Patrick Stewart stars as Picard, reprising his role from the series Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as other Star Trek media. Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, and Ed Speleers also star. The season features guest stars who also reprise their roles from previous Star Trek media, including Stewart's Next Generation co-stars Jonathan Frakes (Riker), Gates McFadden (Crusher), LeVar Burton (La Forge), Michael Dorn (Worf), Marina Sirtis (Troi), and Brent Spiner (Data). A third season of Picard was informally green-lighted by January 2020, allowing it to be filmed back-to-back with the second season. Some third-season scenes were filmed during production on the second, which began in California in February 2021, before filming segued fully to the third in September. Stewart officially announced the season soon after, and filming ended in March 2022. The return of the other Next Generation cast members was confirmed a month later. Matalas hoped to make the season a satisfying ending for Picard's story and the whole Next Generation cast.
The season premiered on the streaming service Paramount+ on February 16, 2023, and ran for 10 episodes until April 20. It was praised by critics and nominated for two Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards as well as several other awards.
In the 25th century, Dr. Beverly Crusher and her son Jack are attacked aboard the SS Eleos. Beverly is injured and sends an emergency message to her former Starfleet captain, the retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard. Picard and his romantic partner Laris are planning a trip to Chaltok IV when he receives the message, and she encourages him to go. Beverly had told Picard not to involve Starfleet, so he goes to his former first officer, Captain William Riker. Riker and Picard stage a surprise inspection of the USS Titan-A, the successor to Riker's former ship, planning to convince its captain, Liam Shaw, to go to Beverly's location without revealing why. Shaw declines, but his first officer is Picard's friend Seven of Nine who ignores Shaw's orders and changes the Titan's course. On M'talas Prime, Starfleet intelligence officer Raffi Musiker searches for a stolen portal device that her mysterious handler fears will be used in a terrorist attack; she fails to find it before it is used to destroy a Starfleet facility. Picard and Riker board the Eleos via shuttlecraft and find Beverly in stasis. They meet Jack as a large ship appears.
22
2
"Disengage"
Doug Aarniokoski
Christopher Monfette & Sean Tretta
February23,2023(2023-02-23)
Picard stops the large ship, the Shrike, from transporting Jack off the Eleos, but it captures the Eleos itself with a tractor beam. Seven persuades Shaw to intervene, and Beverly is transported to the Titan's medical bay while Picard, Riker, and Jack are brought to the bridge. The Shrike's captain, a bounty hunter named Vadic, reveals that Jack is an intergalactic criminal with a large bounty on his head. Shaw has Jack arrested and intends to turn him over to save the crew, despite the protests of Picard and Riker. Raffi's handler orders her to stop investigating the attack, but she meets with the Ferengi criminal Sneed in hopes of finding those responsible. Sneed almost kills her but is killed himself by Raffi's handler, Worf. Jack escapes from custody and attempts to transport himself over to the Shrike in an effort to save his mother, but Riker helps Beverly to the bridge, and when Picard sees her he realizes that Jack is his son from a brief relationship he had with Beverly decades earlier. Knowing that Picard will not hand over his son, Shaw orders the Titan into a nearby nebula as a delighted Vadic gives chase.
The Shrike attacks the Titan, injuring Shaw who transfers command to Riker. Beverly says she did not tell Picard about Jack to keep their son safe from his enemies. Riker attempts to escape the nebula but they are cornered by the Shrike using portal technology. Picard advises Riker to lure the Shrike into a trap, but Riker wants to flee and prioritize saving the crew. Jack and Seven deduce that Vadic is tracking a gas leak on the Titan and find an ensign sabotaging the ship. He is revealed to be a Changeling and escapes their custody. Using the freighter La Sirena, Raffi and Worf capture a criminal that they believe is responsible for the attack on M'talas Prime. They discover that he is also a Changeling, part of a group that has been fighting the Federation since the end of the Dominion War, and realize that the attack was just a distraction. Convinced by Picard's insistence that they fight back, Riker fires on the Shrike. Their weapons are redirected back at them with a portal and the Titan sustains heavy damage. Riker blames Picard and orders him off the bridge as they drift towards a gravitational anomaly in the nebula.
24
4
"No Win Scenario"
Jonathan Frakes
Terry Matalas & Sean Tretta
March9,2023(2023-03-09)
With only a few hours of power remaining on the Titan, Riker admits Picard was right and suggests he spend his last moments bonding with Jack. In the holodeck, Picard and Jack tell each other some of their experiences. They are joined by Shaw who bitterly recounts his experience as a Starfleet engineer during the Battle of Wolf 359, when Picard had been assimilated by the Borg and was attacking the Federation as "Locutus of Borg". Vadic, who is a Changeling, is ordered to pursue the Titan at all costs. Doing so within the nebula requires disengagement of the portal technology. Jack, Riker, Beverly, and Picard form a risky plan to use an energy pulse from the nebula to recharge the Titan's systems. Shaw and Seven help them succeed, and Seven identifies and kills the Changeling impostor. The Titan damages the Shrike on its way out of the nebula, which "gives birth to" many jellyfish-like space creatures. As they warp away, Picard realizes that he briefly met Jack five years earlier and inadvertently dismissed his attempt at connection. Alone, Jack has vivid hallucinations and hears voices calling to him.
