John de Lancie didn’t want to recreate Q on Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard returns to Paramount+ this year with John de Lancie

For over thirty years, John de Lancie has popped up in various incarnations of Star Trek as the villanous Q. He began on Star Trek: The Next Generation in the series debut episode, Encounter at Farpoint where he presided as judge over the human race. Though only appearing in a few episodes during the series run, de Lancie established Q as a primary character.

de Lancie returns as Q in the second season of Star Trek: Picard which, at last report, returns to Paramount+ in February. But before taking on the role again, the actor wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to be the same role he played back in the 1980s and 1990s. According to Trekmovie, which detailed his comments when he appeared on the Treks Talk Telethon, de Lancie was concerned about “recreating” Q as he thought that had “a lot of potential disasters attached to it.”

John de Lancie wanted Q to move forward in the series

During the Treks Talk Telethon, de Lancie commented that he asked [the producers] if they were going to “move from here, forward?” He was assured that was the case, and that was one of the reasons he signed on for the role again.

It makes sense that de Lancie wouldn’t want to play the same Q. Admiral Jean-Luc Picard has moved forward as has Captain Riker and Deanna Troi. Though Q isn’t human, remaining stagnant isn’t in his nature. He was always on the move, always trying something new, and perhaps, along the way, he learned maturity, he grew into a much more evolved being. And, for whatever reason, he needs Admiral Picard in this second season so maybe, just maybe, he’s grown into someone that is more about making change than getting his own way. Or that could be wishful thinking. We’ll see when Star Trek: Picard returns.