Star Trek: Picard Showrunner Reveals Riker and Troi Named Their Child After a Next Generation Character

Star Trek: Picard caught up with Jean-Luc Picard's former shipmates, William Riker and Deanna [...]

By Jamie Lovett

Star Trek: Picard caught up with Jean-Luc Picard's former shipmates, William Riker and Deanna Troi, in the episode "Nepenthe." The story revealed that Riker and Troi had two children but lost their eldest, their son Thad, to an illness that required treatment with banned synthetic technology. Thad was a creative boy fascinated by linguistics. He came up with an entire fantasy world to match a language he had developed. In a Medium post, Star Trek: Picard's first season showrunner Michael Chabon reveals more about Thad's imagined language and world. It also confirms that the boy got his middle name from one of his parents' closest friends, a fellow Enterprise crewmember, Worf, with whom one Star Trek: Picard castmember would like to battle.

"The imaginary world that came to be known as Ardani began as a language, Kelu, invented by Thaddeus Worf Riker-Troi circa 2384, when he was about three and a half," begins the document, which Chabon first prepared for Star Trek: Picard's props department in 2019. "From a very early age, Thad became interested in the different native languages spoken by non-human personnel on board the USS Titan, a starship under the command of his father, William T. Riker. Born on Titan, taught Federation Standard, Thad was fascinated by the idea of a 'native language' and how it was intimately associated with the idea of 'home.' Home — a homeworld — became a source of intense longing for the boy Thad, growing up rootless on the Titan, constantly on the move. Employing a child's logic, Thad decided that the first step toward having a homeworld of his own would be to speak a native language of his own. And so Kelu was born."

Fans know that Worf, played by Michael Dorn, was the first Klingon to serve in Starfleet and head of security aboard the Enterprise throughout most of Star Trek: The Next Generation. After Star Trek Generations and the destruction of the Enterprise-D, Worf joined Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's cast. He rejoined the Enterprise crew in future films, eventually returning to the ship permanently. According to the Star Trek: Picard novel The Last Best Hope, Worf became captain of the Enterprise after Picard left the position to head up efforts to rescue the Romulans from the impending supernova.

The upcoming second Star Trek: Picard novel, The Dark Veil, will likely shed more light on the life of Thaddeus Worf Troi-Riker. The story, written by James Swallow, takes place during the Troi-Riker family's time aboard the USS Titan while Thad was still a child. It goes on sale on January 5th.

Star Trek: Picard season one is streaming now on CBS All Access. The second season of the series begins production in February.

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