25
5
"Imposters"
Dan Liu
Cindy Appel & Chris Derrick
March16,2023(2023-03-16)
Riker returns command of the Titan to Shaw, who contacts Starfleet. The USS Intrepid arrives to arrest Picard and Riker, led by Commander Ro Laren who betrayed Starfleet and Picard years earlier but has returned from imprisonment. Ro forces Picard into the holodeck where she reveals her suspicions that the Changeling conspiracy has compromised Starfleet's highest levels. Picard reconciles with Ro and she gives him her treasured Bajoran earring. As Ro returns to the Intrepid via shuttle, she discovers a bomb planted by Changeling saboteurs and decides to fly into the Intrepid, sacrificing herself and damaging that ship. The saboteurs attempt to transport Jack off the Titan but his visions influence him into killing them. Picard and Riker realize the earring contains the intelligence Ro gathered on the Changelings and is also a communicator. Worf and Raffi learn that something besides the portal technology was stolen from Daystrom Station. Worf attempts to contact his own handler, Ro, and reaches Picard and Riker. As the Titan flees the damaged Intrepid, Jack reveals his visions to Beverly.
26
6
"The Bounty"
Dan Liu
Christopher Monfette
March23,2023(2023-03-23)
Worf and Raffi join the Titan and beam down to Daystrom Station with Riker. At the same time, several Starfleet vessels arrive and Picard is forced to flee with the Titan. He seeks help from Geordi La Forge, his former chief engineer, who is now a commodore in charge of the Starfleet Museum. The away team on Daystrom discover a synthetic being created by the late Altan Inigo Soong that contains his memories along with those of former androids Data, B-4, Lal, and Lore. Jack and La Forge's daughters Sidney and Alandra take a cloaking device from a Klingon ship at the museum so the Titan can hide from Starfleet, and Geordi reluctantly agrees to join them. They return to Daystrom and recover Worf, Raffi, and the synthetic being, which Geordi reactivates. Data's personality reveals that the Changelings stole Picard's original body (he died of the neurological disease Irumodic Syndrome and was transferred into his own synthetic body). Beverly believes Jack inherited the condition from Picard. Riker is captured by Vadic who reveals that she already captured his wife, Deanna Troi.
Picard surmises that the Changelings want to create a perfect replica of himself to target Starfleet's upcoming celebrations for the 250th Frontier Day. Geordi attempts to maintain Data's control of the synthetic body as it is overcome by the devious Lore. Picard devises a plan that traps Vadic and her crew on the Titan with force fields, using Jack (who is developing telepathy) as bait. Picard and Beverly interrogate Vadic, and she reveals that she is hunting Jack for someone else. She also explains that she was one of ten Changelings whom Starfleet doctors experimented on to develop a breed of super-spies. Upon their escape, she swore revenge and formed the rogue Changeling faction, taking her torturer's form. Beverly confirms these facts, and Picard decides that he has to kill Vadic. However, Geordi fails to revive Data in time to stop Lore from taking over the Titan's computers and disabling the force fields, allowing Vadic and her underlings to escape. They capture Seven, Shaw, and the rest of the bridge crew. Vadic invites Jack to the bridge and says she knows his true nature.
28
8
"Surrender"
Deborah Kampmeier
Matt Okumura
April6,2023(2023-04-06)
Vadic threatens to execute the crew if Jack does not surrender, which he does after she kills a lieutenant. Data realizes that he cannot overpower Lore and instead surrenders his memories, which consume Lore and allow Data full control of the body. The rest of the crew rush to the computer core to plug Data into the Titan's systems, which he reprograms to protect Jack and vent the bridge, killing Vadic. On board the Shrike, Worf and Raffi rescue Riker and Troi, who spent much of their detainment discussing their marital issues. They find Picard's original body and discover that the Changelings have removed portions of the parietal lobe—specifically those supposedly infected with Irumodic Syndrome. After downloading the Shrike's database, the group are transported to the Titan and the Shrike is destroyed. The reunited crew of Picard's USS Enterprise-D gather in the Titan's briefing room to discuss their next moves. With Frontier Day mere hours away and the full extent of the Changelings' plan still not known, Troi (who has empathic abilities) meets with Jack to help him discover the truth behind his visions.
