The second season finale of Star Trek: Picard arrives in a few days, but the third (and final) season has already been filmed. Earlier this month it was revealed the main cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation is reuniting for the next season of Picard, which does open up the question about who from the current cast will be staying on with Sir Patrick Stewart. A couple of the actors are now filling in those gaps.
Seven and Raffi return for TNG “sendoff”
In an interview with comicbook.com, Michelle Hurd confirmed she returns in season three as Raffi Musiker. The actress was reluctant to talk spoilers but she did express her “giddy” excitement over who she gets to perform with in this big TNG reunion season:
My smile was from ear to ear. These are people that I grew up watching, and just like when I first got this job and I found out that I was going to be working with Sir Patrick Stewart, or P Stew, as I like to call him, I just got so giddy and, I don’t even know. You tremble from the inside out. I mean, I’m an actor, and these are people who I’ve been watching, and I’m going to actually stand side by side on a set and speak words and they’re going to speak words back to me.
I pinch myself just like a fan. The first season, I worked a lot with Patrick, and with Santiago, Rios, and this season I worked so much with Jeri, and I’m not going to tell you the people I work with on next season, but I feel like I am the luckiest, most spoiled actress. And I am forever thankful for Raffi, and for Star Trek, and for this unbelievable experience and adventure I’ve had.
Jonathan Frakes on the season two set of Star Trek: Picard with Jeri Ryan and Michelle Hurd
Jeri Ryan has previously confirmed that she will be part of the third season, calling it a “bittersweet” goodbye to the character of Seven. Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter this week, Ryan had this to say about season three.
Yes, you’ll see Seven again, I can tell you that. I think the fans will not be disappointed. The season is huge, and it is a very worthy sendoff for all of these characters.
Ryan also talked about the evolution of the Seven/Raffi relationship and how there is more to come:
There is definitely love there between the characters. They’re growing more understanding of each, their flaws and their struggle and their broken parts. Michelle and I, when talking to the producers, said we wanted a realistic portrayal of these two women who are very mature and very driven and very independent. They’ve had lives and careers. And that it wasn’t going to be “Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy,” they’re in a relationship with a white picket fence, because that is not who these women are. So, we wanted that relationship struggle. They do love each other. They do care for each other. They respect each other. But can they entwine their lives completely without losing who they are and what their lives have been? And that’s any relationship: How much are you willing to change and sacrifice and give up for the benefits of that relationship? And are they even built to do that? How much can they heal together and heal each other? That remains to be seen.
Michelle Hurd as Raffi and Jeri Ryan as Seven in season two of Star Trek: Picard
There is no word yet on if Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, or Santiago Cabrera will be joining Ryan and Hurd in season three of Picard.
New episodes of Star Trek: Picard premiere on Thursdays on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on Fridays where Paramount+ is available around the world. In Canada, it airs on CTV Sci-Fi Channel on streams on Crave on Thursdays. Picard is also available on Fridays on Amazon Prime Video around the world.
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I really think there will be Star Trek: Stargazer after the Picard show is done.
I agree. But I hope it’s not the Stargazer, to be honest, I kind of hope Rios gets command of the next Enterprise (assuming he comes back from 2024). Some have said you can’t have two shows concurrently about 2 enterprises, but right now you’re about to have two Kirk on TV and in movies, so why not…
All that said, do not be surprised if Seven and Raffi in fact do not play much of a role in Season 3, and these comments are a misdirect. They may be intentionally obfuscating so as to keep some reveals for the season 2 finale.
At this point, it’s anyone’s guess. Hoping the finale gives a tease with the TNG cast to give a hint of what’s in store.
Speaking of Enterprise, I hope for the -F in the final season of Picard and the post-Nemesis -E in Prodigy and/or season three of Lower Decks.
Captain Worf of the Enterprise-F would be very, VERY nice…
Even if they wrote off Rios in Season 2, if there is enough popular demand, there is nothing stopping USS Star Gazer from travelling back again to pick him up.
I want there to be. Or whatever framework they need in order to keep some legacy characters and new ones going in the early 25th. But it’s my dream at this point, so I’m not gonna let myself think it’s by any means a sure thing lest I be disappointed.Starfleet Academy and Section 31, on paper, don’t sound nearly as interesting to me – but hey, maybe I’ll change my tune when we see stuff.
I do think that is the plan too. HOWEVER if Rios stays back in season 2 then that will change things. I really hope that’s not the case (and I don’t think it will be personally) but seeing what season 2 has become and maybe making more room for the TNG characters in season 3, you can’t rule anything out.
But I think what the possible plan is to mix some of the Picard and TNG characters in another spin off. Unless they kill off the TNG characters, we know it won’t be the last we will see of them. Picard probably since Stewart seems like he’s ready to hang it up again, but Frakes would probably sign a nine season deal to play Riker again if they offer it to him lol.
