Star Trek: The Next Generation vets are reuniting with Patrick Stewart in Picard season 3

Paramount+ is re-assembling the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew for Star Trek: Picard season 3.

Announced Tuesday, LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Worf), Jonathan Frakes (William Riker), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), and Brent Spiner (Data) — who all featured opposite Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard on the popular Trek series — are returning to join Stewart in what will now be the third and final season of Picard.

"I remember watching the premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation almost 34 years ago with my father like it was yesterday," Terry Matalas, season 3's showrunner and executive producer, said in a statement. "It was the spark that ignited my love for science-fiction. So, it's most fitting that the story of Jean-Luc Picard ends honoring the beginning, with his dearest and most loyal friends from the U.S.S. Enterprise."

"It would be an understatement to say that giving these characters a proper send-off is an honor," he continued. "The entire Star Trek: Picard team and I can't wait for fans to experience this final, high-stakes, starship-bound adventure in season 3!"

The announcement was accompanied by a video, featuring Stewart's Picard and the voices of some of his costars from The Next Generation, as well as a glimpse of Frakes' Riker.

"Ready?" Riker asks.

"As ever," Picard responds.

Picard, which is still releasing season 2 weekly on Paramount+, previously featured Spiner as Data, Data's human relative Altan Inigo Soong, and their ancestor, Dr. Adam Soong. Frakes and Sirtis, too, reprised their Next Generation roles on the show, while Frakes directed two season 1 episodes and one season 2 episode.

Season 2 also brings back Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan, a role she originated on The Next Generation series.

Everett Collection 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' stars are reuniting for the third and final season of 'Picard' season 3

The news falls on April 5, 2022, this year's First Contact Day, which was named as a nod to April 5, 2063. In Star Trek: First Contact, the 1996 film that brought together the Next Generation cast members, that date was the day humans first made contact with Vulcans.

Stewart and Matalas will also serve as executive producers on the final season with Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Doug Aarniokoski, and Dylan Massin.

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