29
9
"Võx"
Terry Matalas
Sean Tretta & Kiley Rossetter
April13,2023(2023-04-13)
Troi discovers that Jack's visions are coming from the Borg. Picard's supposed Irumodic Syndrome was actually undetected, organic Borg technology from his time as Locutus. This was passed to Jack and activated while his frontal cortex developed. The Changelings stole Picard's original body so they could copy this technology into Starfleet's transporter systems and infect officers under the age of 25. Jack uses his visions to find the Borg Queen, intending to kill her, but is assimilated. Above Earth, Fleet Admiral Elizabeth Shelby on the USS Enterprise-F begins the Frontier Day celebrations and initiates the new "Fleet Formation" protocol that connects all Starfleet ships. The Borg Queen uses Jack to activate the technology in Starfleet's youth, assimilating them and seizing control of the fleet. Shelby is killed. Shaw sacrifices himself to allow Picard and his former crew to escape. He hands command of the Titan to Seven before he dies. At the Starfleet Museum, Geordi reveals that he has restored the Enterprise-D, which is now the only functioning Starfleet ship not controlled by the Borg.
30
10
"The Last Generation"
Terry Matalas
Terry Matalas
April20,2023(2023-04-20)
The Enterprise-D crew find the Queen's Borg Cube in the clouds of Jupiter. Picard, Riker, and Worf board the Cube and find it filled with dead drones that the Queen has been sustaining herself on. The assimilated fleet destroys Earth's planetary shields and starts targeting major cities. Picard connects himself to the Borg collective and rescues Jack from the Queen's influence. Data flies the Enterprise-D through the Cube so they can beam-up Picard, Jack, Riker, and Worf. They destroy the Cube, killing the Queen. Assimilated Starfleet personnel return to normal. Picard and his crew receive full pardons, and the Enterprise-D is returned to the museum. Crusher modifies Starfleet's transporters to remove the Borg technology and expose the remaining Changeling infiltrators. One year later, the Titan is rechristened the USS Enterprise-G with Seven as captain, Raffi as her first officer, and Jack—now a Starfleet ensign—as special counselor. The Enterprise-D crew reminisce over drinks and a game of poker. Later, Jack is visited by the extra-dimensional being Q who says Jack's trial has just begun.
In February 2019, during development of the series Star Trek: Picard, star Patrick Stewart said "we are set up for possibly three years of this show".[16] Showrunner Michael Chabon and the writers were reported in January 2020 to have begun work on a second and third season, with Terry Matalas joining them to fill the void that would be created by Chabon's planned departure later that year. CBS officially announced the second season then, but did not confirm an informal third season green-light. The latter allowed the second and third seasons to be filmed back-to-back,[17] which helped save costs and simplify scheduling.[18] Stewart officially announced the season in September 2021,[18] shortly after filming had begun.[19] By February 2022, the producers had decided to end the series with the third season.[20] Matalas served as the sole showrunner for the season.[1]
Writing
The third season begins just over a year after the second.[21] It tells a new story, despite the two seasons being developed together,[22] and Matalas said the third season was "incredibly different" from the first two.[23] He hoped it would be a satisfying conclusion for Picard's story,[23] and said it would be less intimate and have some "game-changing Star Trek Universe ideas". Matalas added that some elements from Star Trek: The Original Series and the films starring the Original Series cast would be used in the season to "tie some Star Trek together",[24] including the Spacedock and boatswain's whistle from those films.[25] The season also has references to the films' "more nautical, cat and mouse submarine-movie" ideas.[23]Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) was a "major touchstone" for the season, which features mind games between Picard and a new villain.[26]
In April 2022, when it was revealed that other Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members would be starring in the season, Matalas recalled watching that series as a child and said it was "most fitting that the story of Jean-Luc Picard ends honoring the beginning, with his dearest and most loyal friends from the USS Enterprise".[1] The producers felt the group's final appearance in the film Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) had not been a proper send off and wanted to use the final season of Picard to "send [them] off the right way",[27] similar to what the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) had done for the Original Series cast.[28] This was Matalas's core pitch to Stewart and the other returning actors, and he developed each of their storylines with them to avoid telling a story that they were not happy with.[25] He aimed to create endings that also promise more story for the characters.[29] Kurtzman said the season would take its time showing where each character is before bringing them all together,[26] which Matalas compared to Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) revealing where the original Star Wars characters are after many years.[29] Matalas also compared the season to a serialized version of a theoretical The Next Generation season eight,[30] and said it was "passing the torch from one generation to the next" like when actors from The Original Series guest starred on The Next Generation.[25] He suggested that a more appropriate title for the season would be Star Trek Legacy rather than Star Trek: Picard, but still felt it was "truly a Picard story".[31]
There were discussions about using the new Borg collective that are introduced at the end of the second season, including clarifying who that group is in relation to the original Borg, exploring the anomaly they discover in the second season, and having them help defeat the original Borg Queen in the third-season finale. Matalas said they avoided exposition-heavy scenes that explained who the new Borg collective are because they felt these would be uninteresting to audiences. The anomaly was not included because the third-season scripts were too far along by the time that idea was introduced to the second-season scripts, and he disliked the idea of the new Borg fighting the original Borg. For the latter, he also questioned the use of resources for such a small moment, and felt it would take away from the storytelling being done with Seven of Nine and the Enterprise-D in the finale.[32]