For the record I don’t need to see a single TNG character in a Star Gazer or any spin off show. But c’mon, we know if there is another 25th century show after this one, 1 or 2 will most likely pop up on that anyway.
That season premiere STRONGLY indicated that we would be seeing Star Trek Stargazer and I am ALL ABOUT IT!
I mean they went to all that effort to build that physical stage for the Stargazer and I don’t think they’d spend all that money for something to barely appear on the screen. They could have just used green screen if they wanted to. So even this fact makes me think that they are thinking a bit longer term for the Stargazer. Otherwise that would be a big waste of money.
They have suggested that season 3 will feature spaceships heavily. So it could have been an investment in season 3.
Perhaps, but then again, the idea I got was that the starship in season 3 was gonna be a different one than The Stargazer. Of course this means they could have just changed the standing sets to the new starship.
Is there any chance Season 3 gets launched in the Autumn/Fall 2022? Considering its filmed and deep in post production at this point?
Also thinking they already delayed Picard because of the Pandemic. Without Covid we’d probably be coning to the end of Picard Season 3 this very week.
I think that’s very possible but i’m not sure if it’s likely.
SNW will bring us into mid July. Prodigy’s final 10 episodes will carry us into mid-September. Then Lower Decks season 3 is probably next which will bring us to mid-November, assuming all the shows are bumped back-to-back. If they overlap by an episode like PIC/SNW, then it’s even earlier.
So is it possible we could see Picard Season 3 debut in November and take a mid season break around the holidays? Very possible.
I think they probably want to do what they did this year and space out the shows to make them run all year through one by one without them having little or any overlap at all and to be honest I like this scheduling. It means we get Trek almost all year long and we don’t rush things just to keep to some schedule.
I really hope they fix how they write Raffi. She was warm, smart, and caring in the first season.
I really don’t know how they’re going to balance this season over the combined TNG and PIC casts. There are some TNG cast members who seem happy in cameo (Frakes and Sirtis) and others who seem to want more for their characters (Dorn).
Even in the past two seasons the eponymous lead has often (IMO) seemed to be a passenger on his own show, lacking agency.
I don’t know if ten episodes can do justice to so many characters, especially if it’s intended as the end of the TNG crew’s era. And if not, I’d prefer Worf to conclude his story in a DS9 extension further down the line.
Terry Matalas already said the TNG cast won’t just be cameo roles, all the characters are heavily involved next season. They may not be in every episode but sounds like they will all be important to the story. Although looking at season 2, that doesn’t mean very integral to the story, but will be there though out it I guess.
A lot of the actors don’t outright say it. But money is a big factor also. I seem to recall Dorn was offered a small salary and role when he passed it up the last time. I am sure if they rolled the Brinks truck into their driveways, they will reconsider smaller roles. This goes for Shatner’s comments in the past also. Nobody wants to be insulted by small paydays or parts. But they have to be paid well.
But in that situation, they wanted Dorn to play a small role on Discovery but get into many hours of make up for it as well. He’s not just throwing on a costume, it’s a bigger process for him. But of course money is always a factor too. Actors still want to be paid what they think they are worth. It’s the reason Chris Pine and Hemsworth didn’t come back for the fourth Kelvin movie. It’s the reason why Shatner didn’t want just a cameo in the first Kelvin movie. And I don’t think any less of them for turning them down. It’s their careers at the end of the day. None of them needs the money, which is always the irony. They turn down the money because they can afford to turn it down.
In Dorn’s case, he also doesn’t want to just sit in 5 hours of make up for a one scene speaking role. If they are going to use him, then they have to really use him. Which is why I know he’ll have a decent role next season or he probably wouldn’t be there.
Yes, it has bothered me that the show is called Picard, yet often Jean-Luc seems as if he’s just along for the ride. When they discovered that the Borg queen was loose in Los Angeles, Seven said, “We need Picard,” and my husband said, “Why?”
As for Michael Dorn, it takes eons to get him into the Klingon makeup, and I don’t blame him a bit that he doesn’t want to spend half the day in makeup for only a line or two. It’s only worth going through all of that for an actually meaty role.
I like Rios and Raffi and Seven more than I like some of the TNG characters, so I hope they don’t push them aside for the legacy characters. I’m fine seeing the end of Soji, Jurati, and Elnor, but I think Seven was terribly underused this season, and I’d love to see a lot more of her and Raffi and Rios, too.
Have Rafi and Seven even kissed onscreen? They’ve been together for over a year. But Rios, a straight guy, meets a woman and they have had 2 onscreen kisses after just a few days. Wouldn’t be a big deal but… isn’t it a little “hmmmm” that a same-sex couple is so sterile in their affection?
