New Star Trek: Picard season 2 trailer finally reveals Q's return

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The show launches in 2022

Picard
(Image credit: CBS)

Paramount Plus has released a new trailer for Star Trek: Picard season 2, more than six months before its air date in 2022. As you might expect this early on, it's fairly light on the heavy special effects work that really impressed in the first season – but it does show John de Lancie's in-person return as the entity Q from The Next Generation for the first time.

The teaser doesn't reveal many specifics about the story, but it's strongly suggested that Jean-Luc and friends are trying to stop some kind of dark future from playing out. The trailer also teases the return of Seven of Nine, who had a brief but memorable arc in season 1 of the show.

Check it out below:

De Lancie previously told fans on Cameo that he's filming six episodes as Q (per TrekMovie) – and as had been previously rumored, seasons 2 and 3 of Picard are shooting together right now, according to the actor.

Star Trek: Picard season 2 will release on Paramount Plus in the US, and Amazon Prime Video in the UK. 2022 is the only officially confirmed release date we have so far. 

Analysis: giving Picard a boost

Season 1 of Picard wasn't afraid to dip into elements of Trek's past to find new stories to tell – indeed, the death of Data was a jumping-off point for the entire series. While the show confidently established its own visual aesthetic, it struggled more with original elements like Picard's crew, who were a little hard to like at times.

Bringing back Q might be contentious for some fans, but it's another familiar anchor point to get Trek aficionados excited about Picard's continuing adventures.

We're glad that Picard is getting another run. As a more prestige-y modern take on TNG's iconic hero, the show wasn't to everyone's tastes – but that just seems to be the eternal struggle for modern Star Trek series and movies. Perhaps the more traditional story-of-the-week adventures in the upcoming Strange New Worlds will scratch that classic Trek itch. 

Samuel Roberts
Samuel Roberts

Samuel is a PR Manager at game developer Frontier. Formerly TechRadar's Senior Entertainment Editor, he's an expert in Marvel, Star Wars, Netflix shows and general streaming stuff. Before his stint at TechRadar, he spent six years at PC Gamer. Samuel is also the co-host of the popular Back Page podcast, in which he details the trials and tribulations of being a games magazine editor – and attempts to justify his impulsive eBay games buying binges.