When originally developing the series, the creative team discussed not bringing back any other characters from The Next Generation to allow Picard to stand alone and not become reliant on nostalgia. Part of this was to allow newcomers who had not seen the previous series to enjoy Picard. However, the writers wanted to be respectful to longtime fans of Star Trek and felt they were missing opportunities by not including certain characters, so they decided to add some returning guests who organically served the new story.[33] In January 2020, Stewart said it was his hope that all of the main cast of The Next Generation would appear on Picard before the end of the series.[34]
In April 2022, members of the Next Generation cast were confirmed to be starring in the third season with Stewart: LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge, Michael Dorn as Worf, Jonathan Frakes as William Riker, Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher, Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi, and Brent Spiner.[1] Matalas confirmed that these would not be brief cameo appearances and said all of the cast would appear together in the season.[35][36] After initially avoiding bringing back the full cast, executive producer Alex Kurtzman said they had a good story reason to reunite them in the third season and the producers felt that they had earned the right to do so after the first two seasons.[37] McFadden said she loved the story that had been written for the cast in the season,[38] while Sirtis said they had been "cherished" by the producers in contrast to their experience on Nemesis.[27] Burton said he would be happy if he did not portray La Forge again after getting to "put a period at the end of this sentence and close the book" on the character with this season.[39] After Spiner decided that he would not portray his Next Generation character Data again after the first season,[40] Matalas said he would play a "new old character that you have seen and never seen before" that connects to the plot of the third season.[29] This was revealed in October 2022 to be a version of the android Lore, Data's evil twin.[6]
Wil Wheaton, who starred as Wesley Crusher in The Next Generation and made a cameo appearance in the second-season finale, was not included in the season. After the second-season finale was released in May 2022, series regulars Santiago Cabrera, Alison Pill, Evan Evagora, and Isa Briones revealed that they did not return for the third season.[2]Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, and Orla Brady did return as Seven of Nine, Raffi Musiker, and Laris, respectively.[2][7] Matalas said budget and time limitations meant some "hard choices" had to be made about which characters to bring back for the season, especially with the need to sign on all of the returning Next Generation actors.[25][28]
Matalas stated in late May that the season's villain was portrayed by a well-known actor who had not appeared in Star Trek before, and said they had given "one of the all-time great Star Trek villain performances".[36] That June, Burton revealed that his daughter Mica had been cast as one of La Forge's daughters in the season.[39] In August, Matalas said there would be more "legacy characters" appearing in the season beyond the main Next Generation cast. The writers considered including a grown-up version of the Star Trek: Voyager character Naomi Wildman for a specific sequence that was ultimately deemed too expensive to film.[7] Also that month, Denise Crosby said her Next Generation character Tasha Yar would appear in the season, despite the actress previously stating that she was not involved in the series during filming.[41] Matalas soon confirmed that the character would appear in the season as a reference to her Next Generation role.[42] At New York Comic Con in October, Amanda Plummer was revealed to be portraying the season's villain, Vadic. Her father Christopher Plummer had previously played an unrelated Star Trek villain, General Chang in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). Additionally, Daniel Davis was announced to be reprising his Next Generation role as a sentient hologram of Arthur Conan Doyle's literary character Professor Moriarty, Mica Burton's casting as La Forge's youngest daughter Alandra was confirmed, and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut was revealed to be portraying La Forge's oldest daughter Sidney.[5]
In January 2023, Ed Speleers was announced as playing a new series regular.[43] This was revealed to be Jack Crusher, the son of Picard and Beverly Crusher.[44] At the same time, Todd Stashwick was revealed to have a recurring role as the captain of the USS Titan,[43] Liam Shaw.[4] Stashwick previously starred in Matalas's series 12 Monkeys and also had a guest role in Star Trek: Enterprise.[45] Other members of the Titan crew include Chestnut as helm officer Sidney La Forge, Stephanie Czajkowski as Vulcan science officer T'Veen, Joseph Lee as Bajoran tactical officer Matthew Arliss Mura, and Jin Maley as Haliian communications officer Kova Rin Esmar.[4]Thomas Dekker, who portrayed Picard's imaginary son Thomas in the film Star Trek Generations (1994) and had a guest role in Voyager, appears as a Changeling posing as the criminal Titus Rikka.[8]
Design
Matalas said each season of Picard would be differentiated visually, but he and production designer Dave Blass wanted the second and third seasons to return to the visual style of the Next Generation era.[23] In April 2022, Blass announced that several crew members from Next Generation era Star Trek had returned to work on the design team for Picard: computer graphics engineer Ben Betts, visual effects producer Dan Curry, set designer Daren Dochterman, concept designer and visual effects artist Doug Drexler, starship designer John Eaves, graphic designer Monica Fedrick, graphic designer Alan Kobayashi, production designer Geoffrey Mandel, video engineer Larry Markart, computer playback supervisor Todd A. Marks, production illustrator Jim Martin, art director Karl J. Martin, and graphic designer Michael Okuda who designed the LCARS computer system for The Next Generation.[46]
Kurtzman said Dorn's prosthetics for the Klingon character Worf would match his Next Generation appearance and not be changed to match the new Klingon designs from Star Trek: Discovery.[47] Worf uses a new weapon in the season called a "kur'leth", which was designed by Curry who designed other Klingon weapons for The Next Generation such as the bat'leth.[48]
