We don’t talk nearly enough about Star Trek or Star Wars. The galaxy far, far away has always played a role, but the world of the multiple Enterprises, Voyager and the Cerritos is more… foreign to us. It’s more scientific, which goes beyond our realm of understanding. We were reading an article from Entertainment Weekly that mentioned a massive twist in a recent episode of Star Trek: Picard.
The episode entitled “The Next Generation” literally features the next generation of Starfleet. The audience is introduced to Geordi La Forge’s daughter, Sidney, the currently unnamed granddaughter of Raffaela Musiker and the son of Beverly Crusher. However, this son is NOT Wesley.
Here is a quick explainer for anyone who is a casual Trekkie or new to the franchise. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beverly was the chief medical officer of Jean-Luc Picard’s Enterprise-D. She was also a widow as her husband, Jack R. Crusher, and Wes’s father had died on an away mission. Doctor Crusher and Picard were very close, and Jack had been a close friend to Jean-Luc.
Like his mother and father, Wes joined Starfleet, but his career ended after a scandal. Eventually, he returned to Starfleet, achieving the rank of lieutenant junior grade. He became the protégé of The Traveller. If he did return to travelling the cosmos, Wesley did not use his name.
Wes formed a close bond with Picard, seeing him as a father figure. However, the relationship soured, and Wesley told his captain that he wished he [Picard] had died instead of his father. Eventually, they made up when Wes apologised for his outburst years later. He was also incredibly close to Will Riker, Picard’s number one. Riker was one of the few people to ever refer to Wesley as “Wes.”
So, going back to the twist, it turns out that Beverly had another son named Jack, and his father is… *drum roll*
That’s right, folks! Picard is Jack’s father. This was not something that we saw coming. At all. It’s also an exciting thing to do, especially when the Season is the last. It might’ve made more sense to add threads in Season 2, but it would’ve been impossible given everything that happened in that Season.
Anyway, young Jack is a criminal. He’s a con artist who is an enemy of the Federation and Federation space. Anyone who is even casually familiar with Crusher and Picard’s relationship, it was always a “will they, won’t they?” situation. However, it appears it did happen, and Jack was the result, at least briefly.
Beverly is Jack’sJack’sr; this makes Jack Wes’s Wes’se brother. Also, this means that the Picard lineage isn’t After the death of Jean-LJean-Luc’ser, Robert, and nephew René, the Starfleet captain was sad that he was the only Picard remaining as he didn’t have children. However, now his lineage won’t end as prematurely as he thinks, even if his son does bear the last name of his mother’s late husband and the first name too.
Despite his criminal career, Jack appears to have some respect for his mother as he comes in to rescue her.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 airs Thursdays in the US on Paramount+.
