There's a lot to remember before getting started with Star Trek: Picard, but here are the essentials to know before setting out on this brand new voyage. It's been 18 years since the legendary Patrick Stewart last hit engage and played Jean-Luc Picard on the big screen, but the actor has been tempted back by the intriguing premise of Star Trek: Picard. Beginning with the titular former captain in quiet retirement, the new series sees the veteran embark on one last mission to the stars, in an adventure than encompasses Borg, Romulans, angry meetings with Starfleet and a variety of familiar faces from Star Trek history.
Recent Star Trek projects have either been set within their own continuity (the Abrams movie series) or have acted as more of a prequel (Star Trek: Discovery), but Star Trek: Picard breaks that pattern by returning to the usual timeline and continuing the story of the prime universe more or less where things left off. The new series draws from elements of The Next Generation, Voyager, the 2009 movie and Nemesis, meaning there's more than a few things the audience need to be aware of to fully understand the landscape of the Star Trek world and Picard's character.
No doubt Star Trek: Picard will help the audience along a little in order to avoid alienating viewers who don't know the franchise inside out but, taking into account both the movies and TV series, here's what fans need to know ahead of Star Trek: Picard.
Meeting The Borg In The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced one of the most memorable villains in the franchise's history with the cold, cybernetic hive collective known as the Borg. Harboring a burning desire to assimilate organic matter, the Borg posed a huge threat to the Federation, and Picard in particular, turning the Enterprise captain into one of their own and rebranding him Locutus. Although Jean-Luc was able to regain his humanity, the experience of being forcibly turned into one of the Borg understandably colored Picard's view of the species forever, and he's arguably never completely recovered from the ordeal.
It wasn't all doom and gloom with the Borg in The Next Generation, fortunately. "I, Borg" introduced the notion that members of the Collective could regain their former humanity if separated from the rest of the hive for an extended period of time, while the physical cybernetic Borg enhancements could be partially reversed using human medical procedures. After capturing an abandoned Borg drone, the Enterprise (somewhat against Picard's wishes) nurtured their new friend, named him Hugh and taught him the human values that had been stripped out by the Borg. Hugh's alliance with the Enterprise crew continued in later episodes and he demonstrated a clear progression towards humanity.
Riker & Troi
Among the various The Next Generation characters returning for Star Trek: Picard are Will Riker and his wife, Deanna Troi. Serving as Picard's right-hand man, Riker was a renowned Starfleet officer (the best, according to his captain) and turned down several command posts in order to remain on the Enterprise. Although Riker and Picard's friendship never drifted into the parental overtones of his relationship with Data, the bond between Riker and his captain was one of firm friendship and unwavering loyalty. After marrying the Enteprise's counselor, Deannor Troi, Riker finally accepted captaincy of the U.S.S. Titan, with his new wife joining him on the ship. Little has been heard of Picard's Number One since he finally took his leave of the Enterprise.
Picard & Data's Relationship
Brent Spiner's Data was a unique member of the core Star Trek: The Next Generation cast in that he was a synthetic being - the first of his kind to join Starfleet. Throughout his tenure in the franchise, Data's personal character arc was one of continuous human development and the addition of an emotion chip helped facilitate his gradual transition from robot to "human." How Data learned about, adopted and then became accustomed to the human experience is a significant part of what made the character so interesting, but perhaps more important were the relationships he developed with the Enterprise crew - none more so than with his captain. When Data inadvertently triggered a latent dream program in his circuitry, he became preoccupied with the meaning of these human visions and sought to explore them through painting, while also seeking Picard's sage wisdom.
Picard would fight valiantly for Data's rights as a sentient being throughout The Next Generation, even when doing so pitted him against his own employers, as seen in the events of season 2's "The Measure of a Man." Subsequently, Data clearly looked up to Picard as a mentor and it's highly unlikely the android would've gained the level of humanity he did without the influence and teachings of Picard. The bond between Picard and Data was so strong that trust became implicit, and that growth culminated in the ultimate sacrifice during Star Trek: Nemesis, with Data giving his own life to spare his crew and captain. With Nemesis marking the most recent appearance of Patrick Stewart in the Star Trek franchise, there hasn't been an opportunity to really explore his character's reaction to Data's death, but if the trailer is anything to go by, Star Trek: Picard will soon change that.
