After the reveal that Jack Crusher is the son of Jean-Luc Picard, the recent third episode of Star Trek: Picard season 3 finally had the much-awaited conversation between Picard and Beverly Crusher to discuss why the latter decided to hide their son away from him all these years. It was a very emotional and intense scene that was 20 years in the making.
As revealed by showrunner Terry Matalas in an interview with TVLine, the scene was also difficult to both write and film considering the intensity of the moment and the history between the two characters that fans have loved for decades.
"It took two months to really hone and craft that scene, with many different writers. All of us contributed to it, including Patrick [Stewart] and Gates [McFadden] and Jonathan [Frakes, who directed the episode]. We rehearsed it many times. It was the most difficult scene of the season to get right," he shared.
Matalas explained why it was important for them to get the pivotal scene right when they were working on the scene and how they should be able to show the point-of-view of each character at the moment.
"It needs to do quite a bit. You need to understand his point of view, which is, ‘My God, what have you done?’ And her point of view is, ‘What do you expect me to do?’ By the time she’s finished with the explanation, you need to truly understand why she would do that, and I think Gates’ performance is just phenomenal in that scene," the showrunner said.
He also compared the scene to the tone of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, "It should feel uncomfortable to watch your space parents fight. But at the same time, you still want to love them and understand them and take them to new dramatic territory."
Matalas also gave a clarification on the timeline of Jean-Luc and Beverly's relationship explaining that it happened after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis and that the two still had a relationship before they separated.
"The way we timed it out was shortly after [the 2002 Star Trek film] Nemesis," he said. "There was some time on the Enterprise in which Beverly was still a doctor, and they gave their on-again, off-again romance a chance, and that’s the result."
The scene was certainly devastating to watch for most fans and it is a moment that we've been waiting for since it's been decades at this point since we've last seen them together. It is curious to see how this will continue to play out in the subsequent episodes.
Also Read: Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Showrunner Explains Amanda Plummer's Inspired Casting
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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