Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Picard Season 1, the teaser for Season 2, and for the following: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager.
Star Trek’s First Contact Day event a few days ago provided a lot of information and teases for upcoming projects in the franchise! Yesterday I took a look at one element from the Discovery Season 4 teaser, and today it’s Picard’s turn to go under the microscope! I wrote up my thoughts on the entire First Contact Day event, by the way, and if you missed that article you can find it by clicking or tapping here.
Both Discovery Season 4 and Lower Decks Season 2 are well into production – in fact, we now know that Lower Decks will be broadcast beginning on the 12th of August! Both shows were able to compile teaser trailers that incorporated a number of different scenes, probably from multiple episodes, and thus we had quite a lot to pick through for each! Picard Season 2, however, only entered production at the end of February, so naturally there wasn’t much to show.
Instead what we saw was a stylised teaser, which I assume was deliberately filmed for First Contact Day. It seemed to include a shot of Château Picard – the Picard family vineyard – that was part of Season 1; a recycled shot to set up the rest of the teaser. The rest of the teaser comprised a shot of Picard’s study/office at the vineyard, with the camera lingering over a handful of items in the empty room.
The item most confusing to me at the moment is the book Paradise Lost! It’s an epic poem that I once had to read at school, written in the 1600s. And it’s all about Satan and God. Given what Picard is heard to say in voiceover about travelling through time and not knowing what might have been had different actions been taken, perhaps the meaning of Paradise Lost is less to do with the content of the poem than a literal reading of the title – something Picard did or didn’t do in the past changed the present, making things worse. That could be his “paradise lost.” This is frustrating!
But Paradise Lost is not what we’re talking about today. In the teaser, Picard spoke of time as “the true final frontier,” and combined with the teaser focusing both on clocks and a backwards-running hourglass, time travel seems to be on the agenda! That’s before we get to Q, who is returning to tangle with Picard once more. Q is quite capable of time travel, as we’ve seen numerous times. Sir Patrick Stewart seemed to at least hint that Q isn’t responsible for whatever happens to Picard, but he’s clearly involved to some degree.
In addition to all of the time-related imagery, one thing from the trailer really leapt out at me: a model of the USS Stargazer. It’s the Stargazer that we’re going to talk about today, as the teaser seemed to at least hint at the possibility of revisiting this chapter of Picard’s life – something I predicted Season 2 might do a few weeks ago!
So let’s consider a few possibilities for how the USS Stargazer could be included in Season 2 of Picard. We’ve already heard the ship mentioned in Season 1; Dr Benayoun referenced Picard’s time aboard the ship in the episode Maps and Legends. Perhaps that was a hint at things to come in Season 2, and perhaps Dr Benayoun himself will make a return. We’ll have to wait and see what happens when the season airs next year!
My usual caveat applies: I have no “insider information.” I’m not claiming any of the things on this list will definitely happen in Season 2. This is just speculation and guesswork; a bit of fun and a chance to spend a bit more time talking and theorising about Star Trek. That’s all! So with that out of the way, let’s take a look at my six USS Stargazer theories.
Number 1: Picard’s “death” and a redux of The Next Generation Season 6 episode Tapestry.
When I think of Q, Picard, and time travel, one of the first episodes that comes to mind is Tapestry. Given that Picard has faced death in Season 1, perhaps the stage is set for some kind of redux of this episode, or at least a story which uses a similar premise. In Tapestry, Picard was given a chance by Q to go back to his past and make changes in his life, choosing to use the wisdom of age to be more cautious and less impulsive. At first it seemed to save his life, but the changes made his life far worse and unliveable.
What wasn’t clear in Tapestry is whether Q and Picard were truly travelling through time or whether it was an elaborate illusion. I choose to think it was the former; Q had the power to do all of those things, after all! So maybe he will give Picard a chance to do so again.
At this stage we don’t know why Picard wants or needs to travel through time. It may be connected to the Zhat Vash, Coppelius, the super-synths from the season finale, or something else that happened last season. It may be connected to something from The Next Generation. Or it may simply be a new storyline written for the show as happened in Season 1. But if he did want to go back in time to change the past, perhaps he would enlist the help of Q, setting up a story similar to Tapestry.
If Picard were to go back in time to his Stargazer days, there are a lot of things he could potentially do differently, and thus a lot of different ways that the story could go. You’d think that, after what happened in Tapestry, Picard would have learned his lesson about changing the past. But if Q showed him a very different, far better future, perhaps he could be convinced to make such a change.
This might connect to the “paradise lost” concept that I touched on at the beginning. Perhaps Q is able to convince Picard that his best option, or the only option, to get a particular outcome in the future is to change the past?
Number 2: The Cardassian Border Wars.
Though only mentioned briefly in The Next Generation, Picard was in command of the USS Stargazer during the Cardassian Border Wars. Not to be confused with Deep Space Nine’s Dominion War, this conflict took place in the mid-24th Century, prior to the events of The Next Generation. Picard made reference to one encounter in which a Cardassian ship fired on the Stargazer while the shields were down, causing him to have to flee!
