Star Trek: Picard season 1 introduced a new cast including Peyton List, who played the Romulan villain Narissa. Set in 2399, nearly 15 years after Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) gave up command of the USS Enterprise-E, Picard season 1 brought Jean-Luc back to space on a new mission to save the galaxy. But this time, instead of his loyal crew from the USS Enterprise-D and E, Picard was surrounded by a new, motley crew of misfits pitted against an insidious Romulan conspiracy.
Showrunner Michael Chabon crafted an intricate Romulan backstory for Star Trek: Picard season 1 centering on a never-before-heard-of sect of Tal Shiar fanatics plotting to wipe out artificial lifeforms in the United Federation of Planets. Picard season 1’s plot was kicked off by the murder of Dahj Asha (Isa Briones), who turned out to be a human-like synthetic android built from the positronic remains of the late Commander Data (Brent Spiner). Weaving in the Romulans’ history with the Borg and a new robotic threat from beyond the galaxy, Picard season 1’s plot was a dense mystery with the Romulan Narissa and her colleagues at the center.
Peyton List’s Romulan Villain Narissa Explained
In Star Trek: Picard season 1, Peyton List played Colonel Narissa, who also doubled as Starfleet Lieutenant Rizzo. Narissa was a member of the Zhat Vash, a fanatical sect of the Romulan Tal Shiar secret police that harbors an irrational hatred of artificial life forms. In 2385, Narissa was part of the Conclave of Eight, led by General Nadar (Tamlyn Tomita), who also infiltrated Starfleet as Commodore Oh, becoming the head of Starfleet Security. As Lt. Rizzo, Narissa oversaw Dahj’s murder, and she sent her brother, Narek (Harry Treadaway) to the Borg Cube Artifact to learn the location of Coppelius, the synthetics’ homeworld, from Dahj’s twin sister, Soji Asha (Isa Briones). Narissa murdered Hugh (Jonathan del Arco) and was ultimately killed by Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) in Picard season 1’s finale.
Peyton List (not to be confused with Peyton Roi List, who plays Tory Nichols on Cobra Kai) is an American actress best known for playing Jane Siegel, the wife of Roger Sterling (John Slattery) on Mad Men. After starting off as a model, List began her acting career as Lucy Montgomery on the CBS soap opera As The World Turns. Lead roles in short-lived science fiction series FlashForward on ABC and The Tomorrow People on The CW followed, and List also starred in The CW drama Frequency. List had a recurring role in Colony, and she played Poison Ivy in the Batman universe crime drama Gotham on FOX.
Why Star Trek: Picard Dropped Season 1’s Zhat Vash Story
Star Trek: Picard season 1’s Romulan Zhat Vash story was completely dropped from seasons 2 and 3. This is due to the departure of showrunner Michael Chabon. Akiva Goldsman and Terry Matalas became the new showrunners and took Picard season 2 in an entirely new direction involving Q (John de Lancie) and time travel, and Terry Matalas reunited the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation for Picard season 3. However, bringing back the TNG icons meant most of Picard‘s original cast didn’t come back for the final season.
Narissa was killed off at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 1 so Peyton List wouldn’t have returned for later seasons. But Picard season 1 left unresolved questions, such as what happened to Narissa’s brother Narek. The Romulans led by Commodore Oh were also allowed to return to Romulus and their status is unknown. Picard season 1’s Zhat Vash story came to a dead stop, although another Michael Chabon creation, the Romulan warrior nuns known as the Qowat Milat, continued on in Star Trek: Discovery. Still, Peyton List’s roles as Narissa and Lt. Rizzo remain memorable parts of Star Trek: Picard season 1.
Star Trek: Picard season 1 is streaming on Paramount+.
