How Star Trek: Picard Ties Three Star Trek Series Together

In 2020, Patrick Stewart will return to his beloved role as Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The new CBS All Access series, Star Trek: Picard, catches up with Picard two decades after the events of the film Star Trek: Nemesis. He's no longer a Starfleet captain but embarks on another adventure to help a girl that has some kind of connection to him.

Star Trek: Picard is an obvious successor to Star Trek: The Next Generation, but it's more than that as well. With the information about the series and its stars has come out over the past few months, it is now clear that Star Trek: Picard is a successor to all 50+ years of Star Trek that came before it, and three Star Trek series in particular.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

The show's most obvious predecessor is Star Trek: The Next Generation. Star Trek: Nemesis was not intended to be the final adventure of Picard and his crew. The poor reception Nemesis received at the box office led Paramount to the belief that the film series needed a rest. As a result, most fans felt Picard didn't get the send-off he deserved. He remained aboard the Enterprise after the death of Data and the departure of Riker and Troi. To end his story with him watching as his surrogate family grew apart felt sad and unsatisfying.

Star Trek: Picard has the chance to rectify that. It will show Picard returning to action after trying to abandon his adventurous lifestyle. He'll reconnect with Data, as teased in the show's trailer. Riker and Troi are also set to appear in the series. The biggest opportunity Picard has is the opportunity to give Jean-Luc Picard a more satisfying final act.

That isn't all, though. Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced one of Star Trek's most iconic antagonists, the Borg. A shot of a Borg cube in the trailer suggests that the Borg story will continue in Picard. Jonathan del Arco returns as Hugh, the drone that the Enterprise crew freed from the collective. These are all plots that will come back in Star Trek: Picard, giving Star Trek: The Next Generation fans a lot to look forward to.

Star Trek: Voyager

The Borg saga didn't end when Star Trek: The Next Generation went off the air. Besides forming the core of the plot of the film Star Trek: First Contact, it continued in The Next Generation's successor, Star Trek: Voyager.

Star Trek: Voyager sent the titular Starfleet vessel adrift in the Delta Quadrant, the Borg's home region. This allowed for extended arcs involving the Borg. The most notable of these began in the two-part episode "Scorpion," which introduced Seven of Nine.

Seven of Nine was born a human but as a child was assimilated into the Borg Collective. The Voyager crew took her in as one of their own. It took time — seasons worth of character development — for Seven to shed her Borg conditioning and adjust to life among humans.

Voyager returned to Earth in the final season of the series with Seven aboard. She'll be back, played again by Jeri Ryan, in Star Trek: Picard. The series will offer Voyager fans a chance to see how one of the show's most popular characters is faring 20 years later.

She may not be the only one. Robert Picardo, who played the holographic Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager, says he's in talks to return in the second season of Star Trek: Picard.

Star Trek: The Original Series

In a way, Star Trek: Picard is a follow-up to the original Star Trek by being a follow-up to Star Trek: The Next Generation, but the ties are deeper than that. A key two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Unification," guest-starred Leonard Nimoy as Spock. The episode involved Spock's clandestine attempts to reunify the Romulan and Vulcan peoples.

Nimoy returned as Spock in the 2009 film Star Trek. The film revealed that a supernova destroyed Romulus. Spock's attempts to curb the destruction sent him through time, creating the alternate Kelvin Timeline.

From what we know about Star Trek: Picard, Picard retired from Starfleet after leading a rescue fleet. It's assumed that this fleet formed in response to the destruction of Romulus. We also know that members of Picard's new crew are displaced Romulans. By following up on the destruction of Romulus, Star Trek: Picard is adding a new chapter to the legacy of Spock.

Are you excited to see these Star Trek storylines come together in Star Trek: Picard? Let us know what you think in the comments. Star Trek: Picard debuts on CBS All Access in 2020.