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Star Trek: Picard Boss Talks Making Amanda Plummer’s Vadic ‘A Classic, Larger-Than-Life Star Trek Villain’

Dave nemetz, west coast bureau chief.

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Warning: This post contains spoilers from Thursday’s Star Trek: Picard .

Yes, we’re enjoying seeing all our Next Generation favorites this season on Star Trek: Picard … but we’re also enjoying getting to know their latest adversary.

This week’s episode introduced Amanda Plummer — a celebrated actress with credits like Pulp Fiction , The Fisher King and So I Married an Axe Murderer — as Vadic, a cackling bounty hunter intent on taking custody of Beverly’s son ( and Jean-Luc’s son !) Jack Crusher. With her gleeful malevolence and boldly literary proclamations, Vadic is already making a place for herself in the pantheon of all-time great Star Trek villains. In fact, she most closely resembles the vengeful Klingon warrior General Chang from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , a role played by Amanda’s own father Christopher Plummer.

They did hit a slight snag with Plummer’s availability, however, Matalas recalls: “Amanda was shooting another show, Ratched , so she came in after we had already shot the majority of Episodes 1 through 5. So we didn’t know who was going to appear on the viewscreen. By the first rehearsal, we were all holding our breath, and [when] she gave that performance, people were hugging each other, people were congratulating each other. We were so thrilled to have a classic, larger-than-life Star Trek villain.”

Vadic isn’t just a one-dimensional bad guy, though, Matalas adds, hinting that she “has her own story and reasons to sympathize with her as well.” Why is she so dead-set on capturing Jack Crusher? “She has very personal reasons, but she also answers to a higher power, let’s just say.” And as far as how Vadic fits into the larger Star Trek universe, “she absolutely connects to canon,” Matalas promises. “It’s coming up.”

Drop your thoughts on Picard Season 3 so far in the comments below.

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So far this is the strongest season yet. Can’t wait to see where they take this.

Calling it now: She answers to Sela. Someone has to hire the bounty hunter.

Larger-Than-Life usually means exaggerated and over-the-top and is rarely ever a good thing. Her demeanor in epsidoe 2 was already slighty awkward and pointing in that direction. Lets hope the rest of her is grounded and nuanced… but I am not holding my breath.

How can you see we’ve seen all the Next Generation cast, when m so far it’s only been Riker and Crusher????

Worf appeared in episode 2 as Raffi’s handler. LaForge is expected to appear as is Lore.

And with Will, Deanna can’t be too far behind

Deanna Troi was already in the show….

And she will be again this season. The previews have already shown her

During the original run of TNG there were many mentions by Beverly of something she needed to tell Jean Luc.

Combine that with her disappearance in TNG season 2 and that might explain Jack’s origin.

That would be incredible, if that’s when he was conceived!

Nope. Anything but a classic villain for any show or film, let alone Trek. Episode 2 was all the weaker for her Batman ’66 style acting. Her and Rafi are the weak links so far, everyone else has brought it, especially Frakes and Stashwick.

Too bad the 1st & 2nd seasons of Picard were as good as this 3rd season. It really needed all the Next Generation characters and much less artsyness.

she answers to the alien parasite queen, who is perhaps the sister of the queen that was killed in season 1? hmmm

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'Star Trek: Picard' Season 3 Introduces Amanda Plummer as the Ultimate Villain

Plummer is set to play the new big bad for the show's final season, alongside returning adversaries Lore and Moriarty.

In the new trailer for Star Trek: Picard Season 3 we got our first official look at the show's new villain. Earlier this year, executive producer Alex Kurtzman teased that she would be "amazing," and now from the new footage shared at New York Comic Con, we can safely say that this new character is certainly a worthy adversary for the returning Next Generation crew.

Introduced in the trailer as well as a new image is Vadic, played by Tony Award winner Amanda Plummer whom audiences may recognize from her roles in Pulp Fiction , The Hunger Games: Catching Fire , and more. The trailer introduces Vadic as an alien captain and a formidable opponent hellbent on the complete and utter destruction of Starfleet, and quite possibly humanity. We get a good look at her ship, the Shrike, in the new footage, and it's definitely reminiscent of Nero's ( Eric Bana ) ship in the 2009 Kelvin-verse Star Trek movie. However, Vadic is certainly not Romulan.

In the trailer, Vadic promises to scorch the earth beneath Picard's feet in her quest for vengeance — against whom it is unclear, but it's likely that she's at the heart of the conflict that leads to Beverly Crusher's distress signal. Former ship's counselor, Deanna Troi senses an "all-consuming darkness" in their new enemy with her empathic abilities, as the trailer showcases an all-out showdown against the bloodthirsty Vadic.

