Brent Spiner will be appearing in Star Trek: Picard season 2, but the actor confirms he will be playing a brand new character and not the android Data. Star Trek: Picard premiered in 2020 and follows Patrick Stewart’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard in his old age. Stewart originated the role in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the second live-action series in the long-running franchise. Picard season 2 is set to release on Paramount+ in February 2022.
Brent Spiner appeared on season 1 of Picard as Data, a role he originated opposite Stewart in The Next Generation. For that series, the android was discovered by Starfleet after being the sole survivor of an attack on Omicron Theta, and went on to appear in every episode and assume the role of lieutenant commander. Spiner would go on to reprise the role in four movies, five video games, and two additional television series. Spiner also played Dr. Noonian Soong, the original creator of Data, and he would later portray his son, Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, in Picard season 1.
While speaking with Inverse about his new book Fan Fiction, Brent Spiner dropped a major clue about his upcoming Picard role. Although it was thought he might again be reprising the role of Data, Spiner says that he is playing “a member of the Soong family” that he has “not… ever played before.” Read the full quote below:
“I can tell you I’m not Data. I know they haven’t revealed much about me being in the show. I can tell you I’m a member of the Soong family. And, that I’m not playing a character I’ve ever played before.”
![Star Trek Picard Season 2: Brent Spiner Returns as Brand New Character](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/brothers.jpg)
Brent Spiner is not the only legacy actor to make an appearance in Star Trek: Picard season 2. John de Lancie will be appearing as Q, the trickster entity who got the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D out of (and also in) some sticky situations, although he could never be fully trusted. The Borg Queen will also be returning, now played by Annie Wersching. Star Trek: Picard also stars Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera, Jeri Ryan, and Orla Brady.
Star Trek: Picard has certainly found an excellent way to wriggle out of the fact that Brent Spiner has aged in the years since he last played Data. It’s much more natural for a actor of his age to be human whose family genetics inspired Data’s look, rather than explain how an android looks older. Considering that this season of Picard will see the team traveling back in time to the 21st century, he will likely be playing an ancestor of Data’s creator, though how the crew comes across him is still unknown.