A new poster for Star Trek: Picard was dropped online today, depicting Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard standing away from us as he surveys his vineyard. Most importantly, though, it reveals that the former Enterprise-D captain will have a new companion on the show in the form of a pet dog.
Fans are going a bit nuts over the idea of Picard having a faithful canine friend in the series, but what you might not have noticed is that the dog represents a neat Next Generation easter egg. If you focus on the pet’s collar, you’ll see that he’s wearing a replica of the Starfleet insignia. Written on it is a single digit: 1. Which must mean that Picard has named his dog Number One.
See for yourself in the gallery below:
On The Next Generation, Picard would often refer to his second-in-command, William Riker, as “Number One,” as is Starfleet practice. He might have said goodbye to his space-faring career by the time we catch up with the character in Picard, but the fact that he names his dog after his nickname for his old colleague might tell us that Jean-Luc misses his time aboard the Enterprise.
Riker was, of course, played by Jonathan Frakes, who’s known to be returning to work with Stewart on Picard in a directorial capacity for a couple of episodes of the first season. Frakes may have teased, though, that he’ll also be dropping by in front of the camera as well to reprise his fan favorite role.
Seeing that we know that Picard will go back out into the cosmos and captain another ship, however, we’re a bit fearful of what will happen to Number One. Will Jean-Luc bring him along for the ride, or are we in for a tragic John Wick-like scenario where Picard heads into space on a revenge mission after his dog is killed? Time will tell.
Star Trek: Picard arrives on CBS All Access later this year, but we might get a new look at it much sooner thanks to the Trek panel happening at Comic-Con next weekend.
