Analyzing The Top 10 Suspects For “The Watcher” In ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 2

Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard has introduced the concept of a “Watcher,” an unknown individual in 2024 Los Angeles who is integral to repairing the timeline and preventing the dystopian future we saw in the second episode. The search has already begun in the third and most recent episode, but so far The Watcher remains a mystery. So today, we decided to run down some of the suspects for this key mystery. The analysis contains potential spoilers, including looking at clues from trailers for the upcoming season.

Who is The Watcher?

There are a few clues we have for this mystery. Mentions of “The Watcher” have cropped up in teaser trailers since before the series premiere, including being associated with mysterious characters with white eyes. The Watcher was first mentioned by the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) in episode two (“Penance”), who said the changes in the timeline were due to:

“A temporal rescission. A single change…2024, that is the when. Where is the where?… Earth. A change in the timeline originates there, in Los Angeles…There is someone there to help. A Watcher. Seek the Watcher.”

And then, barely heard:

“There’s a splinter in her flesh. The beginning of it…”

Episode 3 (“Assimilation”) sees Picard and company reach 2024 Los Angeles, and Raffi and Seven begin their search while Picard and Jurati attempt to restore the Queen and extract further information from her. We’re given another clue here as Jurati connects herself to the Queen and at one point exclaims:

“I can see so much. The Watcher. Fifteen.”

What this last bit means we have no idea, but the Queen’s speech would certainly seem to suggest that The Watcher is female. However, it’s always possible that this part of the speech was misdirection and was actually referring to someone other than The Watcher, so we’ll stay open-minded regarding their gender. The very title “Watcher” implies they play a passive role in events, rather than being an Edith Keeler-style focal point.

The Borg Queen in “Assimilation”

The suspects

How all of this plays out is anyone’s guess, but we have some theories. Here are some of our suggestions about The Watcher’s possible identity:

Guinan

By far the most obvious candidate is Guinan. Besides the fact that you don’t bring Whoopi Goldberg back for one – very good – scene (this isn’t Nemesis after all), we know from as far back as “Yesterday’s Enterprise” (which Q handily name-dropped in “Penance”) that El-Aurians are able to perceive events outside linear time and can detect changes in the timeline, as well as the actions needed to correct them (sorry Tasha). El-Aurians are also known as a race of “listeners,” which is certainly in the zone as “watchers” as well.

Episode 1 (“The Star Gazer”) established that Picard’s caution around romantic relationships is also a theme to this season, and we’ve already seen Guinan counsel him on this matter in the same episode. If the change in the timeline ties into this, who better to identify the changes in the timeline and point Picard on the path to correcting them than his (literally) oldest friend?

We know Guinian lived on Earth for a while in our past (“Times Arrow”), so she may still be hanging out on Earth in 2024. Anther bit of evidence that she might be The Watcher: in trailers we’ve seen a glimpse of Picard visiting 10 Forward Avenue in 2024.

The downside? Guinan’s probably too obvious. The very fact that she’s the most likely candidate probably excludes her.

Guinan in her bar in LA in 2401 and Picard visiting the same street in 2024.

Laris (or a version of Laris)

“The Star Gazer” set up both Laris (Orla Brady) as a potential love interest for Jean-Luc Picard, and introduced the theme of his intimacy issues. Plus we know from the trailers that Laris (or at least a more human-looking version of her) shows up in 2024. This more human-looking Laris has also appeared with white eyes, which has been associated with The Watcher from season two trailers. Could throwing this Laris and Picard together in this manner both help repair the timeline and prove the key to a relationship between the two characters?

The downside: We don’t know how or why Laris is in the 21st Century (or even if it’s her, her appearance in the trailer looked quite different from the Romulan we know). Plus, would she have the ability to influence events in any way, beyond becoming another member of the team?

Orla Brady has a human-looking Laris in season two preview images

Soji (or sibling)

Isa Briones (Soji) has been conspicuous by her absence short of a brief appearance in “The Star Gazer,” apparently left behind in the original timeline in the Beta Quadrant working as an ambassador for Synths. However, we know she’s still a part of the show, and Soji (or possibly another Synth also played by Briones) appears briefly in a couple of the trailers. We have already seen two Soji sisters in the 24th century, one of which was unknown to her. Could another unknown Soji sister have traveled through time?

