A Next Generation reunion is not complete without Data, who already died twice in the past. As a result, fans have been wondering how they will include him in the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard especially after it was confirmed that Brent Spiner is going to be part of the reunion.
As the trailers already revealed, Lore is included in the season and a lot of fans assumed that it is the role that Spiner is playing in order for him to show up in the reunion without resurrecting Data again. Nevertheless, it is exciting to see that the entire crew is back for one more adventure.
In the recent sixth episode of Star Trek: Picard season 3 titled "The Bounty," the series was able to bring Data back into the fold and include him in the Next Generation reunion. When Riker, Raffi, and Worf infiltrated the Daystrom Station, they found a Dr. Soong-looking android that has the memories of Data, B-4, Lal, and Lore.
Without resurrecting the Data that we know, Picard found a way to bring back Spiner's iconic character, and, this time around, it is a new version since he will have different personalities in the vein of Jekyll and Hyde.
Speaking with Collider, showrunner Terry Matalas explained how they decided to include Spiner in the reunion season without reversing Data's death and how his multiple characters from Next Generation helped on shaping his return.
"One of the first questions I had to ask myself was, 'How the hell are you going to do a Star Trek: Next Generation reunion without Data being a part of it?' This character has died twice, and you can't just bring him magically back to life. Something else has to happen," he said.
"There are some stories that haven't really been told with Data, which is he was backed up onto B-4. Lore is still a dangling chad."
Matalas also revealed that Spiner had an enthusiastic reaction when they pitched to him the idea for his involvement in the season and he suggested some ideas regarding how his story will play out.
"What if it was Jekyll and Hyde? What if both Lore and Data [were] in there with all these other things? Wouldn't that give Brent Spiner something really interesting to play? And couldn't that promise a really interesting final Data/Lore story?," he continued to explain.
"I took that to Brent thinking he was going to reject the whole thing, and he was like, 'Oh, that's actually really cool.' Brent was unbelievably collaborative with it, and Brent had ideas that only elevated it in ways I couldn't have imagined. In fact, some of the best moments of this story were Brent's idea."
Now that the entire gang is back and Data is back in some capacity, it is curious to see how the rest of the season will play out and where the entire story will lead as the Next Generation crew is in their one last adventure.
Also Read: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Receives Exciting Season 3 Update
New episodes of Star Trek: Picard season 3 premiere every Thursday on Paramount+. You can check more details about it here.
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