The sets for the USS Stargazer from the second season were re-dressed to portray a different starship in the third,[48] the USS Titan.[49] The Titan previously appeared in the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks as a Luna-class ship designed by Sean Tourangeau, but Matalas felt that design was specific to the Next Generation era and wanted to consider new designs that aligned with the Picard era's Stargazer design. He worked with Blass, Drexler, and Eaves to determine what the design could be based on potential fictional events that would impact Starfleet design decisions. They decided that some older design elements from before the Next Generation era could be brought back for the new period of scientific exploration, which led to them creating the USS Titan-A, a new version of the ship that was refit to feature Constitution-class design elements (based on the starships from the Original Series era) after the original was retired. The new ship is a Neo-Constitution- or Constitution III-class ship, and was based on Star Trek fan Bill Krause's designs for an Original Series-era Constitution-style ship called the Shangri-La-class. The season also reveals that before the Next Generation-era Luna-class Titan there was an earlier version of the ship that was Shangri-La-class. Matalas described the USS Titan-A as a "long-range workhorse of a ship. Harkening back to the Constitution-class that was designed for the long 5-year missions. It is an exploratory vessel with some serious maneuvering capabilities." He compared the use of an older-style ship to Tom Cruise's Pete "Maverick" Mitchell flying a P-51 Mustang fighter plane from the 1940s in Top Gun: Maverick (2022).[50]
The season also introduces the SS Eleos, a former Starfleet science and medical ship that Beverly Crusher uses, as well as a new Spacedock based on the one that was first introduced in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).[50] Matalas added that the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-F) would have a role in the season.[48] The last Enterprise to appear in the official timeline was the USS Enterprise-E in Nemesis; the Enterprise-F is an Odyssey-class starship that was designed by Adam Ihle for 25th-century stories in the Star Trek Online video game.[51][52]Star Trek Online designer and associate art director Thomas Marrone built the digital model of the Enterprise-F, which he provided to Picard's visual effects team just as he did with other starship models for the previous season.[52][53][54]
Filming
Filming for the second season began on February 16, 2021,[55] with some third-season scenes being filmed at the same time.[56] Production was taking place in California where the series received tax incentives to continue filming there after the first season.[57] The second and third seasons had one of the largest television series crews at the time with more than 450 crewmembers.[58] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, strict guidelines were followed on set and cast and crew members were regularly tested.[56]Principal photography for the second season ended on September 2, and the production then segued fully into filming the third.[19]
As with the previous seasons, filming was divided into two-episode blocks.[29]Picard's producing director Doug Aarniokoski directed the first block.[29] Matalas wanted Joe Menendez, whom he worked with on 12 Monkeys, to return as a director from the second season of Picard but Menendez was unable to due to a scheduling conflict with his series Kung Fu.[59]:12:10–12:55 Frequent Star Trek director Frakes, who the producers initially wanted to focus on his acting rather than direct for the season, stepped in to direct the second block,[60] and completed filming for his episodes by the end of December 2021.[61] There was a break in filming for the Christmas holidays and production resumed on January 3, 2022, but more than 50 members of the production crew and main cast tested positive for COVID-19 on that day. Filming for the season was immediately shut down,[58] but resumed on January 7.[62] Dan Liu and Deborah Kampmeier directed the next two blocks of episodes, and Matalas directed the last block.[29] He was filming the series finale by February 28.[63][64] Production on the series wrapped on March 8.[65]
Visual effects
The user interfaces for the starships were created by visual effects company Twisted Media, based on the LCARS computer system. They referenced the designs from The Next Generation and the films of that era, as well as the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (1991) reference guide by Rick Sternbach and Michael Okuda. Okuda consulted on the company's LCARS designs, as did Drexler who also provided digital models that were integrated into the interface screens.[66] For two episodes in the second season, Todd A. Marks and his video playback company Images on Screen used a combination of LGOLED screens and Screen Innovations' FlexGlass projection screens (paired with rear screen projectors) to display the user interfaces on set during filming. The success of the FlexGlass projection technology led to it being used much more in the third season.[67]
Music
Stephen Barton was hired to compose the season's score, replacing Jeff Russo from the first two seasons, after working with Matalas on the series 12 Monkeys.[68] Barton and Matalas began work on the season's score by April 2022,[69] composing new themes together including the theme for the USS Titan-A.[70]Frederik Wiedmann provided additional music for the season, which Matalas said was necessary due to the scope of the score for the later episodes.[31]
Matalas said the music for the season was strongly influenced by the work of composers Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner for the Star Trek films.[25] He added that themes from four different iterations of Star Trek would be used together in the score,[27] which Barton described as a "6 1/2 hour love letter in music" to Goldsmith, Horner, and the Next Generation composers.[71] At the end of July, Barton and Matalas were recording the score with an 80-person orchestra at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros. Studios in California.[68]Craig Huxley contributed performances on the blaster beam, an instrument that he invented and previously played on the soundtrack of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).[69]
In January 2023, Matalas said they were discussing whether to release the soundtrack album before the season premiered or wait to avoid it spoiling the ending. They were unable to release the soundtrack in different volumes, as was done for other television series, due to union rules.[72][73] The soundtrack was ultimately released on April 20, coinciding with the release of the final episode. All music by Stephen Barton and Frederik Wiedmann:[74]
Star Trek: Picard – Season 3 (Original Series Soundtrack)
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Beverly Crusher"
3:02
2.