RELATED: New ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 3 Trailer Reveals the Return of Moriaty and Lore

Also introduced in the new trailer, alongside the returning crew members and their newest enemy, are returning Next Generation adversaries Lore and Moriarty. Brent Spiner has played a number of characters throughout the history of Star Trek , reprising the beloved android Data in Season 1 of Picard , and Soong-dynasty ancestor Adam Soong in Season 2. Fans have been wondering who Spiner will play this season as Data was given a permanent death in Season 1, and the trailer reveals his long-awaited return as Lore. Moriarty is even more of a surprise to viewers as a completely unexpected return from Daniel Davis . Davis originally played the classic Sherlock Holmes character Moriarty in a holodeck program frequented by Data and Geordi. On Next Generation , the hologram eventually gained sentience and was allowed to leave the Enterprise.

In addition to Plummer, Spiner, and Davis, Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard will feature Patrick Stewart, Gates McFadden, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, and newcomers Mica Burton and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut. The third and final season arrives on Paramount+ on February 16, 2023. In the meantime, you can watch the new trailer down below.

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Who Is Vadic in ‘Star Trek Picard’? Everything We Know About the Villainous Big Bad

She was touted as the season’s big bad, but is there a greater evil at work?

“Star Trek” has had some memorable villains in the past: Khan, Q and The Borg Queen to name just a few.

When the villainous Vadic was introduced as the big bad in “Star Trek: Picard” Season 3, viewers knew there had to be more to her than possessing a super powerful warship.

As the season progressed, her true, tragic origin was revealed. Here’s everything we know about the villainous Vadic.

Warning, this post contains spoilers through Episode 7 of “Star Trek: Picard.”

Who Plays Captain Vadic?

Vadic is played by Amanda Plummer on “Star Trek: Picard.” She is an original character introduced in Season 3. She appeared in promos ahead of the season premiere, and debuted in the second episode titled “Disengage.”

You may recognize her from her role as robber Honey Bunny from “Pulp Fiction.”

Plummer is the daughter of Christopher Plummer. The elder Plummer also played a legendary “Trek” villain: General Chang of the Klingon Empire in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.”

Is Captain Vadic Human?

On the outside, Vadic appears human. She has two scars running down her face, earning her the name, “The Marked Woman.”

In reality, Vadic is a Changeling, an alien species of shapeshifters first introduced in “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” Her true form is a gelantinous state. Her species’ homeworld is the Founders Homeworld in the distant Gamma quadrant.

Is Vadic an Ordinary Changeling?

Like others in her species, Vadic can change her form and shape. She impersonates a Starfleet lieutenant while arresting Will Riker at Daystrom Station. She kills the other arresting officers before revealing her female humanoid form.

A foe capable of besting the legendary crew of the infamous U.S.S. Enterprise certainly has a few tricks up her sleeve. Literally.

Vadic’s hand is actually another Changeling whom she receives instructions from. She cuts off her hand so this other unnamed Changeling can take form. Yes, it’s as gross as it sounds.

Why Does She Hate Starfleet?

In order to win the Dominion War, Starfleet devised a virus — a biological weapon — to weaken the Changelings.

In Episode 7, Vadic reveals Starfleet gave her the ability to mimic human blood and hold her solid form longer than other Changelings. Her “evolved physiology” comes from cruel experiments conducted upon her and her “loved ones” as a prisoner of war.

She and nine other Changelings were subject to all sorts of tests as part of Project Proteus at Daystrom Station. In Greek mythology, Proteus was a sea god who could take many different forms.

Vadic and the other Changelings were burned, injected with chemicals, electrocuted, spliced and experimented on. The goal was to create “perfect, undetectable spies who could drop into any species and create chaos.”

Vadic eventually was freed and took the face of the female scientist that tortured her.

She has the ability to pass on her evolved physiology to any Changeling who wishes, at the cost of shorter life span and constant pain.

What Does She Want With Picard and Jack Crusher?

Vadic seeks revenge against the Federation for “taking her family.”

The Changeling’s plan for Frontier Day — an event where the entire fleet gathers in one place — remains unclear.

Picard and Beverly Crusher surmise they want Picard’s human body and Jack Crusher’s blood to create a perfect replica of Picard to infiltrate the Frontier Day festivities.

But Vadic suggests Jack is something more, telling Beverly, “He’s not for me. We could bond over that, since he was never really for you either.”

What Ship Does Vadic Command?

Vadic commands the Shrike, a powerful warship of unknown origin.

It’s far more powerful than the Titan and has a massive weapons payload, including an experimental portal device stolen from Daystrom Station.

The Shrike used the portal weapon to disable the Titan by “teleporting” its own photon torpedos back at it, although it easily could’ve used other weapons as well.

What Are Unanswered Questions About Vadic?

It’s unclear how and where Vadic obtained the Shrike.

Who is the mysterious “hand” she take instructions from?

And why is Jack Crusher so important to her?

New episodes of “Star Trek: Picard” air Thursdays on Paramount+.

