Star Trek: Picard squandered Evan Evagora’s role in season 2

Star Trek: Picard used Evan Evagora sparingly in the second season.

When Evan Evagora first appeared as Elnor on Star Trek: Picard in season one, his character played an important role. Though he wasn’t given a lot of air time, it was certainly more than he received in season two which basically discarded him. In fact, Evagora served as nothing more than a plot point to further Raffi’s (Michelle Hurd) emotional arc which doesn’t make sense considering Raffi has a son who still hasn’t forgiven her despite how she changed in the first season. That begs the question why couldn’t a reunion with Gabriel have helped her grow emotionally? Why bring in a surrogate son instead of having her make amends with her biological son at the cost of an actor’s screen time?

Evan Evagora won’t be returning for season three of Star Trek: Picard.

There are so many ways the series could have gone with Evagora, who is the first Australian to be a regular cast member in a Star Trek TV series. Season one gave him this wonderful backstory with a strong connection to Admiral Picard. That connection appeared to be severed in season two with Raffi the only one seemingly grieving over Elnor’s death.

Q brought the Romulan back to life at the end of the season so, effectively, his death was merely to account for his whereabouts during the scenes which focused on other characters. That was definitely a disservice to Evagora. Still, the writers/producers could have created another role for him like they did for Isa Briones so that all of the cast would have had a memorable second season.

It’s possible the actor himself wanted less screen time, but there had to have been a better way to do it than to kill a character only to ressurect him a few episodes later. Elnor deserved better, especially for his final time on the series.