No they haven’t yet but it looks like next episode they will. There is a shot in the finale promo where they are about to kiss at least.
Well, you have to save little something for the finale.
After all, they didn’t even hold hands until the end of Season 1.
I can’t remember anything of Stamets and Culber kissing on Discovery either, though surely they have by now . . .
Stamets and Culber’s first kiss was in “Into the Forest I Go.” They’ve definitely kissed several times since.
Rios and Teresa kissing was nothing to write home about. Because of Covid, all kisses are basically pecks on the lips nowadays.
I am starting to wonder if we’ll see the entire Picard cast next season because as this season is showing, it’s looking iffy. They couldn’t even bother to give characters like Soji and Elnor any real use this season and basically just found ways to use the actors as other characters or flashbacks. Of course they now invented a Holo Elnor (sigh) but we’ll see if that stays a thing or was just a one and done thing for the episode.
But now even characters like Dr. Jurati may be done. She may not stay as a new Borg Queen or they will simply explain that that Borg Queen is part of an alternate timeline and the original character will continue existing in the Prime timeline (since we did see regular Jurati on the Star Gazer). I guess we’ll know soon. But if they keep Rios in the past, that will gut me. Not only because he’s actually one of the better characters but yes many of us want a Star Gazer spin off. But if they do keep him in 2024 then I guess we can say goodbye to that.
Of course with the TNG cast back, it can mean one of them can carry on in a new spin off and yes even on the Star Gazer. And we all know if season 3 turns out good (or at least better than season 2 but that’s not a high bar) fans will be screaming they will want to see the characters again on another show. And since Picard is done, that will leave a HUGE whole for more 25th century Trek and it would be easy to plug in the Rikers or Worf to continue on. Who know, maybe Micheal Dorn will get his Worf show after all. ;)
But how the Picard cast has been treated in just the second season alone kind of proves the producers don’t see them all as necessary going forward pass season 2 since most of them really didn’t have a lot to do; but that’s the writers fault of course.
Alternatively Theresa and her son will be transported to the future. It would be a good callback to Dr Taylor in The Voyage Home.
One would just have to hope she or her son aren’t the direct ancestors of anyone important in the Prime future (including Rios himself!!) :P.
Yep also possible!
I have a harder time with that one though because she always talks about why having a clinic is so important for the type of people she helps. Then again there are other clinics out there that can do the same. ;)
Didn’t those nasty ICE agents shut down her clinic several episodes back? If so, that frees her up for 2401!
Her clinic was raided but I got the impression that it wasn’t the first time that had happened.
Well, if they do manage to reset time successfully, we should see Elnor, alive on the bridge of the Stargazer, at least, for the finale.
We Shall See.
A tastefully done (PG13-level) love scene with these two characters would be great.
Stop censoring people who think Picard is terrible. It’s truly awful
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You are 1000% correct.
Shoehorned fan references and juvenile writing ….
Portraying Picard as a feeb ….
THAT’S ALL that this abomination of the “Trek” name is.
If The Great Bird were still with us today, he’d NEVER stand for this.
🤮👎🏻
I wish I could put any sort of faith in statements like this, but “Picard” has burned me too many times. They’re gonna have to earn my appreciation, especially after the disappointment the second season has become.
I’ll be honest, I’m worried about Season 3 given how uneven the current season has been. The first half of the current season was good and then it just seemed to unravel a bit.I think this was a byproduct of events taking place behind the scenes. Terry Matalas was only heavily involved in the first three or four episodes of season 2 then he went off to write season 3. Akiva Goldsmith took over the writers’ room for the rest of the season but he was also running the writers room for the first season of Strange New Worlds. So, I think this explains why the second half of the season just doesn’t seem to make sense. I’m super excited about seeing the whole TNG gang back together but also leery too.
Same here; it feels like the only logical reaction. I’m encouraged somewhat by the idea that Matalas essentially was only around for the second season’s good episodes before going off to develop the third season. And I’m encouraged by by the early reviews of SNW, honestly; maybe something in the episodic approach clicks for Goldsman.
But only time will tell for sure, and the back half of season two has been thoroughly discouraging for me.
I feel like season 2 really started coming together for me in 2.9 and I really love it. I personally don’t understand all the hate this season has received. Not saying it’s been perfect, and 2.7 remains my least fav episode by far, but I also don’t think it’s been as bad as some have made it out to be. Actually, I don’t think most of it has been bad at all.
I really enjoyed the first 2 episodes.
That having been said,
I thought it got even more interesting when The Borg Queen took up residence in Jurarti’s mind.
At that point, I had,NO IDEA what was gong to happen next.
Season 2 has had me hooked ever since
Geez, let’s hope season 3 is huge. Season 2 was a doozy and made season 1 look like a masterpiece.