One of the interesting things about choosing the Stargazer for part of Season 2’s setting as opposed to the Enterprise-D is that we know relatively little of Picard’s exploits while in command of the ship. Picard was in command of the Stargazer for around twenty years (from the 2330s to the 2350s) yet we only got brief hints at what he did in all that time. That makes it a relatively blank slate as far as the writers and producers of Season 2 are concerned.
We do know, however, that Picard and the Stargazer saw action during the Cardassian Border Wars, and perhaps this could be a way for Star Trek to revisit the faction we got to know so well in Deep Space Nine. As one of the few known events during Picard’s time in command of that vessel, it’s at least possible that we’ll see it mentioned!
The Next Generation Season 4 episode The Wounded saw Picard work with the Cardassians, so it doesn’t seem as though he harbours any lingering feelings toward them; certainly not like the trauma he carries after his experiences with the Borg. So I don’t think that revisiting the Cardassian Border Wars would lead to the kind of powerful moment that we saw when Picard visited the Artifact in Season 1. But there could be something from those days that Picard has to confront, or perhaps he’s been hiding or repressing his feelings about the Cardassians since then?
The advantage to bringing the Cardassian Border Wars into play, at least from my point of view, would be that it would allow the series to revisit some of the events seen in Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Picard may not have much connection to those events, but other characters do. Seven of Nine, for example, served with and was once in a relationship with Chakotay, and his Maquis friends were killed by the Cardassians. Perhaps some kind of story related to Cardassia and the Cardassian Border Wars is on the cards.
Number 3: Assuming command in the 2330s.
One of the things that Picard inadvertently changed during the events of Tapestry was that he never assumed command of the USS Stargazer. All we know of this event is that, following the death of the ship’s captain, Picard boldly assumed command. Doing so was a risk, one that the less cautious young Picard was willing and able to take. Following this event, he was appointed as the ship’s permanent commander and (presumably) promoted to the rank of captain.
The death of a ship’s captain is a significant moment, one that we haven’t seen often within Star Trek. Presumably the Stargazer’s captain was killed violently or during some kind of disaster or emergency; if he’d simply died of natural causes Picard’s tale of assuming command would be far less grand! So whatever happened, I think it’s fair to say it came at a difficult moment for the ship and crew.
This event may turn out to have some connection to Q or to something from Season 1 of the show. We could learn, for example, that the Zhat Vash or the super-synths were responsible for the attack on the Stargazer, and thus for Picard’s ascent to the captain’s chair. It may then be the Zhat Vash who want to go back in time to undo something, changing events so that Picard wouldn’t be in a position to help Soji and the Coppelius synths.
Maybe that’s a stretch and a reach, but the idea of undoing a mistake and trying to alter the future seems to be a theme of the season, according to the teaser. Picard himself was heard in voiceover saying that time never offers second chances – so perhaps the person or faction hoping to change the past is not Picard and his new crew, but some other nefarious faction. Picard and the crew of La Sirena may even be travelling back in time to preserve the timeline, not change it.
When it comes to factions we know of within Picard that could be interested in changing the past, the Zhat Vash have to be right up at the top. They’re fanatics, and after their recent defeat both at Coppelius and with the repeal of the ban on synthetic life they may try to travel back in time to exact their revenge. Going back to prevent Picard ever becoming a captain, changing his career and stopping him interfering in their plans, may be what they have in mind. One of the neat things about revisiting this era would potentially be a return of the red Starfleet uniforms!
Number 4: The Battle of Maxia.
At the opposite end of Picard’s time in command was the Battle of Maxia. At this battle, in which Picard faced a Ferengi ship, he devised the “Picard Manoeuvre” – a tactic that allowed his ship to appear to be in two places at once, and which was later taught at Starfleet Academy. In the aftermath of this battle, however, the Stargazer was lost. Presumed to have been destroyed, the ship was actually salvaged by the Ferengi.
The “Picard Manoeuvre” was referenced in Season 1, during the episode Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2. As with the earlier reference to the USS Stargazer, perhaps this was setting up something that will become important in Season 2, or at least reminding us of its existence! These little crumbs could form a trail for us to follow, perhaps informing us of planned events in Season 2. Or I could be reading too much into individual lines, as I always seem to be!
The Battle, the ninth episode of The Next Generation, explored the Battle of Maxia in more detail. It’s probably the one event involving the USS Stargazer that has been most closely examined on screen. That could mean it’s a good place for Season 2 to go, as it’s something we’re at least a little familiar with. Or it could mean that, as Picard has already confronted his actions at the battle and their consequences, there isn’t much left to explore.
In any case, it remains a possibility. Returning to the Battle of Maxia could see the return of the Ferengi in some capacity, though their involvement was not known at the time. As above, it could be a chance either for Picard to correct a mistake, or for someone nefarious to attempt to change the past – his past – by changing the outcome of the battle.