Although it doesn't involve Picard directly, Data constructed a daughter called Lal in season 3's "The Offspring." The moral implications of this caused some debate, but Data took to fatherhood earnestly, if not always successfully. Sadly, Lal's life would be tragically short, but her existence taught Data the value of parenthood and the meaning of having a child to protect as one's own.
Seven Of Nine's Voyager Background
Similarly to Hugh, Star Trek: Voyager's Seven of Nine was once a fully paid-up member of the Borg Collective, later rehabilitated and taken in by a friendly Federation starship. Seven was sent onto the Voyager during Janeway's brief alliance with the Borg and, true to form, the representative attempted to assimilate her new colleagues before too long. Fortunately, the Voyager crew accounted for a potential betrayal and severed Seven's connection to the Borg Collective before she could make her move. Suddenly finding herself a de facto member of the Voyager crew, Seven's arc closely mirrored that of Data in The Next Generation, as she gradually became less mechanical and more human with each passing season, experiencing new emotions and feelings along the way. Seven's time aboard the Voyager also helped her rediscover memories from her pre-assimilation days and reconnect with her former humanity, rather than simply learning it from scratch.
Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine hasn't been glimpsed since the conclusion of Star Trek: Voyager, but given Hugh and Data's development, she's almost certain to have grown considerably more human between then and the era of Star Trek: Picard. This is more or less confirmed by trailer footage but, with no immediate connection to Picard, it remains to be seen how Seven of Nine factors into Jean-Luc's story.
The Destruction Of Romulus
Throughout The Next Generation, the dynamic between humans and Romulans is a tense one, with peace always only one small step away from unbridled chaos. On several occasions, Romulan factions would plot acts of violence under the guise of an olive branch, and these incidents sowed seeds of mistrust between the Federation and the Romulan Empire.
Although J.J.Abrams' 2009 Star Trek movie took place in a separate reality, it did introduce significant events from the Prime timeline. According to Leonard Nimoy's time-traveling Spock, a violent and destructive supernova threatened multiple civilizations and heroically preventing this disaster was how the Vulcan ended up winning a trip to the past. Despite the best efforts of Spock and Picard, the threat of the supernova wasn't taken seriously by the Romulan governance and their delayed response resulted in the destruction of their planet.
As revealed in Star Trek: Picard's "Children of Mars" prelude, the Federation had begun efforts to evacuate the endangered Romulans before the supernova hit, but suspicion between the two races bubbled beneath the surface. The Federation were unsure of aiding a former foe and the Romulans suspected that the entire supernova and evacuation scenario was a setup for full-scale Federation invasion. The situation came to a head when a mysterious band of rogue synthetic beings attacked the Federation shipyards on Mars being used to build the evacuation ships. As a result of this incident, the Federation stepped back from providing any assistance and the Romulans were none too pleased as a result.
Where Picard Has Been Since Nemesis
Picard was placed in charge of the Romulan evacuation mission and was integral to keeping relations between the two sides as peaceful as possible while the threat of an oncoming supernova loomed. Picard led the rescue mission while in command of the U.S.S. Verity, where he would meet First Officer Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd's character in Star Trek: Picard), but his faith was shaken upon encountering a secret colony of slaves hidden away by the Romulan Empire, not all of whom could realistically be spared from the impending disaster. As a result of the mistrust many Romulans still felt towards the Federation, Picard and his ship were kidnapped by rebels, but the former Enterprise captain continued to champion cooperation between the races and his message was received by select groups of peace-minded Romulans.
Having worked so hard to help save the planet, Picard resigned from Starfleet in protest when the Federation opted not to give assistance to the Romulan race in the wake of the shipyard attacks. After hanging up his phaser, Picard retreated to his family vineyard with 2 disowned Romulan Tal Shiar spies he had helped and befriended and a dog named after Riker, where he remains until the beginning of Star Trek: Picard.
Star Trek: Picard premieres January 23rd on CBS All Access.