Star Trek: Picard Season 2 was already highly-anticipated before it was revealed that John de Lancie would return to the franchise to play Q, but the news has certainly put the upcoming season under more of a microscope. As such, fans have scoured the internet for details on the upcoming episodes, and de Lancie has obliged via brief answers in an unexpected place.
As previously reported, John de Lancie has been slightly loose-lipped on upcoming Star Trek: Picard details on his Cameo account (via TrekMovie). In a recent video the Q actor revealed something interesting about his upcoming arc on the live-action series, and it may be bad news for fans of the character.
You are going to be seeing me soon on Picard. I come back – not in a walker, but close to it. It’s my final carryings on with Jean-Luc Picard.
While it may have been a given that John de Lancie's upcoming reprisal would be his final encounter with Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard, another bit stands out as interesting. The actor's comment about age sounds like it could be in reference to Q, and possibly a sign that Star Trek: Picard could finally kill off the fan-favorite character.
Yes, Qs in the Star Trek universe can die, though the circumstances are often tricky. The gist is that while it can happen, there are only a few known parameters. The Continuum, another Q, or Q himself would have to make the decision to die. The latter sounds like an exceptionally sad but probable scenario, but why would Q do such a thing?
We can only speculate, though the most logical reason would be that John de Lancie is not ageless. There will come a time when Star Trek would either need to recast Q or kill him off, and John de Lancie's recent comments suggest the latter could be happening. After all, there would be no more fitting time to do so than in one final adventure with Jean-Luc Picard, and the character Q is most famously associated with.
With all of this being said, John de Lancie had also made jokes about returning as Q at an age much older than when he first portrayed him on Star Trek: The Next Generation. It's entirely possible that de Lancie's jokes about age are mainly in reference to himself, as he's noted in the past, the series will address Q's change in appearance. Speaking as a fan, that's what I'm hoping for because I'd love to see the actor portray his iconic character a couple of more times in at least a few more episodes with all the new Star Trek coming out.
Star Trek: Picard Season 2 is expected to arrive on Paramount+ in 2022. For more on the upcoming season, be sure to read up on some of the other major changes expected, including a rather shocking change to Seven of Nine.
