Image: Outstanding
Star Trek: Picard’s final season throws everything it can at Patrick Stewart’s legendary heroes in terms of big shocks, big foes, and big reunions. But while the show teased the lead-up to Season 3 by loudly announcing the return of The Next Generation’s iconic bridge crew, some returnees were kept under wraps — no matter how important they were to the show’s arc.
Speaking to Collider on tonight’s excellent episode Imposters, Picard showrunner Terry Matalas discusses the heartbreaking return of TNG’s Michelle Forbes, aka Ro Laren, the onetime Enterprise-D ensign turned Maquis defector. According to the producer, Picard always wanted Ro Laren back for the story it had to tell here – that Starfleet had been compromised by the changelings, who were now better able to hide from detection than they were during the Dominion -war of DS9 goods. But more importantly, the person warning Picard of this threat had to be Ro in Matalas’ eyes for one very simple reason: there had to be a level of suspicion and drama that only Picard’s deepest regret could match.
“That story was always – my pitch was, ‘How great would it be to do a paranoia thriller with someone you have that much baggage with?’ The only way to make sure you’re sitting across from the person you hope you’re sitting across from is to work through your trauma with them,” Matalas explained to Collider. “I thought if we could pull this off, we’d have a really interesting TV episode. But to do that we had to bring in Michelle Forbes and convince the studio and the network that it was the right idea and educate a lot of people about who Ro Laren is [was].”
It’s a shame he had to explain to superiors who one of TNG’s best supporting characters was – her position as Picard’s reluctant protégé in the show’s final seasons made her one of her most intriguing combative relationships. But if you’ve already seen Imposters, you’ll know that Matalas’ effort for Ro was more than worth it, and a story worth bringing back.
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