With the highly anticipated season three of Picard hitting the small screen every Friday, audiences are delighted to see further into the brilliant Star Trek universe. With the return of old faces comes a plethora of new, from the new grouchy captain of the USS Titan, to a big surprise in the form of Jack Crusher.
Perhaps the most exciting among these was the first glimpse at the masterful performance of Amanda Plummer’s Captain Vadic. This new character has instantly captured audiences' attention, and she's sure to have an important role to play in the rest of the season. But who exactly is she?
The enigmatic Vadic appears commanding the terrifying-looking Shrike ship. This vessel emerges from the nebula to disable, then try to take prisoner, Jack Crusher (who is named after Wesley's father of the same name). Jack, with the help of the now dynamic duo Picard and Riker, end up managing to evade her attempts. With the help of the Titan they manage to all get to what seems like safety, until Captain Vadic appears and hails them. Through a somewhat unhinged conversation, she lowers her shields so that the Titan can scan her ship. This reveals an armada of weaponry, some even unknown to the Federation. She poses a real threat, and to drive the point home, she launches Jack's ship at them, seemingly with ease, causing a chunk of damage as she asks again for Jack. Vadic's outward motivations are that she is bounty hunter collecting a price on his head, but there are few things that don’t quite add up.
Finding out that Vadic is after Jack rather than Picard might have come as a surprise for many viewers, as the trailers for this third season set Vadic up as a recurring villain from the days of TNG. With the return of the old crew, and what looked like a personal attack, many were expecting Vadic to hold a vendetta against the crew. While she does know Picard (and seems to know a lot about everyone onboard) she doesn’t seem too bothered by his presence; rather, she's gleefully happy to have a new toy to play with. There is no glimmer of recognition or familiarity between the two, unless she is hiding something as part of her larger plan. This really could just be a new antagonist that the show's writers are introducing now, unlike familiar enemies like the familiar face of Lore, or the holographic Moriarty.
The issue, however, is that Terry Matalas, show-runner for Picard, has stated that Vadic has a specific vendetta against Picard and the Federation, so there must be a hidden mysterious link there somewhere. Matalas also revealed that Vadic's motivations are rooted in ‘sympathetic reasons,’ and that when audiences learn of what motivates her actions they will likely feel she has a point. Theories are floating around about her true identity, but as yet, none of them have any tangible evidence.
Some of the best theories are that she is related to General Chang, the Klingon antagonist from The Undiscovered Country. This comes down to a comment made from the executive producers that they could only imagine Amanda Plummer playing such a role. The actress is the daughter of the late Shakespearean actor Christopher Plummer, who played Chang in the movie. The link between the two potentially plays into some fictional and real-world father-daughter parallels. However, Vadic's appearance being human rather than Klingon makes this theory less likely. (That is, unless her apparent facial scars have something to do with a cosmetic appearance change, or just another example of the Klingon's ability to change their appearance.) It would also not tie in directly with Picard and TNG, since Chang is a TOS villain.
A second theory is floating around, but is far less likely when taking into account the big reveal that Jack is actually Picard’s son, and another comment made by the producers about this new season ‘passing the torch’ to the next generation of Star Trek characters. Jack shares a lot of similarities with Picard, as Jean Luc is passing over the torch to his son to continue his legacy. However, Vadic might also share a familial connection.
In Insurrection, Picard is shown to have a romantic relationship with the character Anji, stating that he would use up what shore leave he had to spend time with her. The possibility of them having a child, unbeknownst to Picard, might explain her pursuit of both him and another of his illegitimate children, her anger potentially stemming from the events that transpired in the film. Anji was a Ba’ku, and lived near the fountain of youth ‘Briar Patch’ which was taken away from them during the events of the film, resulting in age finally catching up with them. Might Vadic be seeking misconstrued revenge against the man she believes to have abandoned her and her mother after getting her pregnant, and for being part of something that resulted in their culture's rapid decline? Only time will give the answers to Vadic's true identity. With new episodes airing weekly, fans will just have to wait and see what happens.
