Star Trek: Picard season 2 will deal with time travel, which might ignite the Temporal Wars referenced in Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Enterprise. The addition of Q (John de Lancie) to the cast of Star Trek: Picard season 2 has been teased as one of the reasons Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) will launch an adventure through time that promises to show aspects of Star Trek: The Next Generation's history that have never been seen before. But time travel usually has profound consequences and whatever Picard does through time might just lead to the Temporal Wars.
While Star Trek: Picard is not set aboard the USS Enterprise-E, season 1 proved that the Patrick Stewart-led series impacts the franchise in a major way. Star Trek: Picard season 1 dealt with the fallout of the Romulan sun going supernova, which dramatically altered the fate of the Romulan Star Empire, and how Admiral Picard's efforts to help the Romulans ended up costing him his Starfleet career. Meanwhile, the bulk of Star Trek: Picard's story was about Jean-Luc's quest to rescue Soji (Isa Briones), the synthetic daughter of the late Commander Data (Brent Spiner), which involved the Borg and a far-reaching Romulan plot that led to artificial lifeforms being banned in the United Federation of Planets for 14 years. Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) of Star Trek: Voyager also joined the fold. By the end of Star Trek: Picard season 1, Jean-Luc helped stop an ancient race of synthetics from attacking the galaxy, discovered a new race of androids, said his final goodbyes to Data, and Picard also died and was resurrected in an android body.
Star Trek: Picard season 1 rewrote Star Trek canon. The show's stakes have proven to be massive and consequential for the Star Trek franchise and there's reason to believe season 2's ambitions are just as lofty. Further, Paramount+'s multiple series are actively weaving the Star Trek Universe together into a unified whole. Star Trek: Discovery season 3, which is now set in the 32nd century, not only saw the events of TNG's "Unification" two-parter directly referenced (with a cameo by Picard), but also reintroduced the Temporal Wars and had its own journey through both time and into the Mirror Universe of the past thanks to the Guardian of Forever (Paul Guilfoyle).
Time travel is a well-established sci-fi device Star Trek generally excels at. By making time the focal point of Star Trek: Picard season 2, Patrick Stewart's show is aiming to make time travel even more crucial to the fate of the franchise. This is why it's very possible the events of Star Trek: Picard season 2 could set the stage for the Temporal Wars that will ultimately reach back to Star Trek: Enterprise's 22nd century, Star Trek: Discovery's distant future, and even into the Kelvin timeline of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies.
The Temporal Wars In Star Trek
The Temporal Cold Wars were introduced in Star Trek: Enterprise. The conflict involved several factions from the 31st century, including the Suliban, the Sphere-Builders, and the Federation, trying to manipulate history in violation of the Temporal Accords, which were placed in effect in the 2700s. Starfleet, the Klingons, the Tholians, and the Xindi were among the proxy powers utilized to fight battles as part of the Temporal Cold War. During the 30th century, the Federation was plunged into the Temporal Wars and spent decades waging a costly fight to uphold the Temporal Accords.
Star Trek: Discovery season 3 revealed that by the year 3189, time travel technology had been outlawed. In the 32nd century, the Federation took steps so that the weaponization of time wouldn't happen again, which included the Interdimensional Displacement Restriction, which banned time travel across universes. The Federation also learned that traveling through both time and across universes has a deleterious effect where the person's molecules begin breaking apart trying to return to their proper time and space. Further, rival factions attempted to weaponize the Guardian of Forever in the Temporal Wars, which prompted it to hide on Dannus V near the Gamma Quadrant.
How Picard Season 2 Will Involve Time Travel
In Star Trek: Picard's season 2 trailer, Q announced that "The trial never ends". This harkens back to the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "All Good Things", which was a time travel adventure that tested Picard in TNG's past, present, and future. Of course, Q is an omnipotent cosmic being who can manipulate time, space, and reality, so Star Trek: Picard season 2 could be taking the concept of "All Good Things" and making the entire season about Picard facing his past regrets and possibly even changing his (and others') history in a "What If?" fashion. Indeed, an hourglass where the sand is running backward in Picard's study is a strong visual hint that time will go topsy-turvy.
However, Q isn't the only intriguing element of time travel teased in Star Trek: Picard's season 2 trailer. Also in Jean-Luc's study is the Reckoning tablet, an ancient Bajoran artifact that appeared in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The tablet was broken by Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), who was also the Emissary of the Prophets of Bajor. Sisko inadvertently released a Prophet and a Pah-Wraith, the rival gods of Bajor, who were trapped in the tablet. By the end of DS9, Sisko himself ascended into a higher form and became one with the Prophets, turning into a being who exists in non-linear time. While fans hope this hints that Avery Brooks could return as Sisko in Star Trek: Picard season 2, it does create hope that Patrick Stewart's series will also weave Star Trek: Deep Space Nine into its macro time travel story.
Picard Season 2 Could Link To Discovery And Abrams' Star Trek
Considering the compelling details Star Trek: Discovery season 3 offered about the Temporal Wars, it's hard to believe that the concept will remain part of the franchise's background. However, Star Trek: Discovery is set after the Temporal Wars happened and the trailer for Discovery season 4 indicates Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her crew will not tackle time travel again but will instead focus on stopping a gravitational anomaly from destroying the galaxy. Since time travel is already banned in the 32nd century, it means the Temporal Wars won't be in Discovery's purview, but it could easily become something Star Trek: Picard, which is set at the dawn of the 25th century, will set up. After all, it likely no coincidence Picard is dealing with time travel once more.
Star Trek: Picard is a unique position in the franchise as it's leading the forward progress of the TNG era into the 25th century but still in firmly the middle of Star Trek's expansive timeline, with Star Trek: Enterprise in the past and Star Trek: Discovery charting the distant future. Therefore, Picard is in the ideal choice to delve into a time-travel saga that unites the franchise - and that includes J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies as well. Star Trek: Discovery season 3 not only made the Abrams films canon but it introduced Yor, a Starfleet time soldier who existed in the 24th century of the Kelvin timeline and crossed over (to tragically perish) in the Prime timeline. Whatever Star Trek: Picard season 2's time travel adventure entails, it could serve as the flashpoint that leads to the Temporal Wars that brings the Star Trek Universe into a conflict across the twin final frontiers of time and space.