The official Star Trek: Picard season 3 trailer has finally arrived. Packed with action scenes and emotional moments, the almost three-minute video features returning characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation and introduces brand-new faces, including one who appears to be Jean-Luc Picard’s son.
Does Picard have a son?
Although not confirmed yet, The Illuminerdi reported in July 2021 that Star Trek: Picard season 3 will reveal Jean-Luc Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) secret son. The sci-fi franchise has been teasing a romantic relationship between Picard and Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) since the original run of Star Trek: The Next Generation series. And while Star Trek has never fully gone there, recent interviews with Stewart and McFadden for Star Trek: Picard season 3 suggest that their characters became a thing, which resulted in the latter becoming pregnant without the former knowing.
“The discussions are often of a personal nature, a family nature,” teased Steward of what Star Trek: Picard season 3 will be about in an interview with TV Insider at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) in July 2022. Trekkies met Picard’s father and mother in Star Trek: Picard season 2, so meeting his secret son this season would bring things full circle for the character.
Also, at SDCC 2022, McFadden said: “I will say this script for season 3 of Picard, I think it’s the best stuff my character has ever had on a Star Trek show so I was thrilled about it and I hope the fans will be too. There’s a lot of unexpected things that happen. There’s a lot of unresolved issues between Picard and Crusher.”
While it’s unclear what those unresolved issues are, many fans speculate that one of those involves their rumored son. A lot of Trekkies are convinced that English actor Ed Speleers (Downton Abbey, Outlander) is the one playing Picard’s son.
According to the casting description for Picard’s son, the new character should be in his 20s. Although Speleers is already 34 years old, the actor will still pass as someone in his 20s. The age of Picard’s son also matches the 20-25 years that Picard and Crusher didn’t see each other — a timeframe that is long enough to hide a secret love child.
Speleer’s character appeared twice in the Star Trek: Picard season 3 trailer. In his first appearance, he enters a room holding William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) at gunpoint, resulting in Picard pulling out his phaser gun and aiming it at the new character.
In the latter part of the trailer, Speleer’s character pops up again. This time, he cryptically asks Picard if anyone he knows is still the person he knew. The antagonistic encounter between Picard and his rumored son makes sense because the two don’t probably even know that they are related by blood.
Does Picard ever have kids?
As mentioned above, there are theories that Picard and Cusher have a son together, whom the latter gave birth to between the 20-25 years the two had not seen each other in the main Star Trek timeline. While this speculation has yet to be confirmed in the upcoming Star Trek: Picard season 3, Trek Central pointed out in a YouTube video in August 2022, that Picard and Cusher have a son together, as revealed in the Star Trek novels set in the First Splinter timeline.
Named Rene Jacques Robert Francois Picard, he was born aboard the USS Enterprise-E in 2381 and was the half-brother of Wesley Crusher. Picard’s son was named in honor of Robert, Picard’s brother, and Rene, Picard’s nephew, who both died around the time of Star Trek: Generations.
While the events in the novels are set in a different timeline, it’s still possible that Star Trek: Picard season 3 will partly draw from the novel’s story
Did Picard and Crusher marry?
Picard and Crusher are not married in the main Star Trek timeline. But in the eNovella Star Trek: The Next Generation — Q Are Cordially Invited, which is part of the non-canonical Star Trek: The Next Generation Pocket Books series, it was revealed that Picard and Crusher tied the knot at s small, private affair overseen by the mayor of La Barre, France, and witnessed by the groom’s sister-in-law and the mayor’s wife.
Star Trek: Picard season 3 trailer
Aside from the appearance of Picard’s rumored son in the Star Trek: Picard season 3 trailer, there are a lot of other things to unpack from the promo video.
The trailer opens with Picard and Riker arriving on the USS Titan-A, where Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is now serving as a commander. The captain of the ship (12 Monkey’s Todd Stashwick) wasn’t there when Seven welcomed Picard and Riker on the ship, and when the two guests finally meet the captain, it’s clear that he isn’t that fond of them.
Elsewhere in the trailer, Worf (Michael Dorn) can be heard warning someone that “there’s some kind of an attack coming and that Starfleet could be the target.” The trailer then shows Raffi (Michelle Hurd) scanning her eye. While the reason for this is unclear, Raffi may be using some piece of tech to enhance herself, as she is seen pulling off some crazy moves against Worf at the end of the trailer.
The Star Trek: Picard season 3 trailer also shows Picard getting an encrypted message from Cusher warning him to “trust no one”.
Midway in the trailer, Vadic (Amanda Plummer) makes an appearance, along with the alien race helping her to accomplish her plan. According to What Did I Miss?, this alien race could be the Swarm. First appeared in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the Swarm species have a design and sound similar to the alien race featured in the trailer.
Other notable characters that appear in the Star Trek: Picard season 3 trailer include Data’s evil android twin brother, Lore (Brent Spiner), and Doctor Moriarty (Daniel Davis), the holodeck character who appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s episodes Elementary, my Dear Data, and Ship in a Bottle.
Star Trek: Picard season 3 release date
The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard will premiere on Thursday, February 16th on Paramount+.