far

Earlier this week, TrekMovie’s All Access Star Trek podcast team spoke to  Star Trek: Deep Nine Star  Armin Shimerman along with his wife (and DS9) guest star Kitty Swink, TNG vet Jonathan Frakes, and television writer/producer Juan Carlos Coto, brother of late Enterprise  writer/producer Manny Coto. They had all gathered together to talk about the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and their team Trek Against Pancreatic Cancer for the Purple Stride walk this Saturday, April 27th. During the wide-ranging chat, Shimerman told a funny story about a suggestion for him to appear in the final season of  Picard .

Armin says no to Worf chopping off his head

The subject of how other actors have played Ferengi in some of the new Star Trek shows came up, including the character Sneed in the latest season of Star Trek: Picard . Armin Shimerman had nothing but “kudos” for actor Aaron Stanford, who played Sneed:

“I was in awe. It was just astounding.”

Aaron Stanford as Sneed in  Picard ‘s “Disengage” (Paramount+)

Kitty Swink then prompted her husband to tell the “Dorny story.” Armin obliged, retelling this conversation he had with his former DS9 co-star:

“Before they cast [Sneed], [Michael] Dorn me up and said ‘I’m doing an episode of Picard where I kill off a Ferengi? Wouldn’t it be great if it were you.’ [laughs] I said, ‘No, it would not be great.’ I told him to just forget about that idea, altogether.”

TrekMovie confirmed with Swink and Shimerman that Dorn was suggesting Armin play Sneed on Picard , not that he reprise his DS9 role as Quark. After others noted the scene was rather brutal—it involved Worf cutting Sneed’s head off, Swink jumped in again:

“I got to say, for all the times I have baked bread for Michael Dorn, that was really a shitty thing for him to say.” [laughs]

Michelle Hurd as Raffi Musiker and Michael Dorn as Worf in Picard ‘s “The Bounty” (Paramount+)

Jonathan Frakes tried to be diplomatic, suggesting Dorn might have not known Worf was going to cut off Sneed’s head, but Armin said Michael was at least sure Worf was going to kill the character. Frakes (who appeared in every episode of Picard season 3 and directed 2 episodes) noted Sneed was still somewhat based on Quark, complimenting Shimerman on the layers he brought to a previously unsympathetic species:

“The tightrope you walked—all levity aside—to represent what [Gene] Roddenberry thought of as this despicable capitalist pig with huge ears. And yet the humorous, smart, charming, cleve—all the qualities that Quark had and still be an essentially a villain, and do it through rubber. It takes a special actor, which you are.”

Armin Shimerman as Quark in Deep Space Nine

High praise for return on Lower Decks

Shimerman has had a recent return to the franchise, voicing Quark for the season 3 episode “Hear All, Trust Nothing” of Star Trek: Lower Decks . During the podcast discussion, the actor talked up his experience:

“I did have fun, and I did get to ad lib. It was a great, great, great fun. And they couldn’t have been nicer. They were very sweet. And both Nana [Visitor] and I were very touched that they wanted to make it a tribute to Deep Space Nine . The opening sequence of shooting the station brought tears to both of our eyes because it was just so nostalgic. And we love working there. It was a it was a great, great experience. It couldn’t have been nicer.”

Lower Decks “Hear All, Trust Nothing”

If you can, please join Purple Stride, donate to the cause, or both. If you can’t, please spread the word via social media and word of mouth. For more info,, visit the Trek Against Pancreatic Cancer participation and donation page

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I think that would have been one of the most divisive moments in Trek history had it happened.

Agreed. They could have called that Ferengi ANYTHING but as soon as Worf’s blade went through his neck, it would’ve been “Worf killed Quark!” and I don’t think I could have ever forgiven him (Worf or Dorn).

I think it would have been cool. It’s not Dorn killing Shimerman, it’s Worf killing Sneed. People are being real weenies about this.

It has to be a joke. Seriously.

My recommendation would be no one listen to Michael Dorn regarding casting and plot ideas.

I wish I could upvote this a thousand times.

Dorn had mentioned to Shimmerman in jest. I do not believe he was serious about having Worf do that. The two are friends in real life – it was just a joke between the two. Dorn never suggested it to the scriptwriter or director. Don’t read too much into it.

