Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard’s non-canonical son came first.
With Star Trek: Picard rumored to introduce Jean-Luc Picard’s son, we figured it’d be interesting to look back at a simpler time. When non-canon entities ruled the land. In the long and distant time of 2011! In a series of books called the Typhon Pact, the concept of Picard’s child was explored extensively. The series was written by a collection of writers including David Mack, Michale Martin, Dayton Ward, Una McCormack, and David. R George III, who was the only author to write multiple books in the line (three). It was publisher Pocket Books that introduced Picard’s son and built an interesting and thriving universe that wasn’t canon to the prime timeline but did in fact tie into Star Trek: Online.
In this universe, there was no subtextual relationship with Jean-Luc Picard or Beverly Crusher. It was just full-on textual. Or something like that. The pair got married and even had a kid, named Rene Jaques Robert Francois Picard. Just so much fan service in that name. The child was literally named after every Picard who had died in the last half-century, as well as Crusher’s late husband, and the father of Wesley “SHUT UP!” Crusher, Jack.
The kid was a walking death wish with that name.
Since this was a multi-media crossover event, with direct ties to Star Trek: Online, you knew there had to be more fan service than needed. Cue Picard’s son marrying the daughter of William Riker and Deanna Troi, named Natasha. It’s like the season eight finale of Scrubs all over again. He even takes over the family’s wine-making business, because again, he is nothing but fan service. It may be a fine book series, but it is a ghastly unoriginal take on a potential Picard offspring.
So why are we talking about it today? Well, Picard may finally have a son introduced canonically.
Star Trek: Picard is rumored to introduce Jean-Luc’s son
A rumor from Giant Freaking Robot specifically states that Jea-Luc Picard will have a son introduced in season four of Star Trek: Picard.
"There are other rumors for how these next seasons will take shape. It looks like Star Trek: Picard will introduce a son for Patrick Stewart’s character. It will be someone he was unaware of though could fit into some of the original Star Trek timelines involving the character. How they meet up and have their paths cross remains to be seen, but this could also be within the bounds of the exploration of time."
With the rumor circulating and picking up traction it was almost too easy to look back a the non-canonical kid of Picard and Crusher. Hopefully, the live-action, canonical version of Picard does in fact live up and surpass the very predictable version that fans got in the Typhon Pact because otherwise, it’ll be a very uninteresting season of television to watch.
There’s always a chance the show doesn’t introduce a son and that the Giant Freaking Robot rumor is nothing but that, a rumor but in the event someone is introduced as Picard’s son, we can at least hope for something dynamic and original.
(Editors Note: Article was updated with some corrections.)