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Amanda Plummer Takes on Patrick Stewart in Final ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Teaser Trailer

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• Star Trek: Picard

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Tom hardy "never said 'good morning'" or "good night" while filming 'star trek: nemesis,' says patrick stewart, stream it or skip it: ‘star trek: lower decks’ season 4 on paramount+, featuring the continuing (mis)adventures of starfleet’s proudest platoon members, best star trek gifts for trekkie fans in 2023.

The final season of Paramount+’s  Star Trek: Picard is a family affair, as just revealed at New York Comic Con . Not only will the third season reunite most of the original cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation for one last adventure, but also Amanda Plummer, daughter of the late Christopher Plummer — who was the villain in  Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country — will go head to head with Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) as new villain Vadic.

Though not much is revealed about Vadic’s beef with Picard, we do discover in the teaser trailer that the cackling villain has something to do with the missing Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden). We also know thanks to a release provided to Decider that she’s an alien, and the captain of the Shrike, “a warship that has set its sights on Jean-Luc Picard and his old crewmates from his days on the Enterprise.”

…and that wasn’t the only reveal at the packed panel. In addition to Plummer, joining the cast are LeVar Burton’s real life daughter Mica Burton as his character Geordi La Forge’s daughter, Alandra La Forge. And Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut, who is not LeVar Burton’s real life daughter, will play Geordi’s other daughter, Sidney La Forge. Sidney is the helmsman of the  U.S.S. Titan , while Alandra works side by side with Geordi.

But wait, there’s more! As seen in the trailer, two classic Star Trek villains are returning. The first is Daniel Davis as Professor Moriarty — yes, the one from Sherlock Holmes stories — who seems to have once again escaped from the holodeck to terrorize the crew. And not only that, but Brent Spiner is playing his fourth character in three seasons of Picard with the return of his villainous android, Lore.

Along with Stewart, Spiner, McFadden and Burton, Star Trek: Picard Season 3 also stars Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Jeri Ryan and Michelle Hurd, all reprising their roles from either  Next Generation or early seasons of  Picard or other shows. I dunknow, there’s a lot of  Star Trek .

Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman, Terry Matalas, Patrick Stewart, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Doug Aarniokoski and Dylan Massin serve as executive producers of Season 3. Terry Matalas also serves as showrunner.

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 will premiere February 16, 2023, with each episode of the 10-episode long season available to stream weekly.

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“Greetings old friends,” threatens Professor Moriarty (Daniel Davis) in a new look at the upcoming third and final season of Star Trek: Picard that just rocked New York Comic-Con .

The likely last appearance of the Sir Patrick Stewart -led series on the Starfleet legend was packed with The Next Generation throwbacks, new additions and a new explosive trailer that truly set the stage for Picard Season 3’s February 16, 2023, premiere on Paramount+

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Not only was the return of Davis’ Arthur Conan Doyle created villain revealed and Spiner’s back as Data’s not-so-nice twin Lore amidst the on-stage reunion of the TNG principal players, but that Amanda Plummer will be joining Picard for its last mission was too. The Greene Talent and Red Management repped Tony Award winner and daughter of past Trek villain Christopher Plummer is set to play the final season’s top baddie Vadic – as you can see in the photo above. Captain of the Shrike starship, Vadic clearly has some serious and deadly grievances with Picard and his old companions, if the trailer is a good indication.

Also added to the Picard cast this season Mica Burton and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut in recurring roles. The real life daughter of Levar Burton, Critical Role alum Mica Burton will play Ensign Alandra La Forge, the youngest offspring of her TNG dad Geordi La Forge. Cruel Summer star Chestnut will portray Ensign Sidney La Forge, eldest daughter of Geordi La Forge and helmsman of the U.S.S. Titan .

Star Trek: Picard is produced by CBS Studios in with Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman, Matalas, Sir Patrick, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Doug Aarniokoski and Dylan Massin all serve as executive producers.

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Amanda Plummer

• View history

She is the daughter of the late actor Christopher Plummer , who played General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .

Plummer is best known for her roles in The Fisher King (1991, with Melinda Culea and John de Lancie ) and Pulp Fiction (1994, with Phil LaMarr ). She co-starred with Michelle Forbes in the notable 1996 The Outer Limits episode "A Stitch in Time" (narrated by Kevin Conway ), for which she won an Emmy Award. She won another Emmy Award for her guest role in the 2004 TLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Weak".

She also appeared in films such as The World According to Garp (1982, with George Ede ), Daniel (1983, with John Rubinstein ), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990, with James Hudson , Carol Kane , and Branscombe Richmond ), Freejack (1992, with Jonathan Banks and Jimmy Ortega ), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993, with Michael G. Hagerty and Rico E. Anderson ), Needful Things (1993, with W. Morgan Sheppard ), A Simple Wish (1997, with Terri Garr ), 8½ Women (1999), The Million Dollar Hotel (2000, with Harris Yulin ), Ken Park (2002, with Wade Andrew Williams ), My Life Without Me (2003), and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013, with Jack Quaid and Lenny Kravitz ).

