Star Trek: Picard Season 3’s Sneed Was Played by and X-Men Movies Star

Star Trek: Picard introduced viewers to Sneed, a drug-dealing Ferengi who didn’t last long but left a lasting impression. Fans likely can’t tell, but under all that beautiful makeup, the actor playing Sneed was part of the X-Men movies franchise. SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard follow. Viewers meet Sneed on planet M’talas Prime, where Raffi (Michelle Hurd) has been working on Starfleet Intelligence’s behalf. Frustrated after her handler stonewalls her following an apparent terrorist attack against Starfleet, she searches for Sneed, the Ferengi crime lord who supposedly handled the portal weapon used in the attack. Things don’t go well for Raffi when she finally finds Sneed. It’s a good thing that her handler was nearby.

Sneeds loses his head. As seen in the below behind-the-scenes look shared by showrunner Terry Matalas, Aaron Stanford, who played Pyro in X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand, brought Sneed to life.

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Aaron Stanford plays Sneed in Star Trek: Picard

While superhero movie fans may know Stanford from the X-Men movies, the television show 12 Monkeys is more likely what led him to his Star Trek role. Stanford starred in that series, which Matalas co-created for Syfy, based on Terry Gilliam’s 1995 time travel movie.

Stanford isn’t the only 12 Monkeys alum in Star Trek: Picard Season 3. Todd Stashwick, who plays the no-nonsense captain of the was also part of the series. You can see him with Stanford in the photo below, also shared by Matalas.

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What makes Sneed special?

Why did Sneed grab viewers the way he did? It’s a credit to Stanford’s stellar performance that he made such an impact in a single scene.

But also, Sneed is the first Ferengi we’ve seen in live-action in the streaming Star Trek era apart from background appearances in Star Trek: Discovery‘s far future (they have appeared in animation in both Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy). He’s also interesting because he operates by the same values as past Ferengi characters while coming off as much more ruthless without reverting to the poor first impression the Ferengi made on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

How to watch Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 premieres 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.