I know I’m about to be verbally pummeled, but is there that much adoration for Quark out there? I wouldn’t have minded him having a cameo to be killed off, ala Shelby. Just imo, I don’t feel a great affinity for the character. No shade on Armin Shimerman either, by the way. He played the role to a tee.

I liked Quark, but I feel that having any main character killed off in such a fashion would be a bit shitty. Shelby only appeared in two episodes (even if the character was featured in the books more), so it would be a bit different for the fans. Just think back to the way fans reacted to the deaths of Jadzia or Trip, and they at least died in their own shows.

I can dig that. It would have certainly been an emotional punch. It did suck quite a bit when Jadzia left us.

it would also be a very weird dramatic turn for Quark after the character development he displayed in DS9 – to then be in such a state that Worf would kill him

I like Quark as much as any Star Trek character but it really has nothing to do with that. Having any character show up and do something the audience KNOWS they wouldn’t so you can generate a cameo out of it is sooooooooo lazy and apathetic about the world they’ve built. This is the kind of thing new star trek does a little too much. I’m not against writing a character out….I’m against things that suck and that would’ve.

Yes, well put. And part of the reason I asked that was exactly because I would expect that from these showrunners, kill off a main legacy character simply because they can. It is totally lazy if it’s simply done ‘just because.’

Quark is one of the most popular characters of the 1990s-era Star Trek.

Quark and Worf were on DS9 together for years and never seemed to have any serious beef. Worf was very conscientious; Quark was an okay guy for a Ferengi, not one of the really scummy ones. So what exactly would precipitate Worf to lop Quark’s head off, that wouldn’t mangle one character or the other?

Quark is the classic anti-hero. Sure he plays the villain but in the end, he always manages to do the right thing. And in TOS and TNG everyone is beyond good. Quark was the first main Trek character to be dubious. Those are just a few reasons why he is so beloved.

I prefer Sneed. He was an interesting character. I don’t want to see Quark beheaded. Luckily, they didn’t go that route.

Sneed seemed more like Roddenberry’s original intent for the Ferengi. Too bad he was barely on screen, he was a fantastic villain, probably the best of the series.

Anybody read above? Nobody was going to kill Quark, Armin would have been playing Sneed. So, uh what??

I caught that, but as you can see, many, many, many folks would simply see/read “Worf killed Quark” and go to town on it.

Nobody would have been fooled. “That’s Quark using a false name!’

Yes, I caught that he was joking.

I love Dorn as Worf and he’s one of the few old characters I want to see more of, but what a lousy idea! There would have to be a LOT of backstory to explain to us why Worf would ever kill some guy he knew back in the day on Deep Space Nine and never seem to have issues with. For a Ferengi, Quark was a pretty okay guy. What could he possibly do to make Worf so angry at him?

Totally rewatching that ep now!

It’s interesting to see other sites blowing this up as if Armin formally “turned down” an offer from Picard’s casting director to play Sneed. From what I’m reading here, it was just a side conversation between two friends – and that was as far as it went.

If you listen to the podcast, you can hear them all laughing as Armin tells the story. That’s exactly what it was!

Off topic, but the make-up for Worf and Sneed look so good, maybe the best Klingon and Ferengi make-up from the entire franchise.

Worf alone is the most perfect Klingon in these shots. I hope that if we see Klingons again (very likely) they take inspiration from the Picard Season 3 Worf designs.

'Star Trek: Picard's Michelle Hurd Says Raffi "Will Love Seven [Until] the End of Time"

Hurd also told the story of how Seven and Raffi's relationship became part of the series during a panel at Calgary Expo.

The Big Picture

• At Calgary Expo, Michelle Hurd spoke in depth about the relationship between Seven and Raffi.
• Hurd confirms Raffi's enduring love for Seven, hinting at a potential future in Star Trek: Legacy if Paramount+ greenlights the series.
• The unexpected Seven and Raffi romance in Picard was sparked by the chemistry between the Hurd and Jeri Ryan at Comic-Con.