Plummer guested on episodes of television series like Moonlighting (with Terry O'Quinn and Jack Blessing , photographed by Jerry Finnerman ), Miami Vice (with Stephen McHattie ), Tales from the Crypt , Dark Skies (with Conor O'Farrell and Tim Kelleher ), Ronald D. Moore 's Battlestar Galactica (with James Callis , Kate Vernon , Rekha Sharma , and Dean Stockwell , written by David Weddle and Bradley Thompson ), and The Blacklist .

In 2020, she had a recurring role in the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest prequel series Ratched , alongside Jon Jon Briones .

Star Trek appearances [ ]

• " Disengage "
• " Seventeen Seconds "
• " No Win Scenario "
• " The Bounty "
• " Dominion " (also as a Daystrom Station scientist )
• " Surrender "

External links [ ]

• Amanda Plummer at Wikipedia
• Amanda Plummer at the Internet Movie Database
• 2 Star Trek: The Next Generation
• 3 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)

Den of Geek

Picard Season 3 Villain Vadic Has a Surprising Star Trek Legacy

Amanda Plummer's Shrike captain Vadic on Star Trek: Picard offers up a direct connection to the franchise's past.

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This Star Trek: Picard article contains spoilers.

At last, Star Trek: Picard has revealed its big bad for season 3. A bounty hunter with a starship that’s armed to the teeth, Amanda Plummer’s Vadic makes her debut in “Disengage” and immediately leaves her mark on Star Trek canon. Not only do we learn that her ship, the Shrike, is capable of slinging enemy ships at other enemy ships but that she’s not even remotely afraid of Starfleet or legendary officers like Jean-Luc Picard. In fact, Vadic seems to relish this chance meeting with the “synthetic” Starfleet admiral.

But it’s not the old man she’s truly after. As we learn in the episode, it’s Dr. Beverly Crusher’s son, Jack Jr., who is being relentlessly hunted by Vadic and her masked crew. Jack (Ed Speleer) is a smuggler with a bounty on his head for crimes committed outside of Federation space and Vadic’s come to collect. The episode seems to tease there’s a bit more to Vadic’s mission than meets the eye, and perhaps it has something to do with the hour’s biggest reveal: that Jack is not just Beverly’s son but also Jean-Luc’s child ! Has Vadic manipulated events to get both Picard Sr. and Jr. on the same ship?

Picard showrunner Terry Matalas has teased that there are more layers to Vadic than what’s presented at the start of the season, describing her to SFX magazine ( via Trek Movie ) as a “bit of a mystery” who has a “deep-seated yet sympathetic reason for wanting vengeance against Picard and the Federation.”

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“We really wanted a major villain, for Vadic, that she should be a larger than life, classic Star Trek villain who had her own reasons for doing what she does. And when you heard them, you’d say, ‘You know, she might have a point,’” Matalas told SFX ahead of the season premiere.

There are already plenty of theories floating around about who Vadic might truly be. Some fans think she might be secretly connected to another The Next Generation alum from an alternate universe. Or perhaps she’s related to Shinzon in some way or is a descendant of the Soongs? Is she also related to Picard?

Whatever the case, Vadic actor Amanda Plummer brings her own Star Trek history to the role that won’t be obvious on screen. As you might have guessed from her surname, the actor is the daughter of the late, great Christopher Plummer, who’s best known to Trek fans as the scheming General Chang, the main villain of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .

You’ll of course remember that Chang was the Shakespeare-loving Klingon general who tried to sabotage peace talks between the Federation and the Klingon Empire until he was eventually thwarted by Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise. That hard-earned peace would ultimately mark the final mission for The Original Series crew on the big screen, and result in the new status quo that saw Klingons cooperating with the Federation in The Next Generation .

Vadic isn’t Klingon, of course, so the General Chang connection will very likely just remain a fun behind-the-scenes easter egg, a wink at longtime fans of the movies. That said, Star Trek characters have been known to alter their appearances to hide their true identities in the past…

We’ll find out what’s up with Vadic soon enough as Star Trek: Picard season 3 continues its run on Paramount+.

John Saavedra | @johnsjr9

John Saavedra is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Den of Geek. He lives in New York City with his two cats.

Vadic's Ship In Picard Hid A Nod To Another Classic Star Trek Villain

In the third and final season of "Star Trek: Picard," a vicious Changeling named Captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer) is eager to apprehend Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), the son of Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Vadic is a vicious killer who has no compunction about blowing up ships and murdering thousands. It seems she and several of her Changeling compatriots were medically tortured during the Dominion War (a conflict dramatized on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine") and was in no mood to offer forgiveness. Vadic commanded a starship she called the Shrike, a massive, pointy, claw-like vessel that was armed to the teeth. Captain Riker (Jonathan Frakes) took one look at the Shrike and declared it to be more guillotine than starship. 

On the bridge of the Shrike, Vadic sat in an enormous chair, surrounded in the shadows by masked servants who fired weapons and cut down enemy combatants. The chair, as it so happens, was built to Plummer's specifications, dictated by the way she wanted her character to sit. There are several shots of her cackling in the chair, laying back, and enjoying the mayhem. 

