The disgraced Admiral starts putting together a crew at the beginning of Picard season one to assist him in looking into his former shipmate Data. But the show’s protagonists and its viewers wondered: Why not bring back the old crew since his new crew comprised Captain Rios and former Starfleet officer Raffi. Members of that crew gradually regrouped throughout seasons one and two, beginning with his number one Will Riker and counsellor Dianna Troi and ending with Data and Guinan.
The crew of the Enterprise will ultimately reunite with their former captain for the third and final season of the show. Levar Burton, Gates McFadden, and Michael Dorn have reportedly joined the cast of the upcoming season, according to Variety. The main cast of The Next Generation is now complete, barring the additions of Wesley Crusher, Miles O’Brien, or Tasha Yar. Riker, Troi, and the others have previously been seen, and a much has changed since they were last seen together in 2002’s Nemesis. What then have the returning characters been up to for the last 20 years?
Dr. Crusher resumes her position as the head of Starfleet Medical in the deleted sequences from Nemesis. She returned her position as Chief Medical Officer from Dr. Pulaski, hence it is presumed that she dealt with whatever situation led to her leaving that post prior to the commencement of The Next Generation season three. If the features of the future hinted at in “All Good Things…” hold true, Crusher will soon marry Picard (and then divorce him) and be ready to command her own ship, The Pasteur.
As Geordi La Forge has already begun a family with Dr. Leah Brahms in that version, “All Good Things…” also hinted to Geordi La Forge’s impending marriage. As seen in the Voyager episode “Timeless,” La Forge may captain the USS Challenger in yet another possible future. However, the appearance of La Forge in the Picard prequel comic book Countdown is the most canonical one we’ve seen thus far. In order to assist in the evacuation of Romulus, Commander La Forge works in the shipyards on Utopia Planatia.
Due to his tenure aboard the starship Deep Space Nine, Worf has had the most screen time of the three returning characters. Worf left DS9 and joined Chancellor Martok’s team as the Federation Ambassador to the Klingon Empire. Worf remained a Klingon in “All Good Things,” eventually rising to the position of Governor of H’atoria. However, in the Star Trek novels, Worf takes Riker’s place as First Officer after he leaves the Enterprise-E to serve as Captain of the Titan. Worf becomes Captain after Picard departs the Enterprise to assume the position of Admiral, becoming the first Klingon to occupy that position in Federation history.
Though any of these story themes could be altered by the time shenanigans of season two, modern Trek has been happy to borrow ideas from books and comics. These characters’ backgrounds may be fully fulfilled by the last season of Picard, much like how Riker’s leadership of the Titan has been a regular part of the mainline Trek canon.