The downside: More time travel aside, there’s no way (that we’re aware of) for Soji or another Synth to be in 21st Century LA. Although Briones still has a part to play this season, we’re not sure the show’s going to take a diversion to show how another character separately traveled back to exactly the same time and place. Another possibility is this 21st-century character is related to our next suspect.

Isa Briones looking like Soji in LA from previews

Adam Soong

One character that we do know for sure is in 21st Century LA is Brent Spiner’s Adam Soong. As far as we’re aware, this ancestor of Data’s creator Noonian Soong originates from the present day. However, the title “Watcher” implies passivity in events, and it looks like Soong might be this season’s antagonist. We know he’s a revered figure in the totalitarian future Confederation due to the statue of him seen in “Penance” and the glimpses of him in the trailer shows he is working with Q, which would seem to go against the Queen’s line “there is someone there to help.”

The downside: It’s not him. He’s there in the 21st Century, but, whatever he’s there for, it’s not to help Picard out.

Brent Spiner as Adam Soong in a season preview

Picard’s mom

Okay, on the surface it’s unlikely that Picard’s mother Yvette is somehow in 21st Century LA. But we know from “The Star Gazer” Yvette Picard (Madeline Wise) ties into the season somehow. The flashback seemed to imply that Picard’s father was abusive, and that may well play into his intimacy issues (Patrick Stewart is a big advocate for women’s rights, as well as an executive producer on the show), so it may well be that, or could it be something more? There’s a shot of her being dragged down a hallway at speed, and, if accurate, that doesn’t look like something Picard’s father could do. Was she abducted by unknown powerful forces and sent back in time? Could this be the personal connection to Picard in the 21st century?

The downside: There is no evidence yet that Picard’s mother will be part of the show beyond flashbacks to his childhood.

Yvette Picard (Madeline Wise) in trailer for episode 4

Vulcan(s)

We don’t know how, but Vulcans tie into this season somehow. There’s a brief scene in a trailer of a Vulcan in a dark forest encountering and mind-melding with an unidentified young boy (possibly the young Picard). In the tenth episode of the most recent season of Discovery, it was mentioned that Vulcans studied humans for “almost a century” before making First Contact in 2063. And the Enterprise episode “Carbon Creek” established a Vulcan named Mestral from a crashed ship secretly stayed behind on Earth in 1957 to study humanity, and he could easily still be alive in 2024.

The downside: The trailer scene appears to be a flashback to Picard’s childhood, with the boy looking a lot like Dylan Von Halle, who played the young Picard in “The Star Gazer.”

J. Paul Boehmer as Mestral in “Carbon Creek” and unknown Vulcan in Picard trailer

Another Q

John De Lancie’s Q may be the most commonly-seen member of the Q Continuum, but he’s far from the only one who’s cropped up over the years. Could another Q be in LA to undo Q’s meddling? In “Penance” de Lancie’s Q was shown to be a bit unstable, with Picard noting there was something wrong with him. We have seen the character disciplined by the continuum before, so perhaps another Q is at least keeping an eye on his latest shenanigans with his pet human Jean-Luc Picard. And if they are looking for someone to play another Q, why not the bring back Corbin Bernsen, who handled Q’s discipline before and knows a bit about LA.

The downside: It would be far too easy having another being on hand who could undo all this with a click of their fingers. Plus Raffi and Seven seemed to pick up an alien signal on their tricorder in episode 3 and it’s unlikely a Q would allow themselves to be detected so easily.

Corbin Bernsen as Q2 in “Deja, Q”

The Guardian of Forever/Georgiou

Discovery’s third season brought back one of The Original Series’ most iconic, enigmatic entities The Guardian of Forever,” and gave it the ability to manifest itself in human form, along with the name Carl. Discovery also established that Carl/The Guardian can move around to different locations and of course different times and realities. We know the Guardian’s got form by observing (“watching” if you will) over alternate timelines and guiding characters to correct their path. Could Carl (or another of the Guardian’s manifestations) be the Watcher?

For that matter, could it be Georgiou? When we last saw her, she was being sent off by the Guardian to places unknown. We know that she’s still (despite repeated delays) due to show up in her own in-development show, but could 21st Century LA be a stop on the way? The Guardian certainly has the ability to send her there, and it might be a good way to both tie Discovery and Picard together. Plus since we’ve not seen Michelle Yeoh since Discovery’s third season, it could serve as a reminder that Georgiou is still out there somewhere.

