Does Picard know about Michael Burnham and Discovery?

It is entirely possible that Jean-Luc Picard knows all about Michael Burnham and the USS Discovery, thanks to Spock’s father Sarek.

When viewers last saw the USS Discovery, the ship and the crew that chose to remain behind were heading 900 years into the future, well beyond any point in time fans of Star Trek have seen before. Meanwhile Captain Pike, Spock and Number One were deciding that the best way to protect Michael Burnham and Discovery was to lie to Starfleet and keep the whole thing a secret.

It was a mission they accomplished in stellar fashion. From The Original Series all the way to Voyager and all the feature films, no one has spoken a word about what happened to Discovery and the crew. It’s fair to assume that the only people who know about what happened are long dead and that the truth of the Red Angel died with them.

Except…

There is the small matter of Jean-Luc Picard and the fact that he probably knows about everything. Control. Section 31. Discovery. Michael Burnham. The whole shebang.

How? It’s what happens when you mind meld with someone who was there.

As all good Star Trek fans remember, Picard and Spock’s father engaged in a very personal and powerful mind meld in the episode “Sarek.” It was the only way to allow Sarek, who was dealing with the effects of Bendii syndrome, to successfully complete the negotiations with an alien race called the Legarans.

At the time, Picard was bombarded with all the emotional baggage that Sarek had been carrying around in his long lifetime. In the episode Spock is mentioned by name as is Sarek’s first wife Amanda.

You would have to think that, in addition to all that, there would be strong unresolved feelings about what became of his foster daughter Michael Burnham. Picard should have learned all about Discovery, the Spore Drive, the Red Angel and possibly what became of the ship and her crew.

And let’s not forget that Picard also experienced a mind meld with Spock at the end of “Unification.” Who knows what else he learned as a result of that.

If that is indeed the case, then Picard has known about the ultimate fate of the USS Discovery for decades and told no one, as originally required by Starfleet. But in Star Trek: Picard, he is no longer a member of that organization. He has left due to the “unimaginable” tragedy that sets up the new series.

A lot of this is healthy speculation but if accurate, what does all this mean? It means that at some point in the run of Picard, we could see Discovery and Michael Burnham mentioned. Or even, dare we say, a crossover of some kind between the two series?

Stranger things sure have happened. Star Trek: Picard is set to arrive on CBS All Access lated in 2019.