Star Trek: Picard’s upcoming third and final season will see the entire main cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation reunite for one more adventure. Joining Patrick Stewart are Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, and Michael Dorn. But in the twenty years since the final TNG film, Star Trek: Nemesis, where are our favorite Enterprise crew members now, the titular Picard aside? We break it all down for you.
Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis)
Admiral William T. Riker and Deanna Troi, the Enterprise’s former first officer, and ship’s counselor, respectively, were in retirement when we last saw these TNG characters in Picard season one. They were living on the pastoral planet Nepenthe. Riker had been Captain of the Titan for years, with his wife Deanna serving as his ship’s counselor. But they both left active service when their young son Thad grew ill with a rare condition.
When Thad died from that illness, the Rikers left Starfleet to raise their daughter Kestra on Nepenthe. Although no longer in active service, Starfleet asked Riker to command the new ship the Zheng He, to help Jean-Luc Picard save the population of the planet Coppelius from an invasion. The presumption was that after they averted the crisis, he returned to retired life with his family on Nepenthe.
Lore (Brent Spiner)
Although Brent Spiner is coming back for Picard, as far as we know, his signature TNG character Data is not. Data died definitively in the first season of Picard, years after they destroyed his body in Nemesis. But Spiner is playing Lore, Data’s evil twin brother from TNG. The show introduced Lore in its first season, as Dr. Soong’s prototype android. Lore could not handle his emotions and turned malevolent, which prompted Soong to disassemble him and create Data, an android with no emotions.
But Lore was rebuilt and caused chaos for years to the Enterprise crew. He eventually took control of a group of renegade Borg as a kind of cult leader but was finally defeated and disassembled. Apparently, someone put him back together again. And for some reason, he has seemingly aged like a human as well. Of course, there is another Soong-style android in this timeline, the prototype B-4. We saw him in pieces in storage in Picard season one, supposedly deactivated. But we feel there must be a fix for him, and only Brent Spiner can play him.
Worf (Michael Dorn)
After the end of TNG’s run, Starfleet assigned Enterprise Security Chief Worf to Deep Space Nine. There, the Klingon commander served for four years under Captain Benjamin Sisko. While serving on DS9, Worf married Jadzia Dax, a Trill with a long history with the Klingon people. Although, she sadly later died. Despite losing his family honor by going against the Klingon Chancellor Gowron, he was welcomed into the House of Martok.
Later, Martok eventually became the new Klingon Chancellor, and made Worf the Federation ambassador to the Klingon empire. After these events, we saw Worf back in Starfleet, at Riker and Troi’s wedding in Nemesis. We have no idea what became of him afterward in the intervening two decades. But the first Picard season three trailer has the proud TNG Klingon warrior declare that he’s now a pacifist. We’re dying to know how that happened.
Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden)
We last saw Dr. Beverly Crusher in Star Trek: Nemesis, where she was still the Chief Medical Officer aboard the Enterprise-E. Deleted scenes from the film confirm that she was planning to take over as head of Starfleet Medical after the events of the film. She had this position once before, during the one year she left the Enterprise in TNG season two.
We have no idea what became of Dr. Crusher after that, although the TNG final episode “All Good Things” suggested that in the future, she would be Captain of her own medical Starfleet vessel. And that she married, and later divorced, Jean-Luc Picard. However, comments made by actress Gates McFadden about this TNG character’s upcoming Picard role suggest Crusher is out on the galactic front lines providing aid, in a future version of Doctors Without Borders.
Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton)
Geordi La Forge was the visually impaired Chief Engineer of the Enterprise-D and E. A human with ocular implants, he was an invaluable officer to Picard for fifteen years. But his fate in the 25th century remains something of a mystery. We only knew this TNG character was still alive and active still in Picard season one, when someone mentioned to Jean-Luc that Geordi would help him out on his mission in a heartbeat.
Ancillary material suggests that Commander La Forge was working at the Utopia Planitia shipyards on Mars, helping built a fleet to evacuate the Romulans from the supernova that would eventually destroy their home world. When the A.I. revolt happened on Mars, La Forge was off planet, and was spared. Comments from LeVar Burton suggest he now has at least two grown daughters. The final episode of TNG suggested that in the future, Geordi would become a novelist.
Other TNG Crew Members We Could See on Picard
Of course, there are other TNG cast members who may yet appear in the final season of Picard. However, one of those characters is apparently not Wesley Crusher. Actor Wil Wheaton mentioned on social media he wasn’t in season three. He did appear in the finale of season two though. Both Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) and Q (John de Lancie) seemed to have said their goodbyes in season two as well. But what about Ro Laren? Lt. Barclay? Or even Doctor Pulaski? Maybe Denise Crosby, whose long-dead character Tasha Yar always has a way of showing up when you least expect her to. Picard showrunner Terry Matalas has mentioned that there are other surprise TNG characters who will pop up. We can’t wait to see what surprises they have in store for longtime Trek fans.
Originally published on December 2, 2022.