While Paramount+ has been streaming exciting new installments of Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Discovery for months now, fans of the franchise have had their eye on the premiere of Star Trek: Picard Season 2, eagerly anticipating exciting new developments for their nostalgic favorite characters.
With the tantalizing reveal on last year’s First Contact Day, April 5, that Q (John de Lancie) would return for Season 2 to torment his favorite capitán, Trekkers around the multiverse roared their approval.
Now, with the release of the official trailer for Star Trek: Picard Season 2, we have confirmation that Whoopi Goldberg does indeed return as Guinan, fulfilling the offer Patrick Stewart made to her on The View in January 2020.
The trailer opens with Picard’s voice admitting, “There are some moments that haunt us all our lives. Moments upon which history turns.”
Paramount+ had already announced that Season 2 would explore the theme of alternate futures. In a way, it’s reminiscent of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6 Episode 15 “Tapestry” where Q(!) shows Picard what his life would’ve been like if he had taken a cautious route in his cadet days.
We can assume that the repercussions of this new “Path Not Taken” will be far more dramatic than Picard’s pride taking a hit.
Q seems to be the puppetmaster once again, but this time we see that Seven no longer has her Borg implants, implying she was never assimilated as a child.
The trailer indicates the entire crew of La Sirena will travel back to 2024(!), where they must set right something that has changed the future significantly. Guinan is there to set them on track.
Some of the scenes will ring familiar to fans of the Original Series films.
For those of you who aren’t: In the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Kirk’s Enterprise crew travels back to 1986 to get a whale in order to save the future world from an alien probe. (Yeah. It was a good ‘un. You should go watch it.)
While there are some comedic moments in store for us, this time-odyssey looks to be a darker, wilder ride.
Another familiar face that is electrifying the fan sites is the Borg Queen, portrayed in this iteration by Annie Wersching after Alice Krige reprised the role for a cameo on Star Trek: Lower Deck Season 2 Episode 8 last summer.
It’s a trailer chockful of fascinating glimpses into potentially tragic moments. There’s drama. There’s comedy. There are familiar faces and new situations. It’s a trailer worth watching multiple times. You’ll catch something new every go-round.
No matter how you felt about the heavier messaging of Star Trek: Picard Season 1, it looks like this sophomore outing will be a detour through a (relatively) lighter adventure before they resume the discussion of the nature of humanity. Possibly, Season 3?
Fanatics, readers, Trekkers! Let’s see your reactions!
Beam your thoughts and theories into the comments. Make it so!
Star Trek: Picard Season 2 premieres on Paramount+ on March 3. Be sure to check back here for our episodic reviews! LLAP
Diana Keng is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.