Warning: MILD SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard.
With Star Trek: Discovery, anticipation is high for Star Trek: Picard, especially since it centers on arguably the franchise's most popular captain. However, this will be a markedly different Picard than what fans are used to seeing and this is, in part, because of what happened to him in the last two decades.
The forward progress of Star Trek's 24th century essentially came to a dead stop after the critical and financial failure of Star Trek: Nemesis. Since 2002, the franchise has consisted of prequel series and J.J. Abrams' movies set in the 23rd century of the alternate Shinzon (Tom Hardy). Indeed, Data's selfless act has haunted Picard ever since and in Star Trek: Picard, Jean-Luc is still dealing with the loss of his most loyal friend.
Even after Shinzon failed to destroy the Federation, the Romulans remain pivotal players in galactic events - and it starts with the fact that the Romulan star went supernova. This cataclysm in the Beta Quadrant was depicted in J.J. Abrams' Spock (Leonard Nimoy) failed to stop the supernova with red matter and was blown back to the 23rd century with the Romulan Nero (Eric Bana), which created the Kelvin alternate reality of Abrams' prequel trilogy. But back in the 24th-century of the Prime timeline, the Romulan supernova remained a crisis that had to be dealt with - which is where iral Picard came in for the rescue.
Since Star Trek: Nemesis occurred in 2379 and Star Trek: Picard takes place in 2399, here's everything we know happened in the two decades leading up to Jean-Luc Picard's newest adventure.
Picard Led The Rescue Effort To Save The Romulans From The Supernova
It was Picard who called for the Federation to assist the Romulans in a massive relocation of the people at risk from the supernova. However, the Romulan rescue mission was unpopular with many Federation member species because they considered it a waste of resources to aid the Federation's oldest and most treacherous enemies.
Picard's attempt to save the Romulan people is depicted in the canonical comic book series Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton) was placed in charge of building the rescue fleet, consisting of 10,000 warp-capable ships, at the Utopia Planitia Shipyards on Mars. Aboard the Verity, Picard gained a new First Officer, Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd), Starfleet's top expert in Romulan affairs.
At the request of the Romulans, Picard was diverted to Yuyat Beta, a colony on the edge of the Romulan supernova's blast zone. On Yuyat Beta, Picard was furious to discover that the Romulans only wanted their own people evacuated by the Federation rescue fleet and their pointy-eared nemeses were planning to leave the billions of other species in the Beta Quadrant to die. The Romulans soon betrayed Picard as well and attempted to take over the Verity.
Picard Gained New Romulan Friends On Yuyat Beta
Despite the dire circumstances on Yuyat Beta, Picard also found new allies: Laris (Orla Brady) and Zhaban (Jamie McShane). The Romulan married couple were secretly of the Chateau Picard, the iral's vineyard on Earth, after he retired.
Synthetic Beings Attacked Mars
On First Day, April 5, 2385, a group of rogue androids attacked the Utopia Planitia Fleetyards. They dropped the planetary defense grid, destroyed Utopia Planitia, and wiped out the rescue armada. The destruction of the orbital facility then ignited the Martian atmosphere, killing 92,143 people.
As a result of the Martian attack, synthetic beings were banned throughout the Federation. This curtailed the work of the Daystrom Institute and its director, Dr. Bruce Maddox, who once tried to dismantle Data in the TNG episode "Measure of a Man", as well as cybernetics specialist Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill). In 2399, a young woman named Dahj Asha (Isa Briones) is accepted into the Daystrom Institute as a research fellow.
Picard Quit Starfleet And Retired
The Federation mourned the tragedy on Mars but there were greater ramifications from the attack: As a result of the rescue armada being destroyed, the Federation ended their Romulan rescue mission. Picard was outraged at the Federation rescinding their moral responsibility and resigned from Starfleet in protest. This act also caused a falling out between Picard and Raffi Musiker, who was kicked out of Starfleet.
Disillusioned with Starfleet, Picard retired to his family vineyard in Le Barre, and he got a dog, a pit bull he named Number One. Laris and Zhaban came to Earth to help run Chateau Picard in 2389 and they remained with him for a decade.
The Romulans Gained Control Of A Borg Cube
Meanwhile, the Romulans gained possession of a derelict Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco), the Borg the Enterprise-D encountered in the TNG episode "I, Borg" and turned back into a human, ed the Romulan Reclamation project, as did Dr. Soji Asha, Dahj's twin sister.
What Happened To Picard's Enterprise Crew
Several of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast will appear in Star Trek: Picard, including Data, Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). Riker and Troi got married in Star Trek: Nemesis and they left the Enterprise-E in order for Captain Riker to take command of the U.S.S. Titan. In 2385, as Picard was leading the Romulan rescue mission, Riker was still Captain of the Titan but he and Troi have left the Titan by Star Trek: Picard's 2399 timeframe. Meanwhile, it has yet to be revealed who took command of the Enterprise after Picard or which iteration of the Federation flagship is operational in 2399.
Since Geordi LaForge was overseeing Utopia Planitia Fleetyards, it is thus far unknown whether or not the brilliant engineer survived the attack by the rogue synthetics. Further, the whereabouts of Worf (Michael Dorn) and Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) haven't been revealed but Star Trek: Voyager's Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is confirmed to appear in Star Trek: Picard.
Star Trek: Picard streams Thursdays on CBS All-Access and internationally Fridays on Amazon Prime Video.