'Star Trek: Picard' Season 2 Trailer: A Major 'Next Generation' Character Returns

Today is #FirstContactDay, an excuse for Paramount+ to promote its deep library of Star Trek content on the newly launched streaming service. That includes Star Trek: Picard, the show that coaxed Sir Patrick Stewart back to his seminal role of Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard for more adventures. And those adventures will continue again soon, because during today's live-stream event, Paramount+ unveiled the first Picard season 2 trailer, which confirms the return of a major character from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Thankfully, the Q that pops up on the screen is not Picard season 2 implying that the QAnon conspiracy theory is still around in the far-flung future. Instead, it's teasing the return of a character named Q, a god-like alien who puts humanity on "trial" in the pilot episode of The Next Generation and who pops up throughout the series to test Picard and the Enterprise, all the way until the final episode.

Actor John De Lancie, who portrayed Q the first time around, will be back to play him once again. Since Q was an ageless alien being, De Lancie confirmed during a livestreamed panel following the trailer's debut that the character has modified his appearance to match Picard, who is much older now than the last time they faced off. (How considerate of him!) During the panel discussion, Stewart and De Lancie said that Q arrives back in Picard's life during a moment of extreme trauma – but they wouldn't say anything more than that, leaving the audience to speculate about the possibilities of Star Trek: Picard season 2 and exactly when and how these two old frenemies will meet once again.

Star Wars has May the Fourth as a significant day for its fandom, and now Star Trek is looking to do the same thing with #FirstContactDay. That's because in Trek lore, April 5, 2063 marks the day humans achieved warp drive in and made contact with the Vulcans, their first contact with an alien race. You can head over to StarTrek.com/FirstContact to check in with the livestream over the next few hours.Star Trek: Picard season 2 will debut on Paramount+ sometime in 2022.