Star Trek's LeVar Burton Expects to Appear in New Picard Series

Levar Burton played Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation. His captain, Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard, is returning in a new series on CBS All Access. Burton expects that Geordi and the Enterprise will be back as well.

Speaking to CNN at the premiere of The Lion King, Burton says he believes he and his The Next Generation co-stars will boldy return to the Star Trek universe. "Each of us, I would say certainly, right?" said Burton. "It is unreasonable to assume that he doesn't know those people anymore, or that he stopped talking to them. And if he did there's good storytelling in why."

There could be some stories about how Picard fell out of touch with his crew. After all, they all had their service to Starfleet as a commonality. But Picard isn't a part of Starfleet anymore.

Burton goes on to clarify that he expects to see familiar faces in Star Trek: Picard, but he doesn't know about a full-blown The Next Generation reunion. "Are you gonna see all of us together, again, in a scene or episode? I don't know," said Burton. "There's a lot of paper that needs to be papered, before we get there."

At Rose City Comic Con in September, some of Burton's co-stars — Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, and Michael Dorn — said that they hadn't been asked to appear in the new series. "All I have to say, all we have to say - I am speaking for all three of us now - when Patrick said 'Jean-Luc Picard is back,' he didn't say TNG is back," said Sirtis.

In an interview, Dorn said it would take a significant storyline to get him back into Klingon makeup as Worf. "I'm only interested in if it's something really interesting; if the character was a major part of the franchise or whatever the show is," he says. "He's not just going to show up, beat somebody up, and then go home."

Do you hope the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast appears in Star Trek: Picard? Let us know how you feel about it in the comments section.

Star Trek: Picard is now filming. The first two episodes of the series were helmed by Hanelle Culpepper. The third and fourth episodes were directed by Star Trek: The Next Generation alum Jonathan Frakes. The series has no release date but is aiming to debut in late 2019.