New Star Trek: Picard Prequel Novel Focusing On Riker And Troi Announced

We didn’t see them for 15 years and now they’re everywhere. Following their return in Star Trek: Picard and subsequent cameo in Star Trek: Lower Decks, William Riker and Deanna Troi are going to be the stars of their own Picard prequel novel coming next year. Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis’ married couple have long been fan favorites, and the Trek franchise is definitely keen to capitalize on their popularity right now.

The novel is titled Star Trek: Picard: The Dark Veil and is written by veteran Trek author James Swallow. The second Picard tie-in novel, after The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack, it goes on sale in January from Simon and Schuster. The synopsis for the book teases how it’ll explore what Riker and Troi got up to on the U.S.S. Titan prior to the destruction of Romulus, and you can check it out for yourself down below:

“The Alpha Quadrant is mired in crisis. Within the United Federation of Planets, a terrorist strike on the shipyards of Mars has led to the shutdown of all relief efforts for millions of Romulans facing certain doom from an impending super­nova. But when the USS Titan is drawn into a catastrophic incident on the Romulan-Federation border, Captain William Riker, his family, and his crew find themselves caught between the shocking secrets of an enigmatic alien species and the deadly agenda of a ruthless Tal Shiar operative. Forced into a wary alliance with a Romulan starship commander, Riker and the Titan crew must uncover the truth to stop a dev­astating attack—but one wrong move could plunge the entire sector into open conflict!”

Meanwhile, here’s the cover art from artist Jim Salvati:

By the time we caught up with them in Picard episode 8, the Rikers had left the Titan behind and settled down to Nepenthe, a healing planet, after the death of their son Thaddeus. Though the season 1 finale saw Riker temporarily back in the captain’s chair to aid his old friend Jean-Luc in fighting the Zhat Vash. Frakes and Sirtis then reprised their roles for the Lower Decks finale, which is set 1 year after Star Trek: Nemesis. This finally gave us our first look at the Titan and now, the upcoming novel will provide a better exploration of what Riker’s tenure as captain aboard the ship was like.

Following the release of Star Trek: Picard: The Dark Veil on January 5th, we’ll be seeing more of Frakes’ character – if not Troi, too – on our screens next year. We know that he’ll return for Lower Decks season 2 for sure, and he’s confident that he’ll be back for Picard season 2 as well.