Fans of Star Trek will more than likely remember John de Lancie appearing as Q at some point in the franchise. He’s appeared on four shows, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Lower Decks, with a fifth – Picard – on the way. While many have wanted to see him return to the role that helped define a franchise, a character (Jean Luc Picard), and an era of Star Trek, there has always been one huge hangup. How do you bring back de Lancie as Q when de Lancie is noticeably older but Q is supposed to be immortal.
Well, de Lancie was asking that very same question to himself. Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter about returning to the role, de Lancie made mention of several things. Firstly, that he’s dyslexic and wordy-roles like Q are a struggle for him. The other thing was that while he was returning to the character, he wasn’t “going back” to what worked before. That this trip as Q would move things forward.
The other big piece of info and one that fans may relate with best is that he didn’t know how he, as an older mortal man, could play the lively and youthful-looking Q, telling the Hollywood Reporter;
"You know, it was, and is, a little bit of a mixed bag. One of the issues that I have is you don’t want to fall into the trap of re-creating. I was obviously a little concerned — very concerned — about the issues having to do with, well, excuse me, this is 20 years later. I’m supposed to be immortal and I certainly look very mortal. There were issues about all of that. I was flattered. Of course, I said yes. I didn’t have to think about that part. And then I wondered, where are they going to go with this?"
The talk about his return among the fanbase for years has been how the executive producers of the show would handle showing Q. Would they use makeup and protests? What CGI to de-age him? Perhaps they could just write in his appearance as part of the show?
That was the idea that made the most sense to many, just explain his appearance as a way to relax Picard, and make it condescending, with an “I didn’t think you could handle me looking that much younger than you without making you faint.”
That or something along that line.
We don’t know what ViacomCBS and Picard intend on doing with Q and how they intend on showcasing him, but with the budget and technology present, they can go in any number of ways.