Star Trek: Picard: Levar Burton Says Season 3 Is About “The Next Generation of The Next Generation”

Star Trek: Picard‘s third and final season will be a generational story, according to returning Star Trek: The Next Generation star LeVar Burton. Burton is reprising his role as Geordi La Forge from Star Trek: The Next Generation as the entire core crew of the Enterprise reassemble for the season. Burton’s daughter, Mica Burton, will play one of Geordi’s two daughters in the new season. Appearing at Orlando MegaCon, Burton discussed what it was like getting to work with his daughter on the series and how having her on set helped play into one of the major themes of Star Trek: Picard Season 3. 

“One of the blessings of this journey was that in the story… it’s about the next generation of The Next Generation,” Burton said (transcription via TrekMovie). “And Geordi has two daughters, one of whom is being played by Mica Burton, my daughter. She’s grown up with—these are here aunts and uncles and they’ve known her since before she got here. And to be able to work with all of us in a professional environment for my kid, and I got to go to work with it every day. I dragged us to work, and we carpooled every day because she lives under my roof again. And it was glorious… You know actresses have earlier makeup and hair calls than actors, but I would get up early to drive my kid to work because when is this going to ever happen again?”

Burton also shared his general excitement at being able to work with the friends he made on The Next Generation one more time. He said, “It was an absolute blast being together again… you guys have heard how close we are, right? When I got married, Brent was my best man, Patrick, Jonathan and Michael were my groomsmen. We’ve seen each other through the birth of our children, through marriages, death of parents, divorces… And so the opportunity to be together again, and to be together again in spacesuits and play these characters that we all–we love these people as much as you do. Trust me. And you will see, I’m so proud of us because I think we all look pretty damn good. Not only are we aging and aging gracefully, but we’re aging appropriately. And that’s not always the case.”

Star Trek: Picard Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming now on Paramount+. The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard debuts on Paramount+ in 2023.