Star Trek: Picard Brings Back a Voyager Favorite but It's Not What Fans Expected

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 has been full of classic Star Trek characters making their return. The headlining return of Star Trek: Picard Season 3 has been the main Star Trek: The Next Generation cast, even those least expected. There's also been a surprising return for a beloved Star Trek: The Next Generation guest star in Star Trek: Picard Season 3. The latest episode of Star Trek: Picard Season 3 brought back one of the main characters from Star Trek: Voyager, or so it seemed. Things didn't go how fans may have hoped. SPOILERS follow for Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 7, "Dominion."

Star Trek Picard Season 3, Episode 7 begins with Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) sitting in the USS TItan's captain's chair. She's having a conversation through the Titan bridge's viewscreen. On the other end is Tuvok (Tim Russ), Seven of Nine's old friend from her time aboard the USS Voyager, or it would seem.

Star Trek: Picard Season 3's Tuvok is a Changeling

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 has established that the Changelings, the Federation's old enemies from the Dominion War (as previously seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), have infiltrated Starfleet at all levels. Thus, the USS Titan crew does what it can to test whether this Tuvok is whom he says.

While Captain Shaw and Lieutenant T'Veen analyze Tuvok's voice for inconsistencies, Seven of Nine subtly tests Tovk's memory of events and their relationship. Seven of Nine starts by bringing up the games of kal-toh, a Vuclan strategy game, that she and Tuvok played while aboard Voyager. Tuvok passes this test by stating that Seven of Nine had beaten him "countless times."

However, Seven of Nine sneaks in another test when she asks that Tuvok bring his ship to meet the Titan at Aklion VII, where she previously had her neural pattern stabilized. Tuvok immediately agrees, which sets off warning bells for Seven of Nine for two reasons. The first is that no Vulcan would agree to visit Aklion VII due to recent protests against Kolinahr, the Vulcan ritual purging all lingering emotions. The second is that Seven of Nine's neural pattern had her neural pattern stabilized aboard Voyager, which the real Tuvok would know since he's the one who did it for her.

At this point, "Tuvok" drops the charade and admits to being a Changeling. One bit of encouragement is that the Changeling Tuvok indicates that the real Tuvok is still alive, likely because the Changelings are still trying to get information from him. Less encouraging is that the Changeling implies that all "solids" will soon be dead once the Changelings' plans for Frontier Day are complete.

How to watch Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 premieres new episodes on Thursdays on Paramount+. Star Trek: Picard's first two seasons are already streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Picard streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on Amazon Prime Video in over 200 countries and territories. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.