Guinan's return in Star Trek: Picard season 2 is exciting, but it also raises an age problem that the show had with Data in season 1. Picard season 1 premiered in January of 2020 and reintroduced several established Star Trek characters, including Jean-Luc Picard as the protagonist. Season 1's plot revolved around Picard's mortality and guilt over his past actions while embroiling him in storylines that involved androids, the Borg, and covert Romulan operations. Seasons 2 and 3 of Picard are currently in production, and from what has been revealed, it seems that season 2 will focus on time travel and continue the tradition of bringing back beloved characters from previous shows. Returning characters include John de Lancie's Q and Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan.
Guinan was first introduced in season 2 of Star Trek: The Next Generation and went on to play a significant recurring role throughout the rest of the series. As the enigmatic bartender of Ten Forward, Guinan served as a confidant for many of the ship's senior staff and was shown to have a close personal friendship with Captain Picard in particular. In January of 2020, during an appearance on Goldberg's show The View, Patrick Stewart extended a personal invitation to Goldberg to reprise her role as Guinan for Star Trek: Picard season 2, an offer Goldberg accepted. The details of Guinan's storyline in Picard season 2 have yet to be revealed, but fans have been eagerly awaiting any clues to what her role might be.
However, bringing Guinan back causes an issue that Picard already dealt with in season 1. Guinan is an El-Aurian, a race of aliens who are extremely long-lived and do not visibly age in the same way humans do. The over twenty-year period between the end of The Next Generation and the beginning of Picard should not have caused Guinan to look any older, but being human, Goldberg has, of course, aged since the last time she played the character. This means that Picard will need to find a way to explain the change in her appearance. The show ran into this same problem with Data in season 1. Still, his visible aging could be explained by the fact that the version of Data the audience saw was either a dream or a remnant of the character's consciousness, meaning he could technically take on any form or age that was appropriate for the situation.
Guinan isn't going to be the only character in Picard season 2 who will need to have their aging explained. Q also presents with the same problem since his species have been established as immortal beings who cannot age or die unless under particular circumstances. Like Data, however, Q's aging is easy for the show to explain away. The character can change his appearance at will and has a history of doing so as a way to meddle with Jean-Luc Picard. Aging himself as a form of teasing Picard by matching him is entirely in character for Q and will very likely be the explanation given for his change in appearance. Guinan's aging, however, will be harder for the series to explain.
Although Guinan's age presents the biggest problem for Picard, there are certainly ways for the show to explain her appearance. Since all signs point to season 2's main storyline being about time travel, it is very possible that Guinan could appear as a far-future version of herself who has aged. Additionally, the show could use CGI techniques to make Goldberg appear younger, although they did not attempt this with Data in season 1, making the possibility less likely. Whatever the explanation, fans hopefully won't have to wait too much longer for more information about Guninan's upcoming appearance on Star Trek: Picard.