"Old Communicator"
1:59
3.
"Hello, Beautiful"
1:57
4.
"Leaving Spacedock"
3:45
5.
"I Like That Seven!"
3:29
6.
"Breaking the Beam"
3:59
7.
"The Shrike"
3:35
8.
"Picard's Answer"
4:09
9.
"Riker and Jack"
2:09
10.
"Call Me Number One"
2:02
11.
"No Win Scenario"
3:57
12.
"Blood in the Water"
2:58
13.
"Let's Go Home"
3:24
14.
"Flying Blind"
5:51
15.
"A New Family"
4:16
16.
"Klingons Never Disappoint"
5:32
17.
"I Do See You"
5:27
18.
"Legacies"
3:16
19.
"Evolution"
2:44
20.
"La Forges"
2:08
21.
"Invisible Rescue"
3:34
22.
"Catch Me First"
2:33
23.
"Proteus"
3:46
24.
"Dominion"
7:05
25.
"Lower the Partition"
3:39
26.
"Get Off My Bridge"
4:26
27.
"Family Reunion"
3:18
28.
"Impossible"
1:37
29.
"Frontier Day"
2:44
30.
"Hail the Fleet"
4:03
31.
"You Have the Conn"
3:44
32.
"Make It So"
6:02
33.
"This Ends Tonight"
3:08
34.
"Battle on the Bridge"
2:59
35.
"All That's Left"
2:02
36.
"Annihilate"
3:06
37.
"Trust Me"
2:06
38.
"The Last Generation"
2:51
39.
"Where It All Began"
2:19
40.
"The Missing Part of Me"
4:31
41.
"Must Come to an End"
1:33
42.
"A New Day"
3:22
43.
"Legacy and Future"
1:44
44.
"Names Mean Everything"
1:44
45.
"The Stars – End Credits"
3:00
Total length:
2:30:00
Marketing
Unusually for a television showrunner, Matalas was able to collaborate with the Paramount+ marketing department and editor Drew Nichols on the trailers for the season so he would be happy about how much information was released early.[75] A teaser was released on April 5, 2022, celebrating "First Contact Day" which marks the fictional holiday when first contact between humans and aliens was made in the Star Trek universe. The teaser included the announcement of the returning Next Generation cast members with voiceover from those actors and footage of Picard looking at an old uniform.[1] Another teaser was released during the Star Trek Universe panel at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2022, giving a first look at the returning Next Generation cast members in costume.[26] Character posters for Stewart, Ryan, Hurd, and the returning Next Generation actors were also released.[76]
On September 8, Stewart, Ryan, and Hurd promoted the series at a "Star Trek Day" event where the season's premiere date was announced and a new teaser introducing the USS Titan was revealed.[49][77] A month later, at New York Comic Con, the season was promoted during a Star Trek Universe panel with Stewart, Sirtis, McFadden, Dorn, Burton, Frakes, Spiner, and executive producers Matalas, Roddenberry, and Kurtzman.[5] A new trailer was released at the panel, revealing Plummer's casting as the villain as well as the returns of Lore and Professor Moriarty.[6] James Whitbrook at Gizmodo praised the trailer for teasing what will happen in the season beyond the nostalgic returns of the Next Generation cast that the previous teasers focused on. Whitbrook described the new trailer as "absolutely bananas", mostly because of the Lore and Moriarty reveals.[78] At Den of Geek, John Saavedra said there was "plenty to point out" in the trailer and also highlighted those two characters.[79] Samantha Coley at Collider said the trailer was "jam-packed with action, emotion, and new and returning characters".[6]
A final trailer for the season was released on January 29, 2023, during the AFC Championship Game. It revealed the involvement of Speleers and Stashwick. The key art for the season was also released at that time.[43] Ryan Britt of Inverse said the trailer "doubles-down" on the previous trailers' reveals. He felt the stakes were closer to a film than a normal season of Star Trek television, and said the end of the trailer, with the returning Next Generation characters all together, felt "momentous".[80] Ben F. Silverio at /Film said the trailer "shines some light on the mission that brings this iconic group back together",[81] and Whitbrook said the season looked "apocalyptic".[82]
Release
The season premiered on Paramount+ in the United States on February 16, 2023, and ran for 10 episodes until April 20.[49] Matalas said in August 2022 that the season would be ready for release later that year and he had tried to move the premiere to Christmas 2022, but Paramount+ wanted it to be released in 2023.[29][83] Each episode of Picard is broadcast in Canada by Bell Media on the same day as the Paramount+ release, on the specialty channels CTV Sci-Fi Channel (English) and Z (French) before streaming on Crave.[84]Amazon Prime Video streams the episodes within 24 hours of their U.S. release in over 200 other countries and territories around the world.[85]
