The last ride of Jean-Luc Picard won’t begin on the starship Enterprise. The new sneak-peek Picard Season 3 trailer, which just dropped for “Star Trek Day,” surprisingly reveals which starship is boldly going somewhere this time — turns out, it’s actually a new version of an old starship.
Here are all the details we now have on the final season of Star Trek: Picard, including hints at the actual story, and how that new ship totally could set up a spin-off.
Picard Season 3 Star Trek Day Trailer
After a few teaser trailers that have only given vague hints about Picard Season 3, this new sneak peek actually shows the beloved Next Generation crew in action. Beginning with a distress call from Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), the trailer finds Jean-Luc (Patrick Stewart) and Riker (Jonathan Frakes) in need of a starship. And the revelation of that specific ship is specific and... fascinating.
The (new) USS Titan in Picard Season 3
Although Riker was the captain of the USS Titan (NCC-80102) from 2379 to at least 2381 (aka the Lower Decks era), the Titan we see in the Picard Season 3 trailer is clearly not the same ship. Is it an older version of Riker’s ship? Or a newer version? The trailer doesn’t give a clear shot of the registry number so, right now, that detail is a bit unclear. Riker’s Titan was a Luna-Class starship, while this Titan looks like a blend of old-school Excelsior-class, with some basic TNG vibes.
Turns out, the answer comes from showrunner Terry Matalas himself. According to TrekCore, the new Titan in Picard Season 2, is a new version of a Constitution-Class ship and will be the Titan-A, meaning it is the ship that comes after Riker’s first Luna-Class Titan. Longtime fans know that “Constitution-Class” was the class of the TOS version of the Enterprise. However, there can be updated versions of starship classes as the centuries roll on. In Picard Season 2, we got an updated Excelsior-Class II for 2401. Meanwhile, Discovery Season 3 and Season 4 introduced a 32nd Century Constitution-Class.
Matalas has been teasing that the starship setting of Picard Season 3 won’t be the Enterprise for a while. He’s also described this ship as an “underdog.” So, perhaps this new Titan is underdog-ish from the perspective of folks in the year 2401.
At this point, it’s also unclear who the captain of this Titan will be. In the trailer, we see Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) greet Riker and Picard, and she’s the one who gives the order to “engage!” So, maybe Seven is in command of the ship, and Riker and Jean-Luc are along for the ride? Is this now a mission to save Crusher? How do Geordi, Worf, Raffi ,and Troi fit in? And where’s Brent Spiner? We’ll just have to wait and see!
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 release date
After much speculation, the release date for Picard Season 3 has been confirmed for February 16, 2023. Mark your calendars.
Will Picard Season 3 set up a Seven and Raffi spin-off?
With Picard coming to an end in 2023, fans have wondered if the series could lead into another series, this time focused on Seven of Nine and Raffi. Terry Matalas has said that, although he is supportive of a continuation, there are no current plans for a sequel series to Picard. That said, in a long interview with TrekMovie, Matalas made it pretty clear that everything in Picard Season 3 is designed to set up another series. So, if Picard Season 3 goes over well, it seems possible that we could see this Star Trek setting — the beginning of the 25th century — support more stories moving forward.
Star Trek: Picard Seasons 1-2 are streaming now on Paramount+.
