Star Trek: Picard Season 2 is on the way, and with its arrival comes a long-awaited reunion between Jean-Luc Picard and Q. The latter's return to the franchise means chaos for the titular character and friends like Seven of Nine and, while that’s nothing new for the character, John de Lancie recently indicated there will be changes with his character. Fans can expect a more mature Q here, which is a bit surprising.
There are many words that can be used to describe Q on Star Trek, though I’m not sure “mature” is one of them. It appears things can change over the course of a couple of decades, though, as John de Lancie revealed during the Trek Talks Telethon (via TrekMovie.com) a bit towards Q’s motivations as well as his maturity on Picard Season 2:
It isn’t, in fact, a Q of 34 years years ago. It would be unseemly to be playing it that way. He’s older, more mature, a little more focused individual, with a very strong internal motivation and a desire to get Picard to do something. But if I tried to do it the way I acted back then, I think it wouldn’t be good. It is different, and it’s intended to be a little different.
John de Lancie wants to make it clear that the Q see here is not the exact same character from The Next Generation. The actor added that had he returned and played the role the way he did back then, he doesn’t believe it’d be as good as what he ultimately did in the upcoming season.
Star Trek fans might be leery of hearing about the changes but might take solace in knowing it’s something John de Lancie wanted going in. The actor went on to speak about his fear heading into Picard Season 2 and the assurances he wanted before he returned to the franchise:
I am very concerned about recreating, that has a lot of potential disasters attached to it. So I said, ‘We are not trying to recreate something? We are going to move from here, forward?’ And they said, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’
One thing that’s not surprising to hear within this new information is that Q wants Picard to do something. Pretty much every encounter between the two resulted in a test of sorts, in which the extra-dimensional being challenged Patrick Stewart's character to impart some lesson or test of humanity. My question is, what could this new challenge be, and why Q is back at this late stage in Picard’s life. Hopefully, whatever the answer is, it’s for some positive reason and gives us a happy ending for the mischievous Q.
Star Trek: Picard streams on Paramount+ in February. Q’s return is exciting, especially in light of recent news that he’ll share scenes with other alumni of The Next Generation. Hopefully, his return to the franchise doesn’t disappoint. And while you wait for the show's return, check out CinemaBlend's 2022 winter and spring TV schedule for more on other shows that are coming up.
