The Star Trek gods have given us the first teaser for Picard, and it’s definitely not what we were expecting. In fact, we’re pretty confident in saying it’s not what anyone was expecting.
The teaser begins by showing an unseen man tending to a tranquil field of grapes as a woman’s voiceover talks about a man who “commanded the greatest rescue armada in history” before “the unimaginable” happened and then wonders what that cost this man. As the woman’s narration continues, we see that this mystery man runs a winery called Chateau Picard, and as she asks the question, “Why did you leave Starfleet, Admiral?” we see that the man is none other than Jean-Luc Picard.
OK, now who had “Picard runs a winery” on their Picard trailer bingo card? The French vineyard Chateau Picard was previously known in the franchise as Picard’s family estate, but its prominent appearance in the first trailer for a new Star Trek series is still pretty unexpected. But despite the very non-science-fiction feel of the teaser, it still does a good job of setting the stage for the series. We learn that Picard has left Starfleet, and something seems to have driven him to do so. Figuring out what this something is will likely be the main plot of the new series, and we’re betting it’s going to be a fun journey getting those answers. Pretty much the only clue we have to go on so far is that the destruction of Romulus, an event from J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek film, will play a key role in the series, according to producer Alex Kurtzman. Is this the “unimaginable” event that caused Picard to leave Starfleet? And if so, how would he even know about it, since it happened in a different timeline than Star Trek: The Next Generation? Does Picard take place in the Kelvin Timeline?
This teaser raises far more questions than answers, but odds are we won’t gain much more insight before the series premieres on CBS All-Access later this year.
