Star Trek: Picard Season 3's Premiere Is Now Streaming for Free

Paramount+ has made Star Trek: Picard Season 3's first episode available to stream for free on YouTube. The season premiere episode's title is "The Next Generation," which is loaded with meaning as this season brings back the full cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation and is intended to be a story about passing the torch to the next next generation of Star Trek heroes. Showrunner Terry Matalas wrote the episode and Doug Aarniokoski, who directed the show's Season 2 premiere, returns to direct this episode, which is embedded below. Here's the official synopsis for the now free-to-stream Star Trek: Picard Season 3 premiere:

"After receiving a cryptic, urgent distress call from Dr. Beverly Crusher, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard enlists help from generations old and new to embark on one final adventure: a daring mission that will change Starfleet, and his old crew forever."

Star Trek: Picard reviews

If you need more motivation to watch the Star Trek: Picard Season 3 premiere beyond it costing nothing but your time then you should also know that the season is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 100% "fresh" rating from more than 40 critics. That aggregate includes a 5-out-of-5 review from ComicBook.com, which concludes:

"The first two seasons of Star Trek: Picard did what they set out to do by shining light onto previously unexplored areas of Jean-Luc Picard's psyche and history, but Season 3 feels like the big payoff, the grand finale that's giving many fans what they hoped to see from the moment Stewart first announced his return. Attempting to give fans what they want can often lead to little more than a checklist of callbacks lazily paraded out to make those fans feel seen, but that's not this season of Star Trek: Picard. Matalas and his collaborators appear to have recognized that they had the opportunity, perhaps the last one anyone will ever have, to give the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast the sendoff they always deserved and to celebrate the golden age of Star Trek by bringing its legacy (there's that word again) back to the forefront of the Star Trek universe. Based on the six episodes seen for review, the team succeeded on all counts, and Picard's third season, despite being billed as the crew's final adventure, is likely to have viewers clamoring for more."

How to watch Star Trek: Picard

Anyone who wants to keep watching after they're done with the premiere should know that Star Trek: Picard Season 3 debuts 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.