Since the news first came out that John de Lancie was reprising his iconic role as Q in the second season of Star Trek: Picard we have been getting updates from the actor. This week we have some more clarity on how Q has changed as well as which role Brent Spiner will be playing in season two.
Not the trickster Q
We have been keeping track of John de Lancie’s comments to his fans on Cameo about his work on the second season of Star Trek: Picard. In some of his latest updates, he talks more about working again with some of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast and how Q is different from his previous appearances:
It’s been like 25 years, but I kind of found myself getting into the saddle really easily. It wasn’t difficult at all. But I must say it’s not the sort of Puck-ish, Mercutio of old. It’s a different Q this time. It’s what they wanted and I think that it makes sense. But Patrick and I have had a nice opening scenes and scenes with Brent and working with Jonathan Frakes. It’s been really interested and I am delighted. Who would have thought?
By invoking the playful and witty Shakespearan characters of Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet) and Puck (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) de Lancie is indicating that Q is more serious in Picard, and less of the trickster god-like being seen on TNG, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager.
John DeLancie in “Deja Q”
In another message, de Lancie spoke more about the quality of the work he and his TNG friends were doing:
It’s the oldsters, but we’re pretty good. We really are. [Jonathan] Frakes and I and Brent [Spiner] and Patrick [Stewart] were all going, “You know what, we can still do this. Good! This is fun!” It has been fun, great fun. It’s a very different Q this time. As well as it should be. It’s a very different Q. As a matter of fact, I am going there tomorrow… to deliver a very important scene.
John de Lancie as Q in the Star Trek: Picard season two teaser
Spiner (probably) not playing Data in season two
Brent Spiner is confirmed to be back for season two, and on Cameo, de Lancie has mentioned working with him many times. In May we reported that he mentioned doing a scene with “Data” in one message. At the time it wasn’t clear if he had misspoken, and just meant Spiner, who played Data in a number of episodes of season one, but got closure for the character in the season finale. However, with the time-twisting and alternative timelines indicated in the season two teaser trailer, a return for Data seemed at least plausible. We now have some clarification thanks to an interview with Jonathan Frakes in The Main Edge in which he was asked if he personally would be returning for season two:
I just finished directing a couple of episodes of Star Trek: Picard. I can confirm that one of our old crew, the omnipotent Q, played by John de Lancie, is in fact in both of the episodes that I direct. As for the rest of the cast, I don’t know what the plan is for them. Marina Sirtis, who played Counselor Troi, and I were briefly in Picard last season. Brent Spiner, who played Data, is back in another role, but that’s about as far as I can see.
While Frakes didn’t indicate what this “other role” Spiner is playing, it is most likely Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, who was introduced in season one. After season one wrapped, co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman said the Soong character was introduced to “create a platform for which there could be more Brent in ensuing seasons.” In theory, Spiner could still play Data in another season two episode not involving either de Lancie or Frakes, so we can’t say definitively Data isn’t back. But this at least clarifies that de Lancie indeed misspoke when he said he was doing a scene with Data.
Brent Spiner as Alton Soong with Sir Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard and Alison Pill as Agnes Jurati in “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1”
Star Trek: Picard season two will arrive in 2022.
Find more news and analysis on Star Trek: Picard.
I am under the Impression Q is going to annoy the Shit Out of Picard. But its propably wrong… Cant be ;)
Thought they got along great and Picard respected Q as a mentor or the complete opposite… probably the later. Picard always facinated Q as an extraordinary human. He’d have to check in on his favorite person to test and provoke even at an old age. Can’t wait
Groovy :)
Q should have been in BSG 2003 as a head character who tormented Brother Cavil. It would have been epic!
I would like to see q more cognizant of Picard’s mortality making him envious of human beings ability of acceptance of the inevitable and still forging ahead everyday. Might be in for a real treat by Q, the best joke of all could in fact be a serious deity. I’m sure everyone in the universe would find it quite funny indeed.
I get nervous every time he says “It’s a very different Q this time.”
@ matt b – Me too. I was mainly going to give this second Picard season a look due to Q’s inclusion, but I hope they don’t ‘reimagine’ his character into something too dour in this.
If they’re clever, it will be mirror verse Q hence the beard.
I don’t want more Spiner, I want more Data. It was Data who was the beloved TNG character not yet another Soong.
I don’t want any more Data. He was finally given a decent send-off in Picard. Let the poor guy be at peace.
And the thing is, he already had a really good send off in Nemesis. Funny… The article mentioned Data getting some “closure” in Picard when the fact is Data already god that in Nemesis. It was Picard who got the closure.
This is correct! Data already had closure. Capt. Picard (and by extension, we the viewers) did not really have it until the end of Picard S1. I’m personally satisfied by it, even if it destroyed me.
Well, myself as a viewer I did not really see the need for closure. Data’s story felt like it was told and there really wasn’t much more for him by that point. It was the character, Picard, who I think needed to come to terms with Data’s decision to self destruct for the lives of his crewmates. I was fine with how things went down in Nemesis.
EXACTLY!!!!
Strange, but Dr. Soong and Q look like brothers! Just the goatee is missing on Dr. Soong.
There you have solved it. They released Data’s consciousness and he has transcended becoming a Q. So they are brothers. ;-)
The best episode of the first season was the one with Riker and Troi. There were a few reasons why it was so good, but I think the main one is those actors and characters have some much great chemistry and history between them that it just fits perfectly. I say bring back more of the TNG crew.
Like, where is Beverly? Did Picard and her get married? Why is she not mentioned at all? It’s weird.
YEA, BRING BACK THE CORE, THE TNG MAGICAL CHEMISTRY!!
What ever Q is up to, it will great to see him back in action once again. While my wife thinks he is obnoxious/sarcastic. I like his character that way as it the perfect opposite of the by the book Starfleet officers. We met John De Lancie at a celebrity autograph show near LAX several years ago. He had no one at his table so we got to speak with him for an hour. He was highly entertaining and engaging. I complimented him on how his character gives a 20th century sense of being to the 24th century. he laughed and then complimented me for noticing it. SO we just have to wait to see how Q does what Q does best… annoy Picard? Or help Picard?
The news that this might be a more serious version of Q does not bode well. They tried that and it was an epic fail. Q works when he is the opposite of serious.
Also, the fact that it’s been 30 years really shouldn’t change Q all that much. For us it’s 30 years but for him it could be like a couple of hours. The only difference is in the actor who plays him, really.
Although, it’s possible that Q might be much further along in his own personal time-line when he decides to pay this latest visit to his old friend…
30 years might have passed by for Picard, but much more for Q.
I still want Amanda Rogers to show-up again… A girl raised as a human finding she was actually a Q would have a very different interaction with Picard, et al. than “Q” himself.
I WANT DATA BACK!! AS WELL AS THE OTHER TNG CREW MEMBERS!!
If they go back in time, Data’s head is still in the cave in San Francisco.
If he’s more serious & they have no explanation then no. A lame excuse that he’s trying to match Picard then no as well, but if they go with something about raising kids, Janeway’s influence, or some event in the continuum that feels like it would change him then it could work. Don’t tell me it’s Q2 dies or something like that.
Hate to break the bad news but Desmond Llewelyn died in 19 December1999. So Q is already dead. Wait….is this the James Bond thread? No? Sorry, I’ll let myself out.
:)
If anyone can bring Data back, it would be Q. I have long thought that if they wanted to bring Data back, all that would be necessary is for Q to snap his fingers and exchange B4 for Data at the instant of the explosion that killed Data.
Right off the bat, too many characters will ruin the season again, why introduce raffi and co if they are going to get 30seconds an episode