The downside: The Guardian would seem unlikely since this season already has Q, and adding in the Guardian of Forever might be an omnipotent being too far. As for Georgiou, it’s possible, but Michelle Yeoh is a very busy woman.

Michelle Yeoh as Georgiou with Paul Guilfoyle as Carl (aka The Guardian of Forever) with Sonequa Martin-Green in Discovery

The Organians

We’re going out on a limb here, but if you’re interpreting “Watcher” to mean “passive observer” then there’s one alien race who springs to mind. In their two appearances to date (The Original Series’ “Errand Of Mercy” and Enterprise’s “Observer Effect”) Organians have shown themselves to be a highly-evolved race who observe events, only interfering when they have no other choice. These non-corporeal beings have been shown to have immense power and to be able to inhabit or appear as humanoids, not unlike members of the Q Continuum. Could there be an Organian on 21st Century Earth, observing humanity in the run-up to World War III (set to start in just a couple of years)?

The downside: This is a bit of a longshot, and certainly a deep cut, even though the team behind Picard has shown an increased interest in references to Trek canon in season two. And there certainly isn’t any personal connection to Jean-Luc Picard. The Organians never even appeared on The Next Generation.

Organians in their noncorporeal form in “Errand of Mercy”

Data’s head

Okay, sure, crazy right, but bear with us. We know the changes in the timeline are due to something personal for Jean-Luc Picard in the 21st Century and the change took place in LA. When has Picard traveled to the American past prior to this date? In TNG’s two-part “Time’s Arrow” the Enterprise crew visited 19th-century San Francisco where they encountered some troublesome time-traveling aliens, Mark Twain, a younger version of Guinan, and a mystery involving Data’s severed head. At the 2-parter’s end, Picard leaves the head in a cave under the Presidio, where it was/will be discovered in the 24th Century at the start of the first episode. Maybe Data’s head had some adventures in between, which were erased or suppressed. And while Brent Spiner may not want to put on the makeup again, this could be done with a prop and visual effects.

The downside: Yeah, this is a bit silly. After going to the trouble of saying goodbye to the character in the season one finale of Picard, and already having Spiner back to play another character, this could be one too many times for the return of Data.

Data’s head in “Times Arrow, Part 1”

Conclusion: probably one of the top 3

Out of all the candidates, there are a few that stand out, namely Guinan, Soji and Laris. These all fit with the Borg Queen’s suggestion that the Watcher is female, and we know from trailers that at some version of Laris is in 2024 Los Angeles.  How Jurati’s “fifteen” plays into it though is something which we don’t know yet. Which of these will it be, or are we on the wrong track completely? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.


New episodes of Star Trek: Picard premiere on Thursdays on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on Fridays where Paramount+ is available around the world. In Canada, it airs on CTV Sci-Fi Channel on streams on Crave on Thursdays. Picard is also available on Fridays on Amazon Prime Video around the world.

Keep up with all the Star Trek: Picard news and analysis.

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Maybe Isa Briones plays a 21st century human Soong, probably a daughter of Adam Soong if so.

That would also neatly tie up where Data got her image from.

I can’t remember – did they ever resolve that plot about Data’s painting?

I think it was implied that the face in the painting just came from Data’s imagination, and Alton and Maddox based Soji on the painting.

I don’t think they’re going to separately send Soji back (as the article already pointed out that seems too convoluted) and there’s a tradition of Brent Spiner playing multiple Soongs, human and android. Given Briones is set to appear I think the most likely explanation is she plays another character in the Soong dynasty. The picture of her receiving a present looks like a person just living their life at that point rather tha a visiting time traveller.

I guess we’ll find out.

I always took it that the painting that inspires Soji and Dahj is a portrait Data’s did of Lal.

My obvious choice would have been Gary Seven, but he’s not even on the list.

I was thinking Gary Seven too. Its unlikely, but its a fun guess. Plus, then they could have Seven and Seven meet eachother.

Yes! That would be an awesome…er… magnificent Seven Summit… But I’m afraid it’s not him…

And then they could start a law firm.

Or, create a drink together. Oh, wait…

Roflmao

There is no chance it’s Gary Seven. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a cool idea and I wish you were right. But there’s no chance of it.

You’re an insider, tell us who’s it gonna be.

I’m not an insider.

You said you were in another post dude.

Lorna, you’ve been called out by Dvorak – big time! LOL!

Dang.

Good call. In E4 “Laris” and Picard seemed to have been transported away using a transporter very similar to Gary Seven’s.