In February 2023, Paramount made a new deal with Prime Video for the series' international streaming rights. This allowed the season to be streamed on Paramount+ in some other countries, within 24 hours of each episode's U.S. debut, alongside its Prime Video release. The first two seasons were also added to Paramount+ internationally in addition to remaining on Prime Video.[86] In August 2023, Star Trek content was removed from Crave and the season began streaming on Paramount+ in Canada. The series would continue to be broadcast on CTV Sci-Fi and be available on CTV.ca and the CTV app.[87][88]
Reception
Viewership
Eric Deggans of NPR included the season on his list of most anticipated series of early 2023,[89] and staff at Collider included it on their list of most anticipated series of the whole year.[90]
Star Trek: Picard(season 3): Critical reception by episode
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Season 3 (2023):Percentage of positive critics' reviews tracked by the website Rotten Tomatoes[94]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 98% approval score with an average rating of 8.6/10 based on 100 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Finally getting the band back together, Picard's final season boldly goes where the previous generation had gone before—and is all the better for it."[94]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 83 out of 100 based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[95]
Accolades
Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden were named TVLine's "Performers of the Week" for the week of February 26, 2023, for their performances in the episode "Seventeen Seconds". The site focused on the scene in which Picard confronts Crusher about their son, saying Stewart "did some of his best work ever as Jean-Luc in those moments, and McFadden matched him beat for emotional beat... plumbing depths that Trek shows rarely attempt to reach".[96] The site also named Amanda Plummer and Michelle Forbes as honorable mentions for their performances in "Disengage" and "Imposters", respectively. They said Plummer was "deliciously evil as Vadic" and the first memorable villain of the modern Star Trek series, while Forbes was a "jaw-dropping blast from the past" who let the audience see "the decades of pain buried deep inside Ro" in her scenes with Stewart.[97][98]
In July 2023, Brady Langmann and Adrienne Westenfeld of Esquire named the season one of the 20 best series of 2023 so far.[99] At the end of the year, the series was named on best television series lists for 2023 by The Salt Lake Tribune (1st),[100]Den of Geek (10th)[101] and Total Film (19th),[102] as well as by Collider on an unranked list.[103]
James Mackinnon, Hugo Villasenor, Bianca Appice, Kevin Wasner, Afton Storton, Kevin Haney, Neville Page, and Vincent Van Dyke (for "The Last Generation")
Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. It originally aired from September 28, 1987, to May 23, 1994, in syndication, spanning 178 episodes over seven seasons. The third series in the Star Trek franchise, it was inspired by Star Trek: The Original Series. Set in the latter third of the 24th century, when Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of a Starfleet starship, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), in its exploration of the Alpha quadrant and Beta quadrant in the Milky Way galaxy.
Cheryl Gates McFadden is an American actress and choreographer. She is usually credited as Cheryl McFadden when working as a choreographer and Gates McFadden when working as an actress. She played Dr. Beverly Crusher in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, its four subsequent films and the sequel series Star Trek: Picard.
Brent Jay Spiner is an American actor best known for his role as the android Data on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), four subsequent films (1994–2002), and Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023). In 1997, he won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Data in Star Trek: First Contact, and was nominated in the same category for portraying Dr. Brackish Okun in Independence Day, a role he reprised in Independence Day: Resurgence. Spiner has also enjoyed a career in the theater and as a musician. He's also known for voicing The Joker in the animated series Young Justice (2011–2022).
Michael Dorn is an American actor best known for his role as the Klingon character Worf in the Star Trek franchise, appearing in all seven seasons of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), and later reprising the role in Seasons 4 through 7 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1995–1999) and season three of Star Trek: Picard (2023). Dorn has appeared more times as a regular cast member than any other Star Trek actor in the franchise's history, spanning five films and 284 television episodes.
