Here is everything that Star Trek: Picard is a sequel to. In early 2020, Patrick Stewart will return as Jean-Luc Picard, the beloved Captain of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Set decades after his adventures leading the U.S.S. Enterprise-D and E, Star Trek: Picard finds the former Starfleet Admiral pulled from his restless retirement into a new adventure in outer space.
At San Diego Comic-Con, the Star Trek: Picard trailer was released, which gave scintillating hints at the next chapter in Picard's life. When a mysterious woman named Dahj (Isa Briones) comes to him for help, Picard embarks on a new mission which will lead to him confronting the Romulans and the Borg - but he has to do so without the authority of Starfleet he once enjoyed. Along the way, the former Captain of the Enterprise will join up with a new, ragtag crew of renegades and jump to warp speed aboard a new starship - but that doesn't mean there won't be some familiar faces in Star Trek: Picard. Confirmed to appear in the series are The Next Generation cast members Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), Data (Brent Spiner), and Star Trek: Voyager's Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan)!
With a Star Trek icon who has a history as storied as Jean-Luc Picard, it's only natural that Star Trek: Picard pulls from and homages key moments of Jean-Luc's life and career that fans fondly recall from Star Trek: The Next Generation. As the serialized CBS All-Access series continues the story of one of Starfleet's greatest leaders, it is also the next chapter of the 24th-century era of Star Trek. Here is everything that Star Trek: Picard effectively serves as a sequel to.
Star Trek: Picard Is A Direct Sequel To Star Trek: Nemesis
Star Trek: Picard picks up Jean-Luc's story roughly 20 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. The 2002 film was the final big-screen appearance of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation and it was a devastating event for Picard. In Nemesis, the Enterprise Captain learned that the Romulans had created a clone of him named Shinzon (Tom Hardy), who in turn installed himself as Praetor and enacted a plot to destroy the Federation and Picard.
To defeat Shinzon, Commander Data sacrificed himself and perished, which Picard directly references in the Star Trek: Picard trailer: "Nearly 20 years ago, Commander Data sacrificed his life for me." The disassembled body of B-4, the android Data transferred his memory engrams into before he died, is also shown in the trailer, as is Data himself playing cards with Picard (though that moment could be a flashback or a holodeck simulation). Regardless, Star Trek: Picard is the long-awaited follow-up to Star Trek: Nemesis.
The Destruction Of Romulus In J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009)
The circumstances which led to Picard leaving Starfleet are tied to the destruction of the planet Romulus, which was a pivotal event in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009) that set his rebooted Kelvin timeline in motion. In the Prime Universe, which Star Trek: Picard is set in, Romulus was destroyed by a supernova in 2387 (8 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis), despite the best efforts of Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Although Spock and the Romulan villain Nero (Eric Bana) time-traveled to the 23rd century and created the Kelvin timeline, the fallout to Romulus' destruction plays a huge role in Jean-Luc Picard's life.
What we know thus far is that Admiral Picard led the greatest rescue effort in Federation history to try to save the Romulan people but he paid a terrible price that caused him to lose faith in and leave Starfleet. Years later, the Romulans seem to be conducting illicit experiments of former members of the Borg Collective, which is what Star Trek: Picard's story will deal with. So, despite J.J. Abrams' trilogy taking place in an alternate past and reality, Star Trek 2009 left a lasting mark on the Prime Universe that Star Trek: Picard will deal with head-on.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Episodes Referenced In Picard
Naturally, Star Trek: Picard pulls from and homages key moments of Jean-Luc's life and career that fans fondly recall from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The series begins with a retired Picard living in his family's vineyard in La Barre, France, which was his boyhood home first seen in the classic TNG episode "Family". Just like he did as a child, Picard still gazes at the stars and wishes to be part of something more. However, Jean-Luc lives alone in Chateau Picard (except for a dog named Number One) because his older brother Robert and his nephew Rene tragically died in a fire during Star Trek Generations. Picard tried to bravely soldier on after receiving this devastating news and Counselor Deanna Troi had to remind him, "Captain, it's not all right."
Speaking of Troi, the Star Trek: Picard trailer also showed a glimpse of the Captain Picard Day banner; the Next Generation episode "The Pegasus" introduced this special holiday where children of the Enterprise-D celebrated their heroic captain, all under Troi's supervision. Further, the Romulans are villains in Star Trek: Picard; the Starfleet hero had many dealings with the insidious, pointy-eared race in TNG, the most pivotal of which was Picard aiding in Ambassador Spock's attempts to bring Romulus and Vulcan together in the two-parter "Unification".
The Borg Plays A Major Role In Star Trek: Picard
The fact that Star Trek: Picard's story deals with the Borg ties into Picard's long history battling the cyborg race from the Delta Quadrant. Picard's Borg troubles began when he was captured and turned into Locutus of Borg in the classic two-parter "The Best of Both Worlds", though Picard seemingly put this demon to rest when he killed the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) in Star Trek: First Contact. In Star Trek: Picard, he will once more meet Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco), the Borg the Enterprise crew reverted back to his humanity in "I, Borg". Hugh, who now leads a colony of former Borg, also appeared in the two-parter "Descent", where Lore (Brent Spiner), Data's android "brother", took over a section of the Borg Collective.
Star Trek: Picard's trailer has already shown glimpses of the Romulans keeping de-Borgified former members of the Collective in gulags for their experiments. The Romulans also took control of a Borg Cube and the technology within. And yet, despite the threat the cybernetic beings pose to the Federation, it's because of the abuse he suffered at the Borg's hands that Picard has also shown compassion for the people forcibly assimilated into the Collective. Picard's empathy is the reason why he will help Dahj, the mysterious ex-Borg woman who comes to him for sanctuary, in Star Trek: Picard.
Seven of Nine And Star Trek: Voyager
Seven of Nine's appearance in Star Trek: Picard is a shocker considering the two fan-favorites had never met before, but it also makes perfect sense since the Borg are part of the series. Seven, whose real name is Annika Hansen, was the most successful case of a human returned from the Borg Collective. Assimilated when she was a girl, Seven of Nine was rescued and joined the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager at the start of Star Trek: Voyager season 4. In real life, Jeri Ryan's catsuit-wearing Borg survivor became Star Trek: Voyager's most popular character and the face of the series.
In 2378, after seven years lost in the Delta Quadrant, the Starship Voyager returned to Earth in the series finale, "Endgame". Fans have wondered what became of Seven of Nine since then. Meanwhile, it's possible that positive fan reaction to Seven of Nine could open the door for CBS All-Access to consider a spinoff about the character, just like fans are demanding Anson Mount's Captain Pike and Ethan Peck's Spock get a spinoff series after winning fans over in Star Trek: Discovery season 2. Until that happens, the icons Picard and Seven of Nine joining forces effectively make Star Trek: Picard a sequel to Star Trek: Voyager.