Re. Laris, perhaps the Romulans of the original timeline are trying to change things back.

Guinan makes the most sense based on the abilities and natures of these options. I don’t think that being the most “obvious” choice should be held against her.

with the current writing staff – the obvious choice is probably the most logical one to select :|

I was thinking Guinan, as well, especially when they dropped that nugget about El-Aurians being able to control their aging, but it would require quite a bit of de-aging VFX to make her look like the TNG-era Guinan. Not that it couldn’t be done.

I hope it IS Guinan, since I love the character, and I think Goldberg and Stewart play well against one another.

In DS9 “past tense” Dax activated a homing beacon w/her commbadge in San Francisco and very specifically had a temporal distortion that the
USS DEFIANT briefly appeared in 2024 to beam up Kira, Dax, Sisko, Obrien and Bashir

Guinan is misdirection but clearly knowing that she wasn’t supposed to meet Picard until 2368 (TNG SEASON 2)
watcher is an existential being of comparable “Q” level power and THE EMISSARY of the Prophets ,A non linear being who ALSO physically existed in 2024 San Francisco
a geographic component (300 miles LA to SF by car) that can be reasonably attained w/no shuttles, transporters or a
WORKING BORG QUEEN

DEFIANT exists in 2024 Earth orbit
A crashed La Sirena with the Borg Queen and JLP is spicy

Q has gifted ‘Soong’ in 2024 the chip from Datas severed head to bring a failed inventor temptation
w/ “a Doc Brown” paradox
that Soong 2024 invents SYNTH 300 years before his descendant Soongbecome”Pets”

WOW. This sounds…surprisingly plausible?

Actually, Guinan and Picard first met in 1893, when he and the main Enterprise officers went back in time in the two-part episode “Time’s Arrow”. Furthermore, Guinan in the 19th century looked exactly like she did in the 24th century TNG series. Looks like the ST:Picard scriptwriters have made a major blunder since Guinan didnt recognise Picard in 2024 and also looks completely different.

If the timeline has changed, then the mad Confederation-Picard didn’t travel back to 1893, therefore in that timeline Time’s Arrow never happened. That’s not necessary a break of canon or a contradiction.

You have failed to include Wesley, who when last seen was about to be mentored by The Traveller.

would love for Wil to be able to come back and have his shot at redeeming Wes (a character I never disliked but I understand the feelings around the character and Wil’s feelings about where he [Wil] was personally when he left the show and his growth as a human since)

When last seen, Wes was wearing a Starfleet uniform and attending the Riker and Troi wedding. Still, that WOULD be a cool twist…

Arguably, when you are a veteran of a military organization you can wear your dress uniforms to events that are considered related to the organization. Possibly Starfleet allows veterans to wear their uniforms for private events concerning flag officers. He may have just been wearing it as a formality. If I remember correctly you could not make out his rank…

I came here to say this too. Though I’m not convinced it’ll be Wesley per say. And during one of the Travelers times on the Enterprise wasn’t it mentioned they are a race of “Watchers”?

I had the very thought it could be Wesley. Given the simple name of The Traveler, what if Wesley had used the simple name The Watcher in that he visited different times instead of places, and desires to be much more an observer than The Traveler was.

I will look forward to the episode of the Ready Room where Wil interviews Wil over Zoom.

Let us keep in mind that Matalas could do with The Watcher what he did with The Witness in 12 Monkeys, and build it up to make it seem like the Watcher is one character only to reveal that they are someone else.

Indeed. That was some masterful storytelling for sure.

Quite true. I do have a feeling that it will be someone familiar to Picard either personally or by way of knowledge and awareness.

Someone he met in battle. Someone he sent on his journey. Someone he shook hands with at the beginning. Someone who’s not linear anymore. Someone who is the dreamer and the dream. Someone who shares his Q experience! Someone who has faced Locutos before.

I’ve no clue you the watcher is, I’m just glad the season has started strong. No complaints from me so far. It’s been a pleasure to watch, I’ve been on the edge of my seat. The episodes fly- by quickly and leave me wanting more.

I agree. As much as I like Discovery, Picard is the better series, in my opinion of course.

You are missing my suspect number one: Benjamin Sisko!

He was name-dropped as General Sisko in the alternate future.

