Several members of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast celebrate Patrick Stewart's 80th birthday in masks. Stewart was a noted Shakespearean stage actor before he took on the role of Jean-Luc Picard in The Next Generation, the show that marked the small screen return of Trek after an absence of nearly two decades.

As fans well remember, things got off to a rocky start for the cast of TNG in the first couple seasons, but thankfully the show found its footing later and not only lived up to the original series but in many ways surpassed it. Stewart would of course continue playing the role of Picard on the big screen in a series of largely mediocre TNG movies, the last coming with 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis. Stewart then took his own extended vacation from the Trek franchise, but that ended earlier in 2020 when he returned as Picard for the CBS All Access series following a much older Jean-Luc on a new and mysterious mission into space.

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Though some fans took issue with the ways Picard changed up the Star Trek formula, the show did well enough to earn a second season, with Stewart again returning. It remains to be seen what other TNG stars might join Stewart in season 2 of Picard, but the actor certainly had ample opportunity to do some convincing when several of his TNG castmates recently joined him for his 80th birthday party. TNG producer Rick Berman shared an image of Stewart and his Trek companions enjoying some fun by the pool, responsibly masked and properly spaced out of course. See the image in the space below:

Of course, the partygoers featured in the above image are from left to right, Worf actor Michael Dorn, Deanna Troi actress Marina Sirtis, Stewart himself, Beverly Crusher actress Gates McFadden, Data actor Brent Spiner and Geordi La Forge actor LeVar Burton. Sirtis and Spiner obviously already reunited with Stewart on Picard, and Data indeed saw the apparent end of his story as his disembodied consciousness was allowed to die after one last meeting with his former captain (Spiner has indicated that he won’t play Data again, but is open to returning to Picard to play another character). Jonathan Frakes also made his way to Picard season 1 but apparently was not available for the party (unless he was simply off-camera, perhaps making some burned tomato pizza).

As always, it’s good to see that the TNG cast still enjoys being in each other’s company all these many years later. Of course, not all Star Trek actors have necessarily gotten along so well with their castmates, and indeed there have even been some high profile feuds (William Shatner and George Takei still have not buried the hatchet after decades of animosity). As for the future of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast as a unit, it seems Picard is the most likely place for a reunion, and after season 1’s return for Will Riker and Deanna Troi, it would not be a surprise to see a few more of the above-pictured actors showing up to support Stewart as he continues telling the story of Jean-Luc Picard, which appears ready to take some strange twists after season 1 shockingly left the captain in an android body.

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Source: Rick Berman/Twitter