Why Star Trek: Picard cut its original actors for season three of the series

When season three of Star Trek: Picard began, there were some missing faces. Some, we didn't expect to see as their stories wrapped up in season two, like Captain Cristobal Rios [Santiago Carbrera] who chose to remain the past. Isa Briones's Soji character only returned briefly for season two and Briones played an entirely different character who ended up going with Wil Wheaton's Traveler. We're not quite sure what happened to Evan Evagora's Elnor, but Allison Pill's Dr. Agnes Jurati joined with the Borg Queen who became a benevolent form...at least for that queen.

The only original actor, who appeared in the first episode of the first season, alongside Patrick Stewart, to return in season three was Raffi [Michelle Hurd]. Though Jeri Ryan did appear in season one of Picard, she wasn't there from the beginning. Hurd has already spoken out about how it was heartbreaking for her to not be able to work with those actors. So what happened? Why were they jettisoned and the original cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation brought in for season three?

The question actually answers itself. In an interview with Michael Rosenbaum on the Inside of You podcast, Michael Dorn, who returned as Worf in season three, said The Next Generation actors were offered enough money so they couldn't say no. [via Screenrant] Though Picard had a healthy budget for the series, bringing back all of the original cast from TNG as well as Picard's season one and two actors would have likely blown that budget.

" They paid us so that we couldn’t say no. We could not say no. No, it’s not astronomical by no means."

- Michael Dorn

Not astronomical, but certainly enough. It's doubtful they were paid less than what they earned per episode on The Next Generation, and when you factor in how many actors returned, that's quite a bit of money. They were able to introduce new characters like Todd Stashwick's Liam Shaw for probably a fraction of what they would have had to pay Picard's season one and two actors.

And though this didn't make Picard fans happy at first, the success of the final season proves that the Picard team made the best call for the best possible outcome.