Right now we’re in the final episodes of the first season of Star Trek: Picard. Though it started promisingly, it’s been a bumpier ride than expected, with several of the midseason outings feeling like the show was spinning its wheels. Fortunately, last week’s episode, which saw Jean-Luc Picard reunited with William Riker and Deanna Troi, was one of the best so far. So fingers crossed they can stick the landing for the final three installments.
Whatever happens, Picard has a three-season story arc planned out. CBS has already renewed the show for a second season and a third looks very likely. Now, however, we’re hearing from our sources – the same ones who said Jim Carrey is returning as the Mask in Space Jam 2 and that Disney is doing a Beauty and the Beast spinoff for Gaston, both of which are confirmed – that the show will conclude with a major character death. And that major character death will be THE major character: Jean-Luc Picard.
From what we understand, during season 3, the show will kill off the captain, who’ll die protecting Data’s daughter, Soji. This makes a lot of sense, too, given what the series has already established. First up, the early episodes explained that Picard’s Irumodic Syndrome, a degenerative neurological disorder established in the season finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation, is getting worse. The show even went so far as to say that no matter how it’s treated, the disorder will kill him eventually.
This diagnosis gave Picard the psychological boost to get out into the universe as soon as possible to save Data’s remaining daughter, having already seen her twin killed in front of him. Presumably, the following seasons will see Soji and Picard grow closer to one another as his disorder worsens, eventually leading to a situation where he feels he has no choice but to sacrifice himself for her survival.
Outside of the show, Patrick Stewart himself is no spring chicken and I would imagine that one of the things used to convince him to return to the part was that it would conclusively finish Picard’s story. Let’s just hope that when Jean-Luc does finally die on Star Trek: Picard, it won’t be by getting a bridge dropped on him…
