Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: paramount, patrick stewart, star trek, Star Trek Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: Picard Season 4: How About "The Young Jean-Luc Chronicles"?

With Patrick Stewart open to the idea of more Star Trek: Picard, why not take it in a new direction by spotlighting young Jean-Luc's life?

As we're set to what's supposedly the final voyage for Star Trek: The Next Generation crew in Paramount+ series Picard in its third and final season, executive producer Akiva Goldsman and star Patrick Stewart have all but firmly shut the door on Jean-Luc's future with a nudge and a wink. The actor's condition to revisit his iconic character was that it wasn't going to repeat what he did on TNG. What Picard has allowed the actor to do and for the character as a whole it's been to expand Jean-Luc like they never had before. Here's my pitch to them and executive producer Terry Matalas.

Star Trek: A Full Deep Dive in Pre-TNG Era Starting with Jean-Luc Picard

Let's look at how they addressed Jean-Luc in the past. On TNG, we've witnessed a version that's regressed into adolescence in the season six TNG episode "Rascals." Both series touched upon his childhood and early Starfleet career with his stints before his first command, the U.S.S. Stargazer, the vessel he transferred from to become the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D. By chronicling and having a younger actor play Jean-Luc with Stewart narrating about his life, perhaps to fulfill a greater mystery he's trying to solve about his own life.

There's so much that can be done, as both shows have indicated. One of my favorite Picard-centric episodes was the TNG season six episode "Tapestry," which centers on Jean-Luc regretting certain decisions he made that led to Q (John de Lancie) intervening to grant his wish in an It's a Wonderful Life-type fashion. Following Q's snap, Jean-Luc is transported to an alternate reality where he didn't stick up for his friends only to get stabbed in the heart, creating that watershed moment of conviction that would define his life in command.

Given the fascination with the pre-The Original Series era, it would be a welcome change of pace to finally tackle the timeline to serve as the backdoor model for how a pre-TNG spinoff could work in the Paramount+ era. Even if you deviate from Jean-Luc, it's not like there aren't other characters that could be focused on. For starters, Enterprise-B introduced Alan Ruck's Captain John Harriman and the daughter of TOS' Hikaru Sulu in Demora Sulu (Jacqueline Kim); both were introduced in 1994's Star Trek: Generations. Having her former captain and father provide guidance to the younger Sulu with her own command could make for some compelling TV and present its own set of challenges.

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