While many Star Trek: The Next Generation fans watched their dreams come true in the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard , Saffi fans were left wanting more. Having gotten together in the Season 1 finale and sharing a rocky, but ultimately happy relationship in Season 2, Saffi — or Seven and Raffi to those who may not know their 'ship moniker — went through an off-screen break-up ahead of the final season. While the split was never really directly addressed in the jam-packed season, it set both characters up to serve as the captain and first officer of the newly commissioned Enterprise-G in the series finale.

Speaking during a panel at Calgary Expo hosted by Collider's Maggie Lovitt , a fan asked Michelle Hurd about the break-up and the relationship's potential future in Star Trek: Legacy . Laughing, Hurd said, "[You say] break up and I've got my U-Haul." She went on to say that she and her co-star Jeri Ryan have discussed the relationship at length. "Jeri and I have also talked about this and I’ve said it to her many times. And I’m like, ‘You do understand that Raffi loves Seven, period. End of discussion.’ She will love Seven [until] the end of time. "

While that answer is about as straightforward as they come, Hurd went on to say, "The one thing that we also have to acknowledge is that Raffi loves Seven, that Fenris Ranger, that incredible creature, that amazing individual that stands in front of her. Raffi would never want to limit her or extinguish any of her beautiful flames . So, Raffi will always be happy with Seven in her vision." Even if the pair technically shouldn't be in a relationship while in command, "She wants Seven to be happy with Raffi in her eyesight, but she's perfectly happy to be in her space."

'Star Trek': Why the Captain/First Officer Ship Is So Irresistible

Hurd went on to say, "One of the things that we really wanted to tell [was] that story of two women of a certain age, who are stubborn, who are set in their patterns, who are living their lives as authentically as they can, who can't help but find each other. So with that, it's a beautiful thing, but it's a complicated thing. And so, I think that there's always going to be love there. " While we don't know if Legacy will get the green light yet at Paramount+ , if the spin-off does happen Hurd said:

"It would be an amazing thing to see that kind of dynamic, to see the respect that each other has to have for each other's space as well as, [some] jealousy[...] I think it would be a phenomenal story. So I can't say for sure whether there's going to be, you know, a white picket fence. But if you're asking Raffi, there’s a white picket fence"

How Saffi Became Part of the 'Star Trek: Picard' Season 1 Finale

During the panel, another fan spoke about being surprised by the handhold between Seven and Raffi in the Picard Season 1 finale and asked Hurd if the relationship was planned from the beginning or if it was added in later. While their romance wasn't always planned, Hurd explained that when she looked back at the first season there was an "appreciation" between Seven and Raffi from their first scenes together. She said: "I think that in that season, that episode where they're getting ready to go down to the planet, and I'm helping Seven and Raffi’s giving her [the handcuffs], you could tell that she respects her. So there was already some kind of appreciation between the two of them that moment ."

Hurd went on to tell the story of how at SDCC ahead of the first season, co-star Jonathan Del Arco happened to snap a picture of Hurd and Ryan dressed to the nines and immediately showed it to their producers. She told the Calgary Expo crowd:

"I believe it was at the San Diego Comic-Con, that same event, which was huge and fantastic. And they had a green room, a space where all the actors and everybody goes to get ready for whatever. And Jeri was in this fantastic red dress. She was absolutely gorgeous, and I was wearing a white Helston jumpsuit, so I didn't look too bad myself. And we’re friends, I adore her, and we were standing together and I kind of put my arm around her waist and I kind of gave her a squeeze. And Jonathan Del Arco, Hugh, [and] Jeri's manager is Jonathan's husband. So we're all friends, with Kyle [Fritz]. So Jonathan was standing over there, and he was like, ‘Oh my God, look at me.’ And so we both just looked at him and he took a picture. And then I swear to God, he took that camera, walked right over to our producers, Akiva Goldsman , Alex Kurtzman , [and] Michael Chabon . We’re all sitting right there, and he said, ‘You guys look at how big these two look together.’"

The rest was history as the producers immediately turned around and told Hurd and Ryan, "'Ladies, we have an idea,' and that’s how it started." While we wait to see if Hurd and Ryan will return on Star Trek: Legacy you can stream all three seasons of Picard on Paramount+.

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.

Watch on Paramount+