Picard had a Pagh Wraith artifact in his study,

There is a mysterious promo pic showing someone shaking hands with Picard. The person’s shirt has got a certain Sisko vibe and the picture somewhat evokes memories of Picard and Sisko eventually shaking hands in The Emmissary.

Sisko has had business in this time period: Gabriel Bell.

He is a timeless being now!

The watcher is Ben Sisko. Guinan will only point Picard towards him.

A good possibility

I would love it if Sisko showed up, but from everything I’ve read in the recent past Avery Brooks has no interest in doing more Star Trek. He didn’t appear in the DS9 documentary, although the makers of it said that he did watch it and was pleased with it.

Now they could do something where it’s “Sisko” but a version of Sisko that’s not Avery Brooks. They could say he’s become a Prophet, and is in the form of a noncorporeal being that can jump from body to body, (spoilers for DS9: like the Prophet that is his mother was able to do with the human woman that birthed him).

And you could make a good story point that the Prophets and Sisko have an interest in restoring the original timeline in order to bring about a flow of time where Sisko is “of Bajor” (doubt that a human supremacist Confederation version of Sisko would embrace his role as the Emissary) and is able to confront the Pah-Wraiths.

I believe Avery Brooks said he’s not interested in doing the docummentary, as he would not have anything meaningful to say after all that he said in past interviews. Not the same thing as not interested in doing Star Trek anymore.

Every other actor says they don’t want to return to this role or that role, but that is ONLY to up their price tag. As long as they are alive, they will always return sooner or later. And even if they are dead, CGI is a powerful mean of resurrection…

This could be neat, but if it happens it would probably involve some sort of recast to the role or as Edward says, maybe some sort of body swapping aspect.

The odds of this are about as good as the odds of it being me.

But only about as good. :-) I’m 99% convinced it’s Sisko, so you come in at 98%…

This is my favorite possibility. Given his involvement as Gabriel Bell, it would be entirely plausible if he returns to 2024 as a prophet to observe and help guide the future that needs to occur. Or what if Sisko has actually caused the alteration and Picard and Sisko come into conflict again.

Agreed. Why else select 2024 as the point in time? Gabe Bell or Sisko for the win.

Wasn’t there a clip in one of the trailers with Picard talking to an as-yet-unknown character played by Jay Karnes? Who played Ducane in VOY “Relativity.” Bit of an odd casting choice but it may just be coincidental – others have played more than one role inTrek after all. But the fact that Ducane was involved in policing time travel…

But then again they didn’t get original actors back to play two key roles in s1 so why would they start now?

“But then again they didn’t get original actors back to play two key roles in s1 so why would they start now?”

Maybe because they have realized S1 was the exact opposite of what most fans wanted. This is why we got dozens of legacy ships and this is why they sorta retconned the notion that Raffi was living in poverty by talking about real poverty in 2024.

But Ducane may be just a secondary observer. His presence is acknowledged but he isn’t the Watcher you’re loooking for. The Watcher is Trek’s favourite POC…besides Uhura and Guinan…

the exact opposite of what most fans wanted.

Why do some fans feel like they speak for the masses? You simply have no idea what “most fans wanted.”

And you can’t prove the contrary either :-) S1 was met with an insane amount if criticism so it’s safe to say at least 51% didn’t really like it. Which is at least a majority. What’s so great about S2 is that it is so differrent from S1… That’s the whole point. They learn from their mistakes as they did on Disco…

Geordie?

Visionary! And these ghost people must be his (original) eyes!

[[he isn’t the Watcher you’re loooking for]]

“Move along.”

Good catch. I suspect the only reason Jay Karnes is in this is because he played a pivotal role in 12 monkeys. In other words Matalas likes having him around. He could very well be the Watcher.

But then again they didn’t get original actors back to play two key roles in s1 so why would they start now?

I’m not sure many would have recognized Brian Brophy anyway. He was in one episode in 1988 as Maddox. There were extenuating circumstances surrounding the original Icheb actor.

Apparently the original Icheb actor did some Twitter ranting but later apologized so I believe he was not asked to resume the role. (Sadly)

That’d be awesome if Ducane shows up. I liked his character, which he made more memorable than expected.

I’m gonna go with something entirely new altogether.

What about Wesley? Isn’t the traveler thing to watch but not interfere?

Kes from voyage did time travel

Would Picard have any idea who she is? They never met.

it can’t be kes, unless they recast the role. plus i think kes travelled via a device. wesley doesn’t need anything to travel spacetime and pull himself out of spacetime.