It's worth pausing here to recall that in the 1991 film "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," one of the villains was a conniving Klingon general named Chang. The film's climax involved Chang firing on the U.S.S. Enterprise while quoting "Julius Caesar," swiveling in his chair  and enjoying the mayhem. Chang was played by Christopher Plummer, Amanda's father. 

In a new interview with ScreenRant , Dave Blass, the production designer on "Star Trek: Picard," talked about that chair and how it came to be an homage to Christopher Plummer while also serving Amanda Plummer. Blass geeks out a little bit. 

Blass recalls the setup that would see Vadic looking at her ship's viewscreen from her captain's chair, and how he and the other showrunners, including chief showrunner Terry Matalas, realized something needed to be made more dramatic. The chair, he recalled, needed to be bigger. Blass said: 

"It started out that it was just gonna be a viewscreen shot. And then Terry's like, when we saw her first day of work, we're like, 'Yeah, she's killing it. We need to make this bigger thing.' So I worked with her and ... Obviously, her father was in ['Star Trek VI']. And, he had the chair! 'Cry "Havoc!" Let loose the dogs of war!' And we wanted to ... give a slight nod to that. But she's also, like, "I'm trapped in this chair. So I want it to be part of [me].' She told me how she wanted to sit."

Note: Blass got his Shakespeare slightly wrong. The line from "Julius Caesar" is "Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war." Blass also admits he was a fan of Amanda Plummer's work, saying:

"Amanda Plummer! 'The Fisher King' is one of my go-to favorite movies. To work with her! And then she's just the sweetest, nicest person. And then, all of a sudden, just this attack of Vadic comes out of her. But just getting to work with her, and to make her feel like this chair was something special ... we had a lot of fun with that. [... T]hat was a set that we knew that we didn't have a lot of money to do. So we put in the money and we made a cool chair. And the rest of the set was something different."

Not every captain gets a full-blown recliner.

The corpse of the La Sirena

Blass also revealed that the set he built for Vadic's bridge might look familiar to people who had been paying close attention to the first season of "Star Trek: Picard." Much of that season's action took place on board a small non-Federation vessel called the La Sirena, captained by Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabrera). David Blass used clever lighting and some slight design changes to hide this fact, but the Shrike was built out of the bridge of the La Sirena. 

On the change, Blass said: 

" [...I]t's a typical start. And that's the thing with 'Star Trek' fans; you can do things and get away with it because part of 'Star Trek' history is the remaking of things from one thing to another. And fans buy it ... It's something you have to do because that's just the way. And in order to save the money. And [to] get the Enterprise-D up there for two days. It's like, you gotta cut corners elsewhere." 

Blass recreated the bridge of the Enterprise-D as it looked on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" from 1987 to 1994. Given that so many Trekkies have nostalgia for that show, it was clearly more important to get the details of that set just right, as fans would notice even the slightest discrepancies. The bridge of the Shrike merely needed to look new. Blass did an exemplary job on both. 

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Published Feb 27, 2024

First Look at Star Trek: Picard: The Art and Making of the Series

Everywhere books are sold now!

StarTrek.com

From Joe Fordham, get an inside look behind Star Trek: Picard , with the release of Star Trek: Picard: The Art and Making of the Series — a must-have for all Star Trek fans.

This beautifully illustrated hardback, available now everywhere books are sold , features behind-the-scenes and on-set photography, and a range of production art, is an in-depth exploration of a hugely popular and seminal Star Trek character.

Alongside interviews with showrunners, writers, cast, and crew, discussing concepts and character arcs, "Spotlight" features explore makeup, costumes, art, and visual effects. A final section features reflections on the much-beloved character from its original incarnation in Star Trek: Next Generation through to its final satisfying conclusion.

Star Trek: Picard stars Patrick Stewart, reprising his role as Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation . The book explores each of the three separate season-long narratives, which tell the story of Picard in later years, as he is brought out of retirement on his family château to face old enemies such as the Borg, take command of a new starship, and ultimately reconcile with his past.

New characters such as Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd), Dr. Jurati (Alison Pill), Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabrera), Soji (Isa Briones) and Elnor (Evan Evagora) feature alongside appearances by old enemies and friends, such as Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching), Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg, Ito Aghayere), Data (Brent Spiner), and Q (John de Lancie). Season 3 sees a full-scale Next Generation reunion, featuring Worf (Michael Dorn), Dr. Beverley Crusher (Gates McFadden), and Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton).

Thanks to our friends over at Titan Books, StarTrek.com has an inside look at Star Trek: Picard: The Art and Making of the Series!

VADIC CHANGELING AVENGER

The Shrike captain announces herself as Vadic (Amanda Plummer), leader of a rogue faction of Changelings, liquid-based shapeshifters from the Gamma Quadrant. "Amanda Plummer was the only person I ever thought of for this role," states Terry Matalas. "Early on, I didn’t know that she would do it. I knew that Amanda had Star Trek lineage as her father, Christopher Plummer, played General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .

To our delight, she said ‘yes’ and she brought so much to the character. She made Vadic one of the great Star Trek villains."

Vadic’s tortured history sprang from a clandestine operation, an offshoot of the Dominion War against the Federation. "They were held captive on Daystrom Station by a nefarious group within Starfleet, Section 31," Matalas explains. "They were trying to make Changelings that were undetectable down to an organ level in a way that Changelings had not been before. Vadic and her people escaped from that lab with their new abilities, and they found a like-minded dying species, the Borg, who teamed up with them to put an end to Starfleet once and for all."

The makeup team explored designs for Vadic and her Changelings that acknowledged their genetic origins, as seen in Deep Space Nine ’s amorphous shapeshifting security chief Odo (René Auberjonois), with a twist. "We tried a variety of prosthetic designs for Vadic," recalls Vincent Van Dyke. "We ended up creating scars as a design element on her face. They were quite symmetrical, even beautiful. The idea was these were scars that had injured her, symmetrically, on each side of her body. Technically, they were quite simple for us to create, not extensive makeup. But what a wonderful actress."

"Amanda was fantastic," concurs James MacKinnon. "Talking to her about what we were going to do, she was very particular, and quiet. But when she started talking about how she was going to play the part, it was awesome to watch. We ended up taking the color out of her eyebrows. We gave her a pale face and some cheek scars as silicone transfers. The idea was that, as a Changeling, she’d been partway through forming into another character when she stopped and that left subtle scarring on her face. We gave those scars a natural lip color."

"Changelings loyal to Vadic carry disruptor weapons illicitly acquired on their travels through the Delta Quadrant. Vadic brandished a femme-fatale-style smoking device. "Terry and Amanda wanted her to be wreathed in smoke sitting on her bridge," recalls Jeff Lombardi. "We’ve not seen many aliens smoking cigarettes before in Star Trek . Amanda does smoke, which helped. We got her blend that she was comfortable with, and we designed an alien cigarette holder and different papers. It was a simple device, the end of the holder held a rolled joint and the two melded together as a smoking apparatus. We also gave her some old French lighters and a Romulan knife — one of the Reman blades that Picard’s clone, Shinzon, had used in Star Trek Nemesis ."

Go behind-the-series with Star Trek: Picard: The Art and Making of the Series , on-sale now!

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In addition to streaming on Paramount+ , Star Trek: Picard also streams on Prime Video outside of the U.S. and Canada, and in Canada can be seen on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Picard is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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Picard season 3 is the final adventure The Next Generation cast never got

"That was the goal from the beginning, to send 'em off in one final adventure that was both thrilling and deeply personal," says showrunner Terry Matalas.

Nick is an entertainment journalist based in New York, NY. If you like pugs and the occasional blurry photo of an action figure, follow him on Twitter @NickARomano.

Terry Matalas, the newly appointed showrunner for Star Trek: Picard 's third and final season, felt the pressure to stick the landing — not just for the audience, but for himself.

Years ago, his love of The Next Generation fueled the Emerson College graduate to become a PA in the Trek production offices, through which he became friends with Seven of Nine (a.k.a. Jeri Ryan ) while working on Voyager and taxied Jean-Luc Picard himself ( Patrick Stewart ) around in a golf cart to the studio stages. Now, here he is, decades later, and it's his prime directive to give the characters he loved as a kid the send-off they never got.

Matalas sees Picard season 3 as the proper "last story" for the Next Generation era. "I think the original series had a final send-off with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ," he tells EW of the 1991 movie that brought back the William Shatner -led cast. "This cast," he says, referring to The Next Generation , "never really had that. So that was the goal from the beginning, to send 'em off in one final adventure that was both thrilling and deeply personal."

The mission was to re-assemble the main crew of The Next Generation around Stewart. Gates McFadden . Jonathan Frakes . LeVar Burton . Michael Dorn . Marina Sirtis . Brent Spiner . The whole Enterprise gang. There was no back-up plan.

"It was this or bust, so I had to go hard," Matalas admits. "The good news is I think everybody really wanted to do it. It was something that was in their hearts. The cast certainly wanted to return. They're all lifelong friends. And another chance for them to be reunited on a starship? Who wouldn't say yes to that? The pressure is really finding a story that's worthy of that."

Crushing it

Watching Star Trek with his dad every Sunday from the living room couch, Matalas felt like Captain Picard and his chief medical officer on the Enterprise were among the "will they, won't they" greats of television. "It feels like, 'Why didn't they for decades?'" he asks himself. "It felt like it should have gone there in a feature film. Now that you're here at the end, wouldn't it be great to see, 'Oh, they went there alright.'"

With the return of McFadden as Beverly Crusher, Matalas says "we get to see the fallout of that," as well as "a coming together" in the final season.

