Star Trek: Picard Actor May Have Confirmed Two Returning Next Generation Stars

John de Lancie may have revealed two other returning Star Trek: The Next Generation stars in Star Trek: Picard. De Lancie, who reprises his role as Q in the upcoming second season of Star Trek: Picard, is on Cameo. He has a reputation for letting information slip in his messages to fans. His latest round of videos may have confirmed two more Star Trek alumni appearing in Star Trek: Picard. In the videos rounded up by Trek Movie, de Lancie talks about all the fun he’s having on the Picard set and how Patrick Stewart is already tired of him. But then he mentions a couple of other familiar names.

“I am back into the Star Trek Universe. I am doing Picard right now with – of all people – Mr. Picard. So, that’s been great fun. It’s been great fun to see Patrick, to see Brent [Spiner], and to see Jonathan [Frakes]. I am going to be working with Jonathan coming up here in a couple of weeks. So, it’s great fun.”

Q sharing scenes with Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard is no surprise. Jonathan Frakes is another story. Frakes was involved in Picard‘s first season both in front of and behind the camera. It’s unclear whether he’s sharing scenes with de Lancie in the new season or just directing the actor.

Brent Spiner is even more intriguing. He’s played Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Jean-Luc said his final farewell to his dear android friend in Picard’s first season finale. Still, Spiner also debuted in a new role as Altan Inigo Soong, the son of Data’s creator Noonien Soong. Altan may return in season two. It makes sense, Soong’s knowledge of synthetics and Picard’s new body. Yet, de Lancie hints there may be something more at play.

“I am on the next season of Picard,” he said in a separate Cameo video. “And Sir Patrick and I have had a whole bunch of scenes, which we thoroughly enjoyed working with each other. I have got one coming up with Data on this coming Tuesday. So yeah, we are moving along.”

There are a few possibilities here. One is that de Lancie misspoke and said Data when he meant Spiner. Another is that, as hinted at by the Star Trek: Picard Season 2 teaser, the upcoming’s season’s story deals with time travel. That would give Spiner an excuse to reprise Data again. However, that would contradict Spiner’s previous comments about being done with the android role.

“I mean, there was just a finite amount of time that I can actually play Data, no matter what anyone says,” Spinner told TV Guide in March 2020, following Picard‘s first season finale. “I think we did it in such brief sequences that it was fine to do it, and I felt good about it. But I wouldn’t really entertain the idea of doing it again because I just don’t think it would be realistic. So it seemed right to me to give him this more gentle sendoff, and it seemed right to me in the context of the entire season of Picard and what Picard himself had been experiencing because of the loss of Data. I think it allows him to feel okay about it too. So it seemed like the right thing to do.”

Fans likely won’t know the truth until Star Trek: Picard returns on Paramount+ in 2022. Let the speculation commence.