Pretty soon, anyone with a Paramount+ subscription will have a chance to check out the long-awaited final season premiere of Star Trek: Picard. There are undoubtedly many fans excited to see the crew of The Next Generation back together and would love to see the premiere just one day sooner. Well, CinemaBlend can't do that, but we can preview a small clip in which Jean-Luc Picard meets helmsman Sidney La Forge for the first time on the USS Titan.
As seen in the clip above, Sidney La Forge was thrilled to be meeting Admiral Picard in the flesh and less than thrilled that Riker knew about one of her more embarrassing stories from Starfleet. CinemaBlend learned from Sidney actress Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut ahead of Star Trek: Picard Season 3 that wasn't the first time she met Patrick Stewart, and she didn't have to act too hard to genuinely "fangirl" out for the Admiral on the bridge:
Luckily I was able to meet them before we started shooting, so I kind of got my fangirl moments out. But definitely, what you see on screen is actually real. Ashlei, aside from Sidney, is fangirling for Patrick.
Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut was psyched to meet Patrick Stewart, and I don't blame her. Even three seasons in, I'm still in awe that Stewart returned to Star Trek to be a part of another series. I can't imagine being an actor actually getting to share screen time with him in a season that feels as big as Picard Season 3, and being immortalized as a part of that.
As mentioned, Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut plays Sidney La Forge, one of two daughters of Geordi La Forge. While she's not actor LeVar Burton's real-life daughter like her co-star Mica Burton (playing Alandra La Forge), Chestnut certainly felt the weight of working on Star Trek: Picard Season 3 and spoke to CinemaBlend about what being a part of it all meant to her:
Honestly, when everyone came back, it just was a moment. It’s history, you know? I just felt really grateful to be there in their presence, working alongside them. The fact they were my peers working in scenes, it was phenomenal.
It feels fated that Star Trek: Picard Season 3 will be the final adventure for the character.
Phenomenal is one of many positive adjectives floating around the internet after a number of fans and media had a chance to screen the premiere of Star Trek: Picard Season 3 early. The batch of ten episodes may end up being the final adventure for the TNG cast, so there's a lot of pressure to close out the arc and give these characters a worthy ending.
Here's hoping it succeeds and paves the way for new characters like Sidney La Forge to appear in other upcoming Star Trek shows! There are still a few shows operating in this timeline after Picard ends, which means more opportunities for the "next, next generation" to start their own adventures.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 premieres on Paramount+ on Thursday, February 16th. Now is the perfect time to grab a subscription to the service to check out the latest season and revisit some of the best episodes of The Next Generation.
