Patrick Stewart's faux French accent in the latest episode of Star Trek: Picard might've seemed odd, but it was actually a throwback to his original casting in Star Trek: The Next Generation. In "Stardust City Rag," Picard hatches a plan to beam down to Star Trek's version of Canto Bight and retrieve Bruce Maddox, the man who created Dahj and Soji. Unfortunately, Maddox is currently in the hands of a criminal named Bjayzl, who is looking to use Bruce in negotiations with the Tal Shiar. In markedly better luck, the thing Bjayzl wants most has just beamed aboard Picard's ship - Seven of Nine.
Masquerading Seven as a commodity he wishes to exchange, a disguised Picard meets Bjayzl, offering the former Star Trek: Voyager favorite for the coveted android maker. In order to blend in with the locals, Picard and his allies are instructed to dress ostentatiously and act flamboyantly, and the former Starfleet admiral takes these guidelines to heart, employing a ridiculously exaggerated French accent that would make Inspector Jacques Clouseau blush. Seeing such a storied, often untouchable, actor of Stewart's standing descend into pantomime can feel quite jarring, even within the context of the crazy Freecloud planet, but there was a deeper meaning behind this creative choice.
Although it might feel like an unbelievable notion in hindsight, questions were raised about Patrick Stewart's suitability for the Picard role by none other than franchise creator, Gene Roddenberry, when Star Trek: The Next Generation started production, and one of his main bones of contention was nationality. With Picard himself pitched as being born in France, Roddenberry had reservations over whether a British actor predominantly known for performing Shakespearean theater could sit in the Enterprise-D's captain's chair, in addition to the actor's age and, believe it or not, baldness. Initially, The Next Generation's producers attempted to have Picard play the role with a French accent, but Patrick Stewart himself claims that this idea was swiftly nixed after a rehearsal session that yielded less than impressive results.
Obviously, Roddenberry relented, and Picard would go on to become an iconic character, not just in Star Trek but in the science fiction genre as a whole, with Patrick Stewart a massive part in that success. The conflict between character and actor nationalities quickly proved to be a non-issue, as Star Trek explained in canon that the French language was no longer widely used in the series' fictionalized future, similar to how Latin is perceived in the real-world, with certain words and phrases surviving, but the language itself mostly consigned to history. This explanation gave an on-screen account for Patrick Stewart's thick English accent.
Undoubtedly, Star Trek: Picard's overblown cartoon-French dialogue in "Stardust City Rag" is a thinly-veiled jab at the initial vision The Next Generation's producers had for the character, and a glimpse at the Jean-Luc Picard the world might've got if they'd stuck to the original outline. The joke perhaps also plays on criticism the Picard nationality issue had attracted, both with Roddenberry initially and with some viewers in the years since. With Stewart wearing a beret and putting on the aforementioned heavy accent in a caricature of a stereotypical Frenchman, he looks to be lampooning the Picard some thought a Starfleet captain born in France would be.
Star Trek: Picard continues with "The Impossible Box" February 27th on CBS All Access and Amazon Prime Video the following day.