Star Trek Picard Season 2 Trailer Breakdown: 12 Story Reveals
The first Star Trek: Picard season 2 trailer is packed full of exciting tidbits, including a huge reveal about the return of a major character. Star Trek: Picard season 1 premiered in January 2020, showing an aged and retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard grappling with his own mortality, his rocky relationship with Starfleet, and his ongoing grief over the death of Data. Over the course of season 1, Picard was pulled into an adventure that included banned androids, ex-Borg, and a secret Romulan organization intent on wiping out all synthetic life in the universe.
Picard season 2 has been highly anticipated by fans and as part of StarTrek.com's First Contact Day celebration, a special teaser has been released to give everyone a first taste of what will be in the new season. The trailer features a voiceover by Jean-Luc Picard himself, played by actor Patrick Stewart, and is set to a remixed version of the show's theme. The main point of the voiceover is time: Picard discusses how unforgiving time can be, how it can create regrets, and offer no second chances, while the trailer offers tantalizing shots full of references to previous Star Trek shows.
Each shot of the trailer has hints about the new season, from small potential Easter Eggs to some huge story reveals. The biggest surprise by far comes at the end when it is revealed that Q, John de Lancie's iconic trickster character from Star Trek: The Next Generation, will be making a return as part of the cast in Star Trek: Picard season 2. In total, there are 12 major reveals that the trailer gives about the new season, enough to give fans plenty to talk about before season 2 premieres.
Picard's vineyard features heavily in the season 2 trailer, with the very first shot a slow zoom in on the house and grounds. Château Picard was first seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation in the episode "Family", and returned in Star Trek: Picard season 1 as Picard's new home after retirement. During season 1, Picard shared the vineyard with his dog, Number One, and two Romulan assistants, former Tal-Shiar agents Laris and Zhaban. While the vineyard only featured as a location in the first two episodes of season 1, its return in the new trailer suggests that fans will get a lot more scenes there in season 2. Hopefully, this also means the return of Laris, Zhaban, and Number One as well.
The first line of Picard's voiceover during the trailer states that "The true final frontier is time." There are several levels of significance to this statement, starting with it being a reimaging of Star Trek's iconic phrase "Space: the final frontier." This phrase was part of the voiceover heard during the opening credits of both Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but by replacing "space" with "time", Picard almost seems to be challenging one of Star Trek's most well-known doctrines. Additionally, the fact that the trailer's voiceover deals so heavily with time indicates that Star Trek: Picard season 2 will deal with time travel, an important science fiction concept and something that the Star Trek franchise has explored before to great effect.
After seeing the outside of the vineyard, the next shot show's the inside of Picard's home office, focusing on an antique clock as Picard discusses how time can turn even the most impulsive actions of an individual into history. The link between the theme of time and the clock is obvious, and having it as the first thing viewers see in Picard's office only serves to drive home the point. It is possible that the time on the clock display could have some significance as well. The display reads 10:05, and although no connection to Star Trek: Picard or the wider Star Trek universe is immediately evident, it is certainly something for fans to speculate about.
The shot of the clock also includes a brief but surprising look at the Reckoning Tablet, which is sitting on a table behind the clock in Picard's office. The Reckoning Tablet is an ancient Bajoran artifact that was first introduced in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode of the same name. In the episode, the Tablet is discovered in an ancient Bajoran city, and while attempting to decipher the symbols on its surface, Captain Sisko accidentally breaks the tablet and releases a trapped Bajoran prophet and Pah-Wraith, inciting a war between the Prophets and the Pah-Wraiths as a result. The implications of the Reckoning Tablet in the trailer could be numerous, but above all, it suggests a return in Picard to storylines about both the Bajorans and the Dominion War, which was the central storyline for much of Deep Space Nine's seven seasons.
The next big shot of the Picard season 2 trailer is a few shots of a large painting of the USS Enterprise-D hanging on the wall. The final shot of the painting coincides almost directly with Picard saying the word "history", making it clear that Picard's history as Captain of the Enterprise-D is going to be even more important in season 2 than it was in season 1. Featuring the Enterprise-D so heavily in the trailer also could suggest that fans can expect more callbacks to Star Trek: The Next Generation and along with the return of Q, more cameos of beloved TNG characters.
