Star Trek: PicardLast season throws everything it can at Patrick Stewart’s legendary hero, in terms of big shocks, big enemies and big reunions. But as the show teased preparing for season three by proclaiming loud and clear the returns of The next generationfrom the iconic catwalk team, some returns remained silent, no matter how vital they were to the series arc.
Talk to Collider, picard showrunner Terry Matalas discussed the heartbreaking return of GNTis Michelle Forbes, aka Ro Larenthe only time Business-D Ensign who became a defector from the Maquis, today’s excellent episode “Imposters”. According to the producer, picard always wanted Ro Laren back for the story he had to tell here – that Starfleet had been compromised by Changelingsnow more able to hide from detection than they were during DS9The Dominion War. But more importantly, the person who warns Picard of this threat had to be Ro in Matalas’ eyes for a very simple reason: there had to be a level of mistrust and drama that only Picard’s greatest regret could match.
“This story has always been – the pitch I had for it was, ‘How great would it be to do a paranoid thriller with someone you have all that background with? The only way to be sure you’re sitting across from the person you hope to be sitting with is to walk through your trauma with them,” Matalas told Collider. “I thought if we could pull this off we would have a really interesting TV episode. But that required us to get Michelle Forbes and convince the studio and the network that it was the right idea, and educate a lot of people on who Ro Laren [was].”
It’s a shame he had to explain who was GNTbest supporting characters – his position as Picard’s reluctant protege in the last seasons of the show made for one of his most fascinating combative relationships – was at the highest –UPS. But if you’ve ever watched “Imposters,” you’ll know that Matalas’ plea for Ro was more than worth it, and a story worth bringing back.
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