Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Trailer Finally Brings Back The Next Generation Crew

“Let’s see what’s out there,” said Captain Jean-Luc Picard in 1987 as the USS Enterprise set out on its “continuing mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no one has gone before.” Well, Picard and the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation have done just that, guiding us to new corners of the four quadrants of space for the last 35 years. And with the upcoming Picard season 3, that mission finally comes to an end.

The final season of the Paramount+ series will not only see Patrick Stewart take a final bow as the iconic Captain Picard but also bring to a conclusion the stories of The Next Generation crew. LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Worf), Jonathan Frakes (William Riker), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), and Brent Spiner (Data) star alongside Stewart in season 3, and they’re joined by Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) and Michelle Hurd (Raffaela Musiker) who are the only actors returning from season 2.

During the Star Trek Universe panel at SDCC, Paramount+ finally revealed our first look at the returning crew, including, most delightfully, Old Man Worf. Check out the teaser below:

“You’re only as good as those around you,” says Picard in the teaser. “As long as you and your crew remain steadfast, you are never without hope.”

While Riker and Deanna both showed up in the first season of Picard, this is the first time Worf, Geordi, and Beverly have been on screen in quite some time. Dorn, Burton, and McFadden last appeared in Star Trek in the 2002 movie Nemesis. And now they’re finally returning almost 20 years to the date they last boarded the Enterprise.

Here’s a closer look at the central characters of Picard season 3:

Picard, a decidedly grittier exploration of an older Jean-Luc’s life post-Enterprise, has certainly had its ups and downs since the show premiered in 2020. The first season not only had Picard dealing with a life-threatening illness and his guilt over a decision that made him resign from Starfleet but also featured a Romulan plot involving the Borg and a deep dive into the legacy of Data and the future of androids in the galaxy. Season 2 went time-hopping thanks to Q sending Picard and his new crew of misfits to our present day to stop the Borg Queen’s history-altering evil plan.

The results…have been mixed. Some have criticized the show for lacking the optimism and utopian quality that was at the core of The Next Generation (and The Original Series). Its strictly serialized format also means Picard hasn’t really delved into the adventure-of-the-week type of storytelling, something The Next Generation fans have long come to expect from Jean-Luc and his crew.

So what’s in store for Picard season 3? The season 2 finale offered some clues, including the massive transwarp conduit opened by the Federation and the Borg. Executive producer Akiva Goldsman told Den of Geek earlier this year that “maybe there’s some setup there.”

We’ll surely get to see what’s out there once again when Star Trek: Picard season 3 hits Paramount+ in 2023.