After the painting, viewers are treated to a shot of Picard's old com badge from his Enterprise-D days, sitting in a case on his desk as the camera pans over it. The com badge is immediately identifiable as the classic com badge design from the TNG era, as opposed to the newer, sleeker models that were shown in Picard season 1. The fact that Picard displays the com badge so prominently on his desk seems to show just how important his time as Captain of the Enterprise-D was to him.
The next shot shows an antique edition of Paradise Lost by John Milton sitting on the desk near to com badge. On the surface, this is a reference to Jean-Luc Picard's fondness for antiques, but it is also possible that Paradise Lost itself holds some significance. The work is an epic poem composed in the 17th century that deals with the Biblical stories depicting the Fall of Man, including the temptation of Adam and Eve and Lucifer's fall from Heaven. Star Trek rarely deals with religion directly, but the idea of man's downfall could definitely be connected to Q's return and his assertion from "Encounter at Farpoint" that humans are still a "savage, child race". Additionally, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had an episode entitled "Paradise Lost" which dealt with Captain Sisko uncovering a plot to seize power from Starfleet and the Federation by a Starfleet Admiral. If the book is a reference to this, it suggests a dark plotline for the new season.
Picard has a model of the USS Stargazer on his desk, the ship that was his first command before the Enterprise-D. Picard commanded the Stargazer for about 10 years and served on it for a number of years before that. The Stargazer's inclusion in the trailer further perpetuates the idea that Picard's past is going to be significant in the upcoming season, coupled with the references to the Enterprise-D and his voiceover about time. It is even possible that fans will get to learn more about Picard's command on the Stargazer, a period of time that has been reference before but never fully explored.
One of the most intriguing shots of the Picard season 2 trailer is a shot of an hourglass that appears to be going in reverse, with the sand trickling upward into the top bulb rather than down. When taken in the context of the entire trailer, especially the previous shots referencing important things from Picard's past, this shot all but confirms the idea that time travel will be a major storyline in Star Trek: Picard season 2. An hourglass in reverse suggests that the flow of time is being reversed, which would mean a return to the past that is likely going to be facilitated by Q. The concept of Q reversing, taking Picard back to his past to re-live his actions and mistakes was explored in the episode "Tapestry" from TNG, so it is very possible it could make a comeback in Picard.
One of the final shots of the trailer is an antique chessboard with two chairs and a stack of playing cards on it set up in Picard's office. Chess has always been a big part of the Star Trek franchise, although the traditional Star Trek chessboard was a more futuristic three-dimensional version. Along with the playing cards, which end up being the way the trailer reveals Q's return, the chessboard could be an indirect reference to Q as well, since in a recent Star Trek: Lower Decks episode Q made the crew of the USS Cerritos into chess pieces.
The last shot of the Picard season 2 trailer focuses on the deck of playing cards - in particular, the lone queen of hearts card sitting apart from the rest. The singling out of this card is a reference to the first episode of Star Trek: Picard season 1. In the first scene, during a dream sequence, Picard and Data play poker together, and when Data shows his hand all his cards are the queen of hearts. Although it seemed that Data's story had ended in the season 1 finale, this inclusion in the trailer could mean that more references to Data will be made during season 2.
As the camera focuses on the queen of hearts card, the rest of the card dissolves away, until only the "Q" in the corner remains. The voiceover then switches to actor John de Lancie's voice, revealing that Q will be back for season 2 of Star Trek: Picard. Q is one of Star Trek's most iconic characters, and although he has made other appearances throughout the franchise, his return in Picard is especially exciting since Q and Picard's rivalry became hugely popular on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The chance to see it revived is a thrilling one for fans.
Q's voiceover consists of only one line: "The trial never ends." While the line is brief, its significance should be immediately aware to fans. The line is a direct callback to the same line in the series finale of TNG, "All Good Things...", where Q tells Picard that although he has been convinced that humanity can evolve, he will still be watching and judging their progress. The repeating of this line in the new trailer for Star Trek: Picard suggests that Q is back to his old tricks, and will likely find some significant ways to meddle with Picard and humanity in general in the new season.
Everything in the new trailer, from all the references to past Star Trek shows to the reveal about Q, suggests an extremely exciting new season for Star Trek: Picard. Along with the trailer, the main cast from season 1 has been confirmed to appear in season 2, and the announcement about Q hopefully won't be the last in exciting casting news. For now, fans will have a lot of talk about with all the Easter eggs, theories, and questions that the trailer has provided to ponder.