"I also think that Beverly really never got her due," he adds. "That was one of the ideas I had from the beginning: The first person you actually saw this season was Beverly Crusher popping in the frame and defending her doctors. She was still a doctor, but she wasn't traditionally the kind of doctor you expected her to be. A lot of time and a lot of discussion with Gates went into that."

Forging a new path

Matalas had conversations with all the legacy Trek actors returning for Picard . He admits there were nerves around telling them where there characters would be after all this time. To get ahead of that, he met with each one individually to lay out his plans. "I was fortunate that, creatively, we were very aligned," he says. "They know their characters better than I do."

He remembers the reaction from Burton, who returns as Geordi La Forge, now with two daughters. Burton's own daughter Mica Burton plays Ensign Alandra La Forge, Geordi's youngest who works alongside him, while actress Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut plays Ensign Sidney LaForge, Geordi's eldest.

"I remember vividly the Zoom conversation I had with LeVar Burton, where I took him through the 10-episode arc I had envisioned for him," Matalas recalls. "I pitched to him this big moment at the end of the season, and by the time I was done, there were tears in his eyes. It dawned on me that I just made Geordi La Forge cry with this story. And then I started to cry."

Worf by way of Kill Bill

Matalas' chat with Dorn went differently. There weren't many tears. Just some references to Kill Bill .

Multiple books and comics have been released since the last movie with the Next Generation cast, which was 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis . They offered clues as to what Worf could have been getting into. "We didn't want to say no to any of those ideas, but we certainly had a vision of where he was now," Matalas notes.

The writer-producer didn't see the fan-favorite Klingon as a starship captain, despite what the stories from those novels and comics might depict. "I see him as a samurai," Matalas notes. "I actually see him with this Klingon sword on his back. I also see him, although this doesn't quite line up with Klingon lore, with a white beard."

According to the showrunner, there was a long pause as Dorn processed this: "He's like, 'Do you mean like Pai Mei from Kill Bill ?' I was like, 'That's a way to go.' And he goes, 'I love it.'"

Butch and Sundance

Another reference Matalas had was the 1969 Western with Robert Redford and Paul Newman, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid . That was his touchstone for Picard's relationship to his former No. 1, William Riker.

Frakes previously appeared on Picard as Riker, but he takes a more prominent role in season 3. "I thought it was important not to just get them all together in the first moment, but to earn each one of these character stories, to give each one of these characters their moment before they come together," Matalas explains.

"If you were going to do a last Next Generation movie, you would really only have two, maybe three hours to do that," he adds. "That's what's beautiful about a 10-episode sort of 'mini' series. You can explore all of them and see how they're different and pair them up."

"A classic Star Trek villain"

If we're going back to the first Golden Age of Star Trek , Matalas felt he needed "a classic Star Trek villain." That's how he describes Amanda Plummer's Vadic.

Details of this character are locked away in a guarded vault deep in Starfleet command, but we know she captains the Shrike warship and has targeted Picard and his old Enterprise buddies for her own reasons.

How is she more classic? "She's a bit more theatrical by intention," Matalas says. "She's a bit more like her father, Christopher Plummer, in Star Trek VI and that was by design." Plummer's Oscar-winning dad played General Chang in The Undiscovered Country . "We wanted someone who would chew the scenery a bit more, someone who was fun to watch," Matalas continues. "Having said that, when you get to know her story, you will find sympathy. Vadic has her reasons for all of this, I say cryptically. When you do [find out], it will make a lot of sense."

From Enterprise to Picard

Among the new faces is a familiar one from the Trek canon.

Actor Todd Stashwick once played a Romulan posing as a Vulcan in a 2004 episode of Star Trek: Enterprise . Stashwick is now back as the very human Liam Shaw, captain of the USS Titan, the flashy ship fans will see in season 3 of Picard . He's a former engineer with a long history within Starfleet. His first officer is Seven of Nine, who was placed in an accelerated Starfleet program after the events of season 2.

Stashwick had worked with Matalas on another sci-fi series, 12 Monkeys . Many writers who worked on that show followed Matalas to Picard . "When we were creating the character, the first thing I said was, 'Captain Stashwick comes in,'" Matalas recalls. "We just kept saying, 'Captain Stashwick! Captain Stashwick!' There was never anyone else in our mind for that role."

What lies beyond the stars?

Matalas is planning season 3 as the last outing for Picard , and the powers that be have already announced these last 10 episodes as the final season. However, executive producer Alex Kurtzman spoke up at the Television Critics Association press tour panel to suggest that maybe the door isn't so closed after all.

"When we started the series, Patrick and we all talked about really wanting it to just be three years, feeling like we could really tell a complete story with the season you're now seeing as our endpoint," Kurtzman, one of the architects of the new Trek -verse, had told reporters at the event in January. "That being said, anything is possible. If a show blows the doors off the place, as we're certainly hoping it will, and we're very, very proud of season 3, who knows?"

