Patrick Stewart explains Admiral Jean-Luc Picard’s controversial F-bomb, which was his own ad-lib in Star Trek: Picard season 3. In Picard season 3, episode 4, “No Win Scenario,” Jean-Luc recounts a story from his past to his son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), where Picard and Jack’s namesake, Lt. Jack R. Crusher (Doug Wert) were lost in a shuttlecraft for “ten f***ing grueling hours.” While many fans applauded Picard’s realistic speech, others objected to Jean-Luc’s using that particular curse word, including Screen Rant, and it ignited an online debate about swearing in Star Trek.
In Star Trek: Picard season 3’s home video release, there is a featurette in disc 3 called “The Making of The Last Generation” that goes in-depth behind the scenes of the final season of Picard. There, Patrick Stewart details his rationale behind Jean-Luc Picard’s unexpected F-bomb. Read his quote below:
When you use language, you use it sometimes in a certain way in order to have an impact, not just on the character you’re addressing, but on the audience who are watching. And I felt that this was arguably appropriate because Picard was almost out of control. He was out of control – the fact that he used the language he did. I regret if people were offended, but it was not something we did for pure sensationalism. It was something that we did because he had lost control.
How Picard’s F-Bomb Happened In Season 3
Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 4, “No Win Scenario,” was directed by Jonathan Frakes, and he noted in the commentary track on the Picard season 3 home video release that he encouraged Patrick Stewart’s dropping the F-bomb. In the scene set in a holodeck recreation of 10 Forward, Picard, Jack, and the crew of the USS Titan-A were huddled in the bar awaiting impending doom. As Patrick Stewart noted, the harrowing circumstances left Picard “out of control,” and both he and Frakes felt Jean-Luc saying “f*cking” in that instance was understandable and “appropriate.”
It’s important to note that there has always been cursing in Star Trek, from Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) uttering swear words in Star Trek: The Original Series to Data (Brent Spiner) exclaiming “Oh sh*t!” in Star Trek Generations. Picard season 3’s villain, Vadic (Amanda Plummer), also cursed the “f***ing solids” who sent her to her icy death in deep space. Ultimately, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard uttering an F-bomb in Star Trek: Picard season 3 was simply a stark reminder that the great space hero, synthetic body or not, is still only human.
Star Trek: Picard The Final Season and Complete series is available now on Blu-ray and the Star Trek: Picard Legacy Collection will be available November 7.