Number 5: The death of Jack Crusher.
Jack Crusher – husband to Beverly and father to Wesley – died while serving under Picard’s command aboard the USS Stargazer. It was at least implied that Picard bears a degree of responsibility for his death, or at least feels responsible for what happened. Perhaps that’s simply because of how he is as a commanding officer – but could there be more to it than that?
Of the main cast of The Next Generation, only Dr Crusher’s fate was left unconfirmed in Season 1. We saw Riker and Troi of course, and Data we know has died. Zhaban also confirmed that Geordi La Forge and Worf are still alive, so that only leaves Dr Crusher. In at least one future timeline, she and Picard had married – we saw no evidence for or against this idea in Season 1, so perhaps it could be explored in Season 2.
In the teaser, Picard spoke about how we often wish we’d acted differently during a crisis, and perhaps one thing he wishes he had been able to change was whatever led to Jack Crusher’s death. We could also learn that the Zhat Vash, super-synths, or some other faction or entity from Season 1 is involved in the events that led to him being killed, forming a kind of circular story going back to Picard’s past.
If Dr Crusher were to be involved in Season 2, she would undoubtedly have something to say about the possibility of revisiting the moment of Jack’s death! Maybe she would try to talk Picard out of it, saying that changing an event more than fifty years in the past would have huge ramifications for them both. Or maybe she’d be in favour of going back in time to prevent it from happening if his death set in motion a series of events that led to horrible consequences at the dawn of the 25th Century.
It’s also possible that Jack Crusher’s death may simply be the backdrop for the story – an event connected to something else in the series, but not something Picard hopes to undo.
Number 6: Anti-time and All Good Things…
In the finale of The Next Generation, Q set Picard a puzzle to solve that required him to think outside the box. In short, events in the future were – somehow – having a causal effect on events in the past. Figuring that out, and learning for the first time that time is not necessarily linear and moving only in one direction was what Picard learned.
As above with Tapestry, when I think of Q and time travel, I also think of All Good Things. The teaser made reference to “the trial,” and I believe even used a line spoken by Q in All Good Things as it drew to a close. Q told Picard in that episode that his and humanity’s trial in the eyes of the Q was ongoing, so perhaps the return of Q will mean revisiting some of these concepts.
Something that will be potentially interesting to explore are Q’s views on mortality. In the Voyager Season 2 episode Death Wish, Q helped a fellow member of the Q Continuum to die, but has never had to confront mortality himself. In many ways, Q seemed to regard Picard as something akin to a friend, and watching him age and confront death might be something that would interest and bemuse him.
In the panel that immediately followed the teaser, Sir Patrick Stewart appeared to refer to Q appearing in only a single episode, so perhaps his influence over the season won’t be as significant as we’re assuming. It was also implied that Q is not the cause of whatever the main event of the season is. However, if Picard needed to travel back in time for some reason – such as to prevent something catastrophic from happening in the present – he may voluntarily call upon Q. After all, how many other methods of time travel is Picard aware of?
All we can say for sure at this stage is that Q is involved somehow. But given the teaser’s focus on time travel, maybe his involvement will be in sending Picard and his new crew back in time, perhaps to the time he served aboard the Stargazer.
So that’s it. Six theories about Picard Season 2 and the USS Stargazer!
At this stage, with the second season perhaps as much as a year away from being broadcast, we have very little to go on. As mentioned, the teaser didn’t include a single character or completed scene or sequence, so I’m reading an awful lot into a few lines of voiceover and the imagery presented! We don’t even know for sure that the USS Stargazer will be included in any form, let alone visited through time travel!
Despite that, however, it’s great fun to speculate and theorise about what might be happening. The series is currently in production, with filming ongoing at time of writing, and while we’re unlikely to see another teaser or trailer any time soon, I’ll be keeping an eye out for any tiny tidbits of news that may come our way!
Discovery has shot forward into the 32nd Century; the far future. As such, it’s less easy for that show to bring back characters, themes, and storylines from Star Trek’s past – though that didn’t stop me making a few guesses about what may be going on in Season 4! But Picard is only set twenty years on from the events of the 24th Century Star Trek shows, and as such we could potentially see the inclusion of all manner of characters and other story elements – as indeed we saw happen in Season 1.
Regardless, I’m excited to see where Picard Season 2 takes the story next. The return of Q promises to be great fun, and while the season is a way off yet, I think it’s okay to make a few tentative guesses about what may be going on!
Star Trek: Picard Season 1 is available to stream now on Paramount+ in the United States and other regions where the platform is available. It may be streamed on Amazon Prime Video in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories. Star Trek: Picard Season 2 is scheduled to premiere on Paramount+ and/or Amazon Prime Video next year. The Star Trek franchise – including Picard and all other properties mentioned above – is the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Trekking with Dennis 