Picard: Has the Enterprise and her crew been lost?

Fans have been wondering why none of the Next Generation cast has been asked to appear on Star Trek: Picard. Could it be because they’re all dead?

Thursday was a pretty big day if you happen to be a Star Trek fan.

That’s because the first official trailer for Star Trek: Picard (which from all appearances is the actual title of the series) arrived for all to see.

Much as you might expect, the trailer didn’t give away much about the premise of the series. Most of the clues we can glean from the trailer come from the narration, performed by a female who might or might not be co-star Michelle Hurd.

"“Fifteen years ago today, you lead us out of the darkness. You commanded the greatest rescue armada in history — then the unimaginable. What did that cost you? Your faith? Your faith in us? Your faith in yourself? Tell us: why did you leave Starfleet, Admiral?”"

Emperor of the Trekverse Alex Kurtzman has said previously that Picard will deal with the aftermath of the destruction of Romulus. So obviously that is more than likely the reason for the “rescue armada” Picard is in command of. Also, Picard was an admiral at that time, so it looks like he got a long overdue promotion at some point.

Even with that new information, what has everyone talking is the part about “the unimaginable” and how it deeply affected Picard. It affected him so much that he left Starfleet and instead decided to make wine and tend his grapes.

So the big question is what happened? What could have caused Picard, a man who was Starfleet through and through, to leave and not look back?

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Given what we know about the character and the fact that he felt the Enterprise was his home and the crew his family, unfortunately it forces us to draw an obvious conclusion.

At some point during the rescue mission to the Romulan Star Empire, the Enterprise and most, if not all of the crew was lost.

It is also the only plausible explanation why Picard would leave Starfleet. It is the only thing that would shake him to his core so deeply that it would make him turn his back on his career and life. This is a man who dealt with his actions as Locutus at the Battle of Wolf 359 and came through the other side. However, losing those closest to him, his family, might be too much for even Picard to bear.

In addition, it would explain the fact that none of the cast of The Next Generation have been asked to appear on the show. If many of them are dead, then there isn’t really a place for them on the show unless in a flashback.

It should be noted that not all the crew members from the Next Generation would have been on the Enterprise if it indeed was destroyed. Riker and Troi left the Enterprise in Star Trek: Nemesis for the USS Titan and Data was already dead.

Which likely means that Geordi LaForge, Worf and, tragically, Beverly Crusher were among the lost if this line of thinking does turn out to be true.

When you think about how daring the producers of Star Trek: Discovery have been in their storytelling, it really isn’t a reach to think that they could have devised this as the plot device to launch the series. Would it suck? Oh hell yes. But from a narrative standpoint it makes a ton of sense.

Unfortunately we’re all going to have to wait a while longer for the answers. Star Trek: Picard is set to arrive on CBS All Access sometime later in 2019.