Star Trek: Picard hasn’t officially finished up its second season, but the Paramount Plus series wants its fans to have a good idea of what they can expect in the series’ third and final season. The Star Trek spinoff is going to be bringing back several of The Next Generation stars, and that includes LeVar Burton.
Star Trek: Picard has had cameos here and there through its two-season run on Paramount Plus, with more than a few winks and nods towards The Next Generation fans. Some of those have been more overt than others, as Jeri Ryan has had a central part in the show while reprising the former Borg crewmember Seven of Nine. There is of course, Patrick Stewart reprising his role as Captain Jean Luc Picard. Characters such as Data, Q and Guinan have popped up along the way as well.
The latest reports indicate that for season three of Picard, the return of people like Burton are going to be more than cameos. While Burton didn’t confirm that particular tidbit, he did take to his personal Instagram to confirm that he is returning to the show for next season. The aactor, who played Geordi La Forge through the entire run of Star Trek: The Next Generation, posted a recently released trailer for season 3 of Picard. He added the caption, “I can finally talk about it!” Of course, he didn’t add much on social media beyond that particular announcement.
A nice swath of the original The Next Generation crew members will be coming back for season 3. Michael Dorn (Worf), along with Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troy) and Brent Spiner (Data) are all slated to make an appearance. Frakes, Sirtis, and Spiner have all made appearances in either the first or second season of Star Trek: Picard, though Spiner has so far appeared only as a distant relative of the man who created Data.
The announcement that so many cast members are going to be returning to the franchise was made on April 5, which happens to be a big day in The Next Generation universe. April 5 is referred to as “First Contact Day,” because April 5, 2063 is the day that humans first made contact with Vulcans in-universe. It also happened to be the first day that humanity achieved Warp speed capabilities, which was considered by the Vulcan race to be a significant event in humanity’s development.
Star Trek: Picard season 2 is currently airing every Thursday on Paramount Plus.
Source: LeVar Burton/Instagram, ViacomCBS