Matalas says the future of Picard depends on how viewers react to the "final" (with aggressive air quotes) season. "It's up to the television gods. And by that I mean Paramount+ and Alex Kurtzman," he says. "There's certainly a desire by me and many of the actors to continue some of these stories. I think the way this season ends, there's a tremendous opportunity. So I'd be lying to say that I don't have a thousand and one ideas ready to go. But you know the nature of television is mercurial. So we'll see."

Star Trek: Picard season 3 premieres on Paramount+ Feb. 16. See more exclusive photos of the cast below.

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Related content:

• Star Trek: Picard cast reminisce on The Next Generation and reuniting for final season
• Picard season 3 trailer reveals villain, La Forge's daughters, and more Next Generation returns
• Patrick Stewart felt 'quite emotional' saying farewell to Picard on the last day of filming

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Star Trek: Section 31 reveals a shocking connection to Star Trek: The Next Generation in the form of a legacy character who meets Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). D irected by Olatunde Osunsanmi and written by Craig Sweeny, Star Trek: Section 31 recently wrapped production in Toronto. Yeoh's Georgiou, who was originally a popular part of Star Trek: Discovery, travels through time as she confronts the sins of Starfleet's secretive black ops agency.

A new Variety cover story about the Star Trek franchise reveals that Star Trek: Section 31 new cast member Kacey Rohl plays a young version of Star Trek: The Next Generation legacy character Rachel Garrett , the doomed future captain of the USS Enterprise-C. Check out the quote below:

Georgiou is standing with a young Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl), a character first introduced on “Next Generation” as the older fearless captain of the USS Enterprise-C.

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Who is rachel garrett in star trek: the next generation & section 31, the captain of the enterprise-c has a secret past.

Rachel Garrett only made one appearance in the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3 episode, "Yesterday's Enterprise." The Captain of the USS Enterprise-C is a tragic character as she and her Ambassador Class starship were doomed to die in order to repair the timeline and ensure a dark alternate reality where the United Federation of Planets loses a war with the Klingons. Captain Garrett was played by Tricia O'Neill in TNG , and she has never been forgotten by Star Trek fans.

Star Trek: Section 31 revealing that the young Garrett encounters Emperor Georgiou and may even be recruited into Section 31 in the early 24th century is a compelling and fascinating twist.

Captain Rachel Garrett's sacrifice was referenced at the start of Star Trek: Picard season 3. A statue of Captain Garrett, known as ''The Red Lady' , stood in front of a Starfleet recruitment center on M'Talas Prime that was destroyed by Captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer). However, nothing was known about Rachel's past. Star Trek: Section 31 revealing that the young Garrett encounters Emperor Georgiou and may even be recruited into Section 31 in the early 24th century is a compelling and fascinating twist on this Star Trek legacy character.

Source: Variety

Cast Humberly Gonzlez, Sam Richardson, Omari Hardwick, Robert Kazinsky, Kacey Rohl

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Star trek: legacy gets boost as new report teases picard follow-up movie.

The proposed continuation for Star Trek: Picard season 3 dubbed Star Trek: Legacy may become a streaming movie according to a new report.

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Star Trek: Legacy , the rumored follow-up series to Star Trek: Picard , gets an update courtesy of a new report. In addition to reuniting the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation for one last mission, Picard season 3 set up a new Star Trek show featuring Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) as commander of the USS Enterprise-G, tentatively titled Star Trek: Legacy . The cast ideally would include Commander Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) as First Officer; Ensign Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), as well as several returning Picard characters.

A new Variety cover story about the future of the Star Trek franchise includes a long-awaited, albeit brief, update on the possibility of Star Trek: Legacy happening as a Star Trek streaming movie made for Paramount+ if Star Trek: Section 31 is a success. Read the quote below:

And Kurtzman is already eyeing more opportunities for TV movies, including a possible follow-up to “Picard.”

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Why hasn't star trek: legacy been confirmed yet, short answer: money..

The fan-led campaigns to greenlight Star Trek: Legacy certainly show that demand for the new Star Trek: Picard spinoff exists, but demand alone isn't enough to warrant a whole new Star Trek series going into production. Even though Picard season 3 clearly set up Legacy , with its potential cast of new characters, Captain Seven catchphrase cliffhanger, and even a visit from Q (John de Lancie), there was never a guarantee that the premise would result in a multi-episode, ongoing Star Trek show, especially with 3 other Star Trek shows currently in production.

The new Variety report suggests that Star Trek: Legacy may come to exist as a streaming Star Trek movie, which would be a more financially sound move , even if it isn't exactly what fans have been clamoring for. Star Trek: Section 31 was intended as a series before being modified into a more cost-effective feature-length telefilm, and its success could lay the groundwork for a collection of similar Star Trek content on Paramount+. Legacy as a Star Trek movie may not be ideal, but it would still see the continuing adventures of the USS Enterprise-G crew, and that's better than no Star Trek: Legacy at all.

Source: Variety

Star Trek: Picard season 3 is available to stream on Paramount+