Star Trek: Picard Season 3’s Milestone Riker Moment Released In New Clip

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 3 continued the epic run of this final season, with even bigger reveals about villain connections going all the way back to both famous Star Trek: The Next Generation storylines and Deep Space Nine’s Dominion War. However, the “event” of Picard’s Final Season is no doubt the return of major stars from TNG, and as such, some soul-feeding nostalgia bits were served up, as well. 

One of the standout moments of Picard Season 3 Episode 3, “Seventeen Seconds” sees William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) have to step into the Captain’s chair of the USS Titan, with Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard backing him up. Naturally, that created an opportunity for a delicious turning of the tables, and Star Trek: Picard didn’t miss! 

When Riker begins giving out orders for action against Captian Vadic (Amanda Plummer) and her warship The Shrike, he first starts referring to Picard as “Jean-Luc”; however, Picard is having none of that and stands on tradition, informing Riker that “Will, I think it might be time you call me ‘Number One.’” The camera lingers on Frakes’ smiling face long enough for fans to get all the thrills they needed from this milestone moment! 

In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Jean-Luc Picard served as Captain of the USS Enterprise, while Riker served as his second-in-command or “Number One.” Patrick Stewart’s delivery of the line “Number One” became so iconic that fans probably remembered it better than Riker’s actual name; needless to say, seeing Picard in the “Number One” seat with Riker as Captain is something that some fans have been stumping for, for a very long time. 

Jonathan Frakes spoke about moments like these when making Star Trek: Picard Season 3: 

“I said earlier today that it actually felt like we had finished shooting on Friday and we had just come back to work on Monday,” Frakes told ComicBook.com exclusively. “It was that familiar, the shorthand was that strong both as actors and as friends. Everybody was so excited about the scripts that we were all sort of all in on telling this new story. There was conflict which existed between characters that hadn’t before; La Forge and Picard, Riker and Picard, actually Troi and Riker were estranged. There was a lot going on that wasn’t encouraged under Roddenberry’s reign, and in my opinion, it made for a much better drama.”

If you saw the end of this latest episode, you know Frakes wasn’t kidding. Picard and Crusher (and then Picard and Riker) had some of the deepest and most powerful dramatic conflicts seen in any Star Trek story. And fans seem to be loving it. 

Star Trek: Picard is streaming new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+