How about Sarah Silverman’s character from Votager’s two part time travel story to 1996 Earth. She worked at an observatory in LA. I don’t expect it, but it would work.

Along the same line; how about Gary Seven?

I suspect Isa Briones is playing Adam Soong’s daughter.

What about Benjamin Cisco’s Mother, one of the wormhole aliens from DS9. That could link in with the artifact that Picard was studying. Yes, quite early for her to arrive there, but they weren’t great at understanding how linear time works, so may have needed to wait around for a century or two…

Ben Sisko.

That’s it. That’s the prediction.

Too much evidence points to his appearance.

Avery Brooks is retired and has no interest in returning to Star Trek.

Doesn’t necessarily have to be Avery Brooks in the role. They could recast it somehow for introduce a body swapping aspect to the character. Isn’t he literally a non-corporeal being now? Anything goes. This where imagination and science-fiction part comes into play.

I think you’re right… and Avery in the role. Or rather as Gabriel Bell.

Part of a strategy to ensure the legacy Captains are slowly brought together with one eye on a future crossover.
Kate voicing on Prodigy and no doubt a further plan for a live-action appearance.
Scott popping up on Strange New Worlds, and an episode idea for an anthology.
Which just leaves Bill in the 2023 film…

I think the masked Borg Queen on the bridge of the Stargazer is Q. And that it is another ! that is the Watcher.

My money is on Agnes Jurati.

Yeah! Georgio!!! Make it so…

She’s such a dull character, though.

Amen. What a bore.

We never explored what powers Wesley Crusher learned after starting his journey with The Traveller, so IMO he is a candidate. There is also Cosimo from Non Sequitur whose species can alter time and willing to watch over Earth. A strong candidate is Ben Sisko because The Prophets can alter timelines, view time in a non linear way, and Past Tense gives him a big connection to 2024 San Francisco.

When Picard and Co., had their first conversation with the Borg Queen in Ep 2, her disjointed statements at that time reminded me very much of the Cylon Hybrids in BSG.

And then having to integrate the Queen into the ship in order to navigate to the past. It reminds me of those Cylon hybrids. I find it interesting. But I hope it stops there.

All evidence points to an anaphasic alien.

Ronin is back…….

Surprised this rundown misses out Kovich, who I expect to find in LA watching a Gilligan’s Island repeat. Not only does he have outdated figures of speech but he’s expressed hope his pals in the 32nd Century are never affected by something he is needed for; that could be a Picard plot as easily as it could be Disco S5, or Section 31.

I like this idea way too much… especially since he is already on the CBS/Paramount payroll.

It’s Wesley Crusher.

Obviously it’s gonna be L.Q. Sonny Clemmons.

pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease

For all of the sentiment from Trek fans that the franchise should move FORWARD, I’m seeing a lot of fans here hoping to see someone from the past, someone who would not otherwise fit into the story.

Wesley? Gary Seven? Rain Robinson? I mean, OK, I guess storywise you can make any of those work, but again, isn’t this the fanbase that wants to put the nostalgia aside? Who hated Season 1 for its connections to older things?

This is why Trek producers should ignore the fans.

Its also the fanbase that begged Paramount to make a Captain Pike show. The fans don’t know what they want. I think the Watcher will probably be something new. Its fun to speculate about old characters though

I think it’s bizarre when anyone tries to speak about what the fanbase wants. A handful of loud and angry people on twitter don’t actually represent the fanbase in any realistic way.

Also, “the fanbase” consists of millions of individuals who have many very differing opinions.

Yeah, there’s no chance of it being any of those three. No way.

My best bet is Ducane. He was shown in the season 2 trailer for Picard. At least the actor who played him on Voyager. It makes sense.

No way. Ducane is a minor, minor footnote whom 99 percent of viewers wouldn’t remember.

True. But might be cool.

I believe The Watcher is Mestral the Vulcan. He’s been on Earth for around 70 years by 2024, and the actor’s aging since Carbon Creek can still fit for a Vulcan across that timeframe.

Sam problem as Carbon Creek, though. All those years (especially those months in a coal mine) and he never go so much as a cut that made people say “hey, he’s got green blood! Call the FBI!”?

That doesn’t change that it’s canon, and a true story in canon, as T’pol has her foremother’s purse. So Mestral is real and he stayed on Earth, so he is still there in 2024.

I don’t care about the nitpicly bits, it’s canonically sound.