"The Inner Light" is the 125th episode overall and the 25th and penultimate episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. The episode was written by freelance writer Morgan Gendel based on his original pitch. It was partly inspired by the Beatles' song "The Inner Light", written by George Harrison and based on verses in the Tao Te Ching. Gendel is credited as writer of the story and co-writer of the teleplay with Peter Allan Fields. It was first broadcast on June 1, 1992.
Gary Seven is the major character in the last episode of the second season of the original Star Trek television series, "Assignment: Earth". He is portrayed by Robert Lansing.
Michael Okuda is an American graphic designer best known for his work on Star Trek including designing futuristic computer user interfaces known as "okudagrams".
Denise Lynn Okuda is a computer, scenic and video supervisor, and a writer known for her work on several Star Trek film and television productions, as well as other science fiction television. She also co-authored the Star Trek Encyclopedia and the Star Trek Chronology.
Star Trek is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. Since its creation, the franchise has expanded into various films, television series, video games, novels, and comic books, and it has become one of the most recognizable and highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
Jean-Luc Picard is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise, most often seen as the captain of the Federation starship USS Enterprise(NCC-1701-D). Played by Patrick Stewart, Picard has appeared in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) and the premiere episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as well as the feature films Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). He is also featured as the central character in the show Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023).
Star Trek: Discovery is an American science fiction television series created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman for the streaming service CBS All Access. It is the seventh Star Trek series and debuted in 2017. The series follows the crew of the starship Discovery beginning a decade before Star Trek: The Original Series in the 23rd century. At the end of the second season, they travel to the 32nd century which is the setting for subsequent seasons.
Star Trek: Picard is an American science fiction television series created by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, and Alex Kurtzman for the streaming service CBS All Access. It is the eighth Star Trek series and was released from 2020 to 2023 as part of Kurtzman's expanded Star Trek Universe. The series focuses on retired Starfleet Admiral Jean-Luc Picard. It begins at the end of the 24th century, 20 years after the character's last appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).
Star Trek: Lower Decks is an American adult animated science fiction television series created by Mike McMahan for the streaming service CBS All Access. It is the ninth Star Trek series and debuted in 2020 as part of executive producer Alex Kurtzman's expanded Star Trek Universe. The franchise's first animated series since Star Trek: The Animated Series concluded in 1974, and also its first comedy, Lower Decks follows the low-ranking support crew of the starship Cerritos in the 24th century.
Terry Matalas is an American television writer, director, and executive producer, best known for co-creating and showrunning 12 Monkeys (2015–2018), which ran for four seasons on SyFy. He was a showrunner on the fourth season of MacGyver for CBS (2020) and the second and third seasons of Star Trek: Picard on Paramount+ (2022–2023).
The first season of the American television series Star Trek: Picard features the character Jean-Luc Picard after he retired from Starfleet following the destruction of the planet Romulus. Living on his family's vineyard in 2399, Picard is drawn into a new adventure when he is visited by the daughter of android lieutenant commander Data. The season was produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Secret Hideout, Weed Road Pictures, Escapist Fare, and Roddenberry Entertainment, with Michael Chabon serving as showrunner.
The second season of the American television series Star Trek: Picard features the character Jean-Luc Picard in the year 2401. He and his companions are trapped in an alternate reality by the extra-dimensional being Q as part of the ultimate trial for Picard, and must travel back to 2024 Los Angeles to save the future of the galaxy. The season was produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout, Weed Road Pictures, and Roddenberry Entertainment, with Akiva Goldsman and Terry Matalas serving as showrunners.
Star Trek: Prodigy is an American animated science fiction television series created by Kevin and Dan Hageman for the streaming service Paramount+ and the cable channel Nickelodeon. It is the tenth Star Trek series and debuted in 2021 as part of executive producer Alex Kurtzman's expanded Star Trek Universe. Prodigy is the first Star Trek series to target younger audiences, and the franchise's first solely 3D animated series. It follows a group of young aliens in the 24th century who find the abandoned starship Protostar.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is an American science fiction television series created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet for the streaming service Paramount+. It is the 11th Star Trek series and debuted in 2022 as part of Kurtzman's expanded Star Trek Universe. A spin-off from Star Trek: Discovery, it follows Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the starship Enterprise in the 23rd century as they explore new worlds and carry out missions throughout the galaxy during the decade before Star Trek: The Original Series.
The fifth and final season of the American television series Star Trek: Discovery follows the crew of the starship Discovery in the 32nd century, more than 900 years after Star Trek: The Original Series, on a galactic adventure to find a mysterious power that has been hidden for centuries and which other dangerous groups are also searching for. The season was produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment, with Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise serving as showrunners.
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