Professor James Moriarty (Daniel Davis) is back in Star Trek: Picard season 3, but how? Moriarty is among the huge surprises in the new Star Trek: Picard season 3 trailer, which focuses on the villains of the final season of the hit Paramount+ series that reunites Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) with the full cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Star Trek: Picard season 3 also brings back Lore (Brent Spiner) and introduces a new Big Bad named Captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer). But it's Moriarty's return that perhaps raises the most questions.
Moriarty pops up at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 3's trailer, where he utters the line, "Greetings, old friends!" and pulls out a pistol. It is apparently the same Moriarty who was last seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6 episode, "Ship in a Bottle." Yet Moriarty was always a hologram, so is the 19th century criminal mastermind back in the flesh? There are a couple of ways this is possible, if so. Star Trek: Voyager introduced the mobile emitter that allowed the holographic Doctor (Robert Picardo) to leave Sickbay; perhaps Professor Moriarty has a 25th century version of the device that allows him to function outside of a holodeck program. Another possibility is that Moriarty is back in a synthetic body. After all, Star Trek: Picard season 1 introduced perfectly human-like androids in Soji and Dahj (Isa Briones), and Jean-Luc Picard himself died and was resurrected in a synthetic body. Perhaps the genius Moriarty accomplished the same feat, either by himself or maybe with the help of Lore.
TNG's Professor James Moriarty Explained
Moriarty was introduced in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2 episode "Elementary Dear Data." He was the foil for Data (Brent Spiner), who enjoyed role playing as Sherlock Holmes, with Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) as Watson, on the holodeck. Moriarty was upgraded into a program who could challenge Data's intellect, and the virtual villain quickly became self-aware and attempted to take over the USS Enterprise-D. Along with his love interest, Countess Regina Bartholemew (Stephanie Beacham), Moriarty again tried to gain control of the Enterprise in the TNG season 6 episode, "Ship in a Bottle." Captain Picard's solution was to place Moriarty and Regina in an endlessly regenerating holodeck program which would allow them to explore the galaxy and live out their lives.
However, it was always a lingering question what happened to Moriarty and his program after the Enterprise-D was destroyed in Star Trek Generations. Whether Moriarty's program was salvaged or lost was never determined. Nonetheless, Moriarty is now back in Star Trek: Picard season 3, which will hopefully provide an explanation for how this is possible.
Everything Revealed About Moriarty's Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Return
Daniel Davis recently provided a few more scintillating details about his return as Professor Moriarty in a Cameo that was reported by TrekMovie.com. According to the actor, Moriarty only appears in one episode of Star Trek: Picard season 3, and his return is "a bit of a callback to an earlier season, way before Moriarty even appeared actually—the first meeting between Riker and Data." Davis must be referring to the Star Trek: The Next Generation pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint," when Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) first met Data and called the android, "Pinocchio."
Davis also added that Riker says in the script of his appearance in Star Trek: Picard season 3, "'This is not the Moriarity that we know from the Enterprise.' And in fact, that is true... It’s a different kind of Moriarty, but it’s still Moriarty." Daniel Davis' hints do point towards the possibility that Moriarty is back as a synthetic or that he underwent a profound change since his last TNG appearance, be it physically or mentally. The mystery of Professor James Moriarty is certainly one of the most compelling aspects of Star Trek: Picard season 3.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 premieres February 16, 2023, on Paramount+.