Ever since it was announced last summer, Trekkers everywhere have been wondering what the latest Star Trek spin-off about Jean-Luc Picard would be about. Well, we finally have a teaser trailer for the recently named Star Trek: Picard, starring Sir Patrick Stewart as the former Enterprise captain. Watch it down below, and then we’ll take a deep dive into just what information we can glean from this brief teaser.
The first shots we see are of someone (presumably Jean-Luc Picard) tending vines in lush vineyard. As longtime Star Trek: The Next Generation fans know, this is Chateau Picard, Jean-Luc’s ancestral family home in France. The Next Generation series finale “All Good Things” told us that 25 years after that episode in one possible future, Jean-Luc would be retired to the vineyard. It seems that part has come true.
The female narrator then mentions that 15 years prior, he commanded the greatest rescue armada in history, and that then “the unthinkable happened.” Given what we’ve been told about this series already, it would seem this a reference to the destruction of Romulus by a nearby supernova. This was an event chronicled in the 2009 Star Trek movie by JJ Abrams. It would seem Picard was instrumental in rescue efforts, but obviously failed to save many. And he possibly blames himself for it, or maybe even Starfleet. This is probably why he retired.
One more thing: the voice calls him Admiral Picard. So it seems that sometime before retiring from Starfleet, he got a promotion. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Captain Picard always resisted any kind of promotion when offered. He always said he preferred being out in space rather than being behind a desk, or teaching at Starfleet Academy. But obviously something changed in those intervening years. It seems they are going a very Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi route here with Picard, which is sure to ruffle the feathers of some fans.
Star Trek: Picard will premiere sometime this fall on CBS: All Access.
Images: CBS All Access
