Before Star Trek: Picard Season 3 premieres on Paramount+ on February 16, Collider’s Steve Weintraub spoke with returning stars, Michael Dorn, who was first introduced as Worf in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Michelle Hurd, whose character Raffi Musiker originated in the first season of Picard. During their interview, Dorn discusses how filming action scenes in Picard compares to Star Trek: The Next Generation, how much time they spent with stunt rehearsals, how Picard Season 3 has a cinematic feel to it, and their character arcs.

Though the first two seasons of Picard were disappointing to some fans, Hurd calls Season 3 an “action-packed” “epic adventure,” with Patrick Stewart returning to the helm as the titular Jean-Luc Picard in a high-stakes mystery. The Next Generation’s Gates McFadden also reprises her role as Dr. Beverly Crusher, as does Jonathan Frakes as Will Riker, Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi, LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge, Brent Spiner as Lore, and Star Trek: Voyager’s Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine from previous Picard seasons.
COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAY
This season isn’t just about bringing back familiar faces, the show is also introducing fans to new talent, including Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut and Mica Burton as Sidney and Alandra La Forge and Amanda Plummer as the villainous Vadic. Others joining the fray are Todd Stashwick (12 Monkeys) as Captain Shaw of the USS Titan, and new series regular and associate of Beverly Crusher, Ed Speleers (Outlander).

Check our conversation with Dorn and Hurd in the player above, or read the full transcript below. For even more on Star Trek: Picard, you can read Maggie Lovitt’s review calling it “the start of something new and exciting.”

Image via Paramount+

COLLIDER: I want to start with – Michael, this is for you – [Star Trek: Next Generation] and [Star Trek: Deep Space Nine] are two of my all-time favorite shows. I want to thank you for all the hours you spent in that makeup chair to play Worf.

MICHAEL DORN: It was my pleasure.

I really want to start with congratulations. I’ve seen the first six episodes of Picard Season 3, they’re fantastic. Fans are gonna absolutely love them. For both of you, what do you want to tease the fans about what’s coming this season?

MICHELLE HURD: What do we tease? It’s gonna be an epic adventure, action-packed for our story. What do you want to tease?

DORN: It is truly an arc – and I always loved arcs, and shows where it starts one place and ends up another place. We don’t know where it’s going. We hope it’s a happy ending, but we don’t know. That’s the thing is that our characters are going to go through an arc, and I’ve always found that interesting, and I think the fans will too.

HURD: Well said.

Yeah, it’s interesting because when Next Generation was on there was no season-long storyline. There were minor things. I want to talk about the action a little bit. I’m curious, how much time did you actually have before stepping on set to do some of your action scenes together where you could rehearse? I’m also curious, Michael, you’ve done action is Worf before. How did it compare now to years ago? Did you have more time now, less time?

DORN: More time. There was more time. I mean, we literally were there on days that we weren’t working going through the scene. Because, the scenes on Next Generation were fairly short, and even on DS9, were fairly short and very concise, but these were very long and involved and they were central to the story. So you couldn’t really go, “Okay, just go over there and throw a dagger,” you know?

So, we had days where we would be – there was maybe one or two days where I was in makeup, but the rest of the time we were there, we were in our shorts and everything.

HURD: And that was our first time meeting, was doing stunt rehearsal. So we hadn’t even done a scene together and that was how we first met.

DORN: And it was cool because there was…These stunt guys were just–

HURD: They’re amazing.

DORN: And I was kind of going, “Well, we’ll see…” And then they showed a scene where I go in there, and there’s my reveal, and I watched their preview and I went, “Oh my God.” So that was… It’s quite different. Like I said, this was a movie. They shot it, not like a movie, but it feels like it was a movie. So you had time to really work on these scenes.

Image via Paramount+

The season is 10 episodes. Which was your favorite of the 10, and why?

DORN: I haven’t seen all 10.

HURD: Yeah, we haven’t seen them all. You’ve seen more than we have.

DORN: I think I’ve seen five.

HURD: Yeah, I think we’re five. Right?

DORN: But I have not I have not seen all of them yet. I know there were a couple of scenes that I really enjoyed doing with Michelle. There’s a couple that are really, you know, lovely.

I was just going to say, I think 6 is fantastic, but it just keeps building right at the beginning. Michael, this is for you. What did it mean to play Worf again for the first time, I believe, in like 20 years? Did you ever think it was going to happen again?

DORN: No, no, I did not. I had an inkling it might when JJ Abrams was doing his Star Trek’s, because after our last movie it was dead. I mean, Paramount sold off all the Star Trek stuff, and they were done with it. And JJ came and said, “Look, I want to do a Star Trek,” and they went, “Okay.” But like we’ve said a bunch of times, you never say never anymore. But I looked at my watch the other day and it’s been 35 years since I started.

HURD: Wow! That’s impressive.

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 premieres on Paramount+ on February 16. For more on the show, here’s our interview with Star Trek: Picard Season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas where he talks about creating a satisfying conclusion to Star Trek: The Next Generation.