Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Teases An Eventful Life For A Beloved Character
The third season of "Star Trek: Picard," debuting on Paramount+ on February 16, has boasted a reunion of most of the main cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Previous seasons have featured returns from Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, and Marina Sirtis, but this new season will add Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, and LeVar Burton as well. This will not just be a fun nostalgia trip for Trekkies who ache to see some old "Star Trek" favorites in the same room again (the first time since "Star Trek: Nemesis" in 2002) — it will also slake some curiosity as to what these characters have been doing for the past several decades.
"Star Trek: Picard" shows what the title character (Patrick Stewart) has been doing now that he's rounding 100 years of age, but what has Worf (Dorn) been up to? Or Dr. Crusher (McFadden)? Or Geordi La Forge (Burton)? There's swaths of mythology to explore.
The futures of the characters were previously teased in "All Good Things..." (May 23, 1994), the final episode of "Next Generation." That episode began with a flash forward to a potential alternate future wherein Picard was, as in his own series, working on his family vineyard. He is approached by a now-retired Geordi who is no longer wearing his visor (the appliance that allowed him to see), and is sporting a pair of high-tech eyeballs instead. He talks about his new profession, his wife, and his three kids. A lot happened in his life between then and now.
It seems that Geordi will have had a similarly eventful life in the timeline of "Picard." Indeed, there will be several notable parallels between "Good Things" Geordi and "Picard" Geordi.
A tale of two Geordis
Geordi La Forge was, for those unfamiliar, the hard-working chief engineer on the U.S.S. Enterprise. He had a strong mind for machines, but was socially awkward and rarely able to go on dates or engage in romantic relationships. Notably, in the episode "Booby Trap" (October 30, 1989), Geordi had to create a holographic laboratory to solve a technical crisis, and interact with a holographic version of the Enterprise's builder, Dr. Leah Brahms (Susan Gibney). Geordi ultimately fell in love with the hologram, an awkward situation to be sure. It was made more awkward when Geordi later had to meet the real Leah Brahms in person. It was made awkward-est when the real Brahms found the holographic Brahms.
Despite the awkwardness — and the fact that Brahms was married — the two seemed to eventually wind up together. In "All Good Things..." the ex-engineer talks about Leah and his three children, Sidney, Alandra, and Bret. He's a novelist now (Picard mentions that his latest protagonist was too flamboyant), and his daughter Sidney is in Starfleet Academy.
In "Star Trek: Picard," there isn't exact mention of Leah Brahms, but Sidney (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) has not only graduated from the Academy, but is now working at the conn position on the bridge of the U.S.S. Titan. She mentions that she and her father are not on the best of terms, although he does get along with his other daughter, Alandra. The season's plot will take the Titan to a nearby museum, where notable artifacts are on display, ready to be visited by historians and curious tourists. Note to Trekkies: Prepare your nostalgia glands for that scene. You'll recognize a lot of what's on display.
The artifacts are also in good hands. Geordi runs the museum.
From 'Nemesis' to now
The movement of Geordi La Forge from ship engineer to museum curator must have been long and dramatic, and Trekkies will likely have a wonderful time filling in the gaps in the character's life. Indeed, this missing span of time, from "Nemesis" to now, is the kind of gap beloved by the writers of tie-in "Star Trek" novels. It will only be a matter of time before authorized-but-non-canonical stories of Geordi's life at the museum will be written.
Indeed, a "Star Trek" series set at a museum sounds like a dandy pitch unto itself. Not only would it provide the nostalgia that Trekkies love, but it opens up a whole new book of potential technobabble. If Burton is game, I'd like to arrange a meeting with the people at Paramount+.
Geordi was always something of an innocent character — enthused by machines, genial, professional, and at his wit's end with dating. The "Picard" Geordi has grown and changed so much, that fans will only be excited to see him as he is now. Time has passed for these characters and "Picard" has wisely allowed them to change.