Star Trek: Picard will launch its final season in 2023.
Star Trek: Picard will wrap up its three season run next year with the inclusion of most of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Though Wil Wheaton, who portrayed Ensign Wesley Crusher, won’t appear, he was in the season 2 finale which saw him leading Kore (Isa Briones) into the next phase of her life. And with Denise Crosby mentioning that Tasha Yar would be seen in season three, that covers most of the stars of The Next Generation except for Diana Muldaur who portrayed Dr. Katherine Pulaski in season two.
Muldaur was never given a “starring” credit during her brief run on The Next Generation. She appeared in twenty out of twenty-two episodes and was billed as “Special Appearance by Diana Muldaur as Doctor Pulaski.”And she filled a pivotal role as the ship’s doctor during the entirety of the second season.
Some may say that Dr. Pulaski doesn’t need to be included in the final season of Picard as she wasn’t a major part of the series; however, she did save Captain Picard’s life. Not only that, she was a tough character who never met a challenge she didn’t like, even risking her own life in an effort to help save the lives of those afflicted with a deadly disease.
Dr. Pulaski wasn’t a fan favorite aboard the Enterprise.
She was abrasive and very different from Dr. Beverly Crusher, but the dislike for her character was more about Diana Muldaur’s replacement of Gates McFadden. Everyone was surprised to tune into the second season of The Next Generation and discover Dr. Crusher had left the Enterprise. Not too many people were happy about the decision, and with that, it was easy to dislike the character immediately.
Still, her character wasn’t given closure. She just disappeared. And if the final season of Picard is about giving the crew a chance to wrap up their characters and close out thirty-year old arcs, shouldn’t Dr. Pulaski be, at the very least, mentioned in the series in an effort to close out hers?
What do you think? Is it okay to leave Dr. Pulaski out of Picard altogether?