CGI Stan Lee?

Excelsior!

Could be Sisko, or Sisko’s mother.

My vote is for Laris which in this case I think is an ancestor. Possibly Vulcan if not Romulan. Based on the fact her head device has ear molds for a Vulcan/Romulan.

Also the 15 is probably for the date when temporal rescission happens.

Also what about the TNG show, who watches the watchers? This might hint at the Vulcans or even Laris.

No connection. They were primitives without technology, and the watchers were Starfleet.

Georgiou?? That wouldn’t make any sense at all.

Also, we have known since the very beginning of TNG that Picard’s mother lived to be an old woman in the 24th century. So how could she be the Watcher?

Suppose it’s not Ben Sisko but Jake. And don’t forget Cassidy was pregnant so maybe the baby (girl) is the Watcher. Or a Traveler, maybe Wesley.

I think it’ll be the Traveler. Not sure if it’ll be Wesley though.

Another possibility I just thought of. That mysterious alien head we saw in the room of skulls. What if that race, one we’ve never seen before, has something to with the Watcher.

Eric Menyuk is an attorney now. Retired from acting.

I think Laris is the one that makes the most sense out of all these choices. She has a personal history with Picard and the beginning of the season implied that she has a bigger role to play in the rest of the season so I think the watcher might be her. Or Uatu from Marvel :))

what about the strange guy standing behind Picard?

How about this thought the watcher is Sisko, Bashir or Dax. or even Gabriel Bell himself.

What about the Traveller from TNG? He roams in both time and space. May be improbable, but as we’re speculating here, it’d be awesome if it were Wesley Crusher, as he was the Traveller’s apprentice and the timeline would be sufficient enough for him to master his powers.

They’d probably need to recast. Eric Menyuk no longer acts.

Having read most of the comments, imma throw caution to the wind and give a totally random character, Trellaine from TOS. Some say he could have been an original Q, but as we all have no clue, just thought I’d put that out there. Okay, talk amongst yourselves. Chop, chop.

What if this ‘Watcher’ were someone like Malcolm McDowell. He also knew of Guinan, Kirk, and Picard. What if this was before his obsession with the ‘Ribbon’. This may be where he is observing Earth, being a ‘watcher’.

reminds me of Assignment: Earth

Which I think is a really dreadful episode. Kirk and and Spock just stand around and look confused for most of the show.

It was supposed to be a backdoor pilot for Trek’s first spin-off show. So yeah, they are not the focal point… Gary, Isis and Roberta are…

I’m well aware. It still sucks either way. IMO of course.

How about Balok from the First Federation?

My money’s on Guinan. There’s something about the way she said “I think there’s one final frontier yet to come” that suggests that maybe she already knew Picard would end up finding her in the past because from her perspective, it already happened.

Yep. Obvious as it may be, I think it can only be Guinan.

I think Guinan was talking about relationships, not time travel adventures.

So obvious. Its Morn !

No, he’s The Listener!

Guinan’s the Listener. Honestly, I don’t think Morn knows what’s going on around him half the time.

Wesley was my first thought.

I find it strange that there is still no release date announced of the TNG 4k movies since they said they’ll come out this year. Also not even a tiny single news on that at all..

Another idea: Gary Seven vom „Assignment: Earth“ as “The Watcher”!

BTW Data’s head: If they’re already in 2024, why not try to make a copy of Data?

Gary Seven.

He wasn’t just a ‘watcher’, he actively interfered in things/

Maybe it’s the Watcher from Marvel Comics and Jeffrey Wright will show up. That’d be stupid and awful, but no worse than some of those season one decisions.

Why does it have to be some magical oracle character anyway? Why not have them study the historical database they have on the ship and find (and deal with) the changes from that starting point? It makes for a more episodic story and the characters are actually using their skills as academics (which pretty much all Starfleet officers are) instead of bacically giving a magical fantasy story a bad SciFi paintjob …

Picard’s mom said “Look up” in the flashback. The only words the Watcher said were “Look up” to Picard. Case closed.

I think it will be Q. In his obsession with humanity, he chose to live as one for a time. Without his Q powers, he does something unintended which caused the whole mess. Q himself can’t undo it as he can’t exist in the same place at the same time……something like that. I think a nice twist would be that Q is the only omnipotent race in the galaxy and all of the others from Kirks time where also Q and his origin is that he began life as a human called….wait for it….Wesley Crusher.