The villian Admiral Jean-Luc Picard should be facing in season 3 of Star Trek: Picard

The third season of Star Trek: Picard is wrapped and ready for release on February 16th. 

With the return of Star Trek: PIcard right around the corner, everything has been tied up except for things that go on behind-the-scenes. Unfortunately, it’s too late to make any changes to the plot or characters. I say unfortunately because Picard is bringing back two villains, Lore and Dr. Moriarty, and introducing a new one to the series, Vadic, played by Amanda Plummer, when there was another choice that could have had a really powerful impact.

Vadic’s reasons for seeking revenge on PIcard will be revealed, but she isn’t someone we have seen before. It seems like if the series is tying up loose ends, they would have considered bringing back a villain that Picard would have been more than willing to fight. And there is one enemy in particular from Star Trek: The Next Generation who could have made a better adversary for the admiral—Gul Madred, better known as the Cardassian officer who tortured then Captain Jean-Luc Picard while trying to elicit information on Starfleet’s defense operations for Minos Korva in Chain of Command I & II.

Star Trek: Picard may be missing an opportunity to have Picard face an old adversary.

As with all series, there were plenty of storylines in The Next Generation that have gone unfinished. Chain of Command is one of those as although Picard escaped the Cardassian’s brutality, Gul Madred, who was never named in the episode, lived to torture another day. There was no justice, and being that he was outwitted, much like Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Madred should have wanted revenge.

Setting up a battle between a vengeful Cardassian who is targeting Admiral Picard’s friends would have made for an incredible storyline. That’s not to say that season three won’t be great, but I, for one, would have loved to have seen Picard and Madred clash again on equal footing. There is a horrible history there, and one can only imagine the battle that would have taken place.

In a way similar to the Borg, Madred stripped away PIcard’s independence, and, for a while, held total control over the captain. Picard escaped capture, but that would have made another confrontation much more enticing as Cardassians are known to be cunning and evil.

That’s not to say that Vadic won’t be a formidable enemy, but I would have loved to have seen the next meeting between Picard and Madred even though almost thirty years have passed.