Star Trek: Picard Will Not Bring Back Two Major Next Generation Stars in Season 1

Star Trek fans shouldn’t expect to see too many faces from Star Trek: The Next Generation in the first season of Star Trek: Picard. We already know that Jonathan Frakes will be back as Will Riker and Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi. Brent Spiner also returns as Data, who’s legacy plays a big role in the show’s story. But the producers of the series confirmed that other members of the Enterprise crew won’t be returning in the show’s first season, specifically pointing out Worf and Geordi La Forge. Speaking to TV Line, star Patrick Stewart says, “There were even times when we seriously discussed that we should not bring any of the Next Generation cast back.”

They didn’t go that far in the end. As executive producer Akiva Goldsman explains, “We want to be really, really gratifying to someone who’s seen every episode [of TNG], and to someone who has never seen a one.”

This is why executive producer Heather Kadin says “We made a point not to bring back any legacy characters that didn’t organically tell this story. Which is why, unfortunately, you don’t have Michael Dorn as Worf, and you don’t have [LeVar Burton as] Geordi. Otherwise, we keep joking it’d be The Next Next Generation.”

As for why they did decide to bring certain characters back, Stewart says, “I think we all realized that we were missing opportunities, particularly in the case of Data, who, although you don’t see him very much, plays a role in the entire season. A very important one, too.”

And though Worf and Geordi won’t show in the first season, the series is already renewed for its second season. “I hope we will meet all of the principal characters from Next Generation eventually,” Stewart says.

While Worf won’t appear in the flesh in the new season, an image of him from Star Trek: The Next Generation did appear in the show’s first episode, “Remembrance.” Michael Dorn has said it will take a significant role to get him to come back as the Klingon Starfleet officer.

“I’m only interested in if it’s something really interesting; if the character was a major part of the franchise or whatever the show is,” Dorn has said previously. “He’s not just going to show up, beat somebody up, and then go home.”

New episodes of Star Trek: Picard become available to stream Thursdays on CBS All Access.

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