Star Trek: Picard Trailer Hints at Time Travel Plot

Patrick Stewart kicked off today’s First Contact Day celebration with a special announcement. Star Trek: Picard is in production on its second season. The season’s first teaser trailer confirms that John de Lancie will return to the Star Trek universe as his mischievous character Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation. We’ve written before about why Q is a great character to bring back in Picard, but that season two teaser hints at something more. It seems like Star Trek: Picard‘s second season will deal in time travel, and there are a few clues that we can break down.

There are two obvious ones. One is Patrick Stewart/Jean-Luc Picard’s monologue about how time is the final frontier. There’s also the sand in the hourglass running in the wrong direction.

And then there’s Q. We know Q has the power to manipulate time. The Picard Season Two teaser pulls one of his lines from the Star Trek: The Next Generation series finale, “All Good Things,” which sees Jean-Luc Picard traveling backward and forward in time. Perhaps more relevant is the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Tapestry.” In that episode, Picard is greeted in the afterlife by Q, who offers him a chance to go back in time and change important choices that altered the course of his life to bring about new results. The episode provides an opportunity to look back at Picard’s life before taking command of the Enterprise.

And speaking of Picard’s pre-Enterprise life, he did command another vessel before taking over Starfleet’s flagship. That was the USS Stargazer, and that was the ship under his command when he performed the first “Picard maneuver.” A model of that ship is sitting atop Picard’s desk. Could the show’s second season flashback to Picard’s Stargazer days?

It may be coincidental, but it is also worth noting that Terry Matalas is the season two co-showrunner. He previously worked on Syfy’s 12 Monkeys television series. That means he has some experience dealing with time travel stories.

Do you think Star Trek: Picard is going to involve time travel? How did you feel about today’s new teaser trailer? Are you excited about John de Lancie’s return as Q in the new season? Let us know what you think in the comment section.

Star Trek: Picard Season Two debuts on Paramount+ in 2022. Star Trek: Picard Season One is now streaming on Paramount+.