Published Apr 25, 2023

Ed Speleers' Official 'Star Trek University' Watch List

The Star Trek: Picard actor gives us a look into his Star Trek University crash course!

By Christine Dinh

Illustrated banner featuring Star Trek: Picard's Ed Speleers and an illustration of a checklist

Getty Images / StarTrek.com - Rob DeHart

Now, that has concluded its third and final season, we've uncovered the all the mysteries surrounding Jack Crusher, including his parentage (he's Jean-Luc Picard's son), why the Changelings are hunting him (he's essential to their planned attack on Frontier Day), what's behind the red door he keeps seeing in his visions (the Borg!), and what makes him so different (Picard passed on his Borg-rewritten genetic code onto his son, allowing Jack to be the Borg Collective's transmitter).

Prior to the start of the season, to discuss his inclusion into the series as well as the lore surrounding his parents, Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher.

On the Enterprise-D bridge, Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard surround and embrace Jack in his Vox suit as the parents hold hands in 'The Last Generation'

"The Last Generation"

StarTrek.com

Ahead of production, Season 3’s executive producer Terry Matalas gave Speleers a thorough crash course in Jean-Luc Picard’s corner of the Star Trek universe and his interpretations of family. With the season completely out and the spoiler window over, we're here to share with you Speleers' definitive "Star Trek University" watch list aka his homework into understanding his dad and the journey his character would go through over the course of the season!

**The Definitive 'Star Trek University' Watch List**

In addition to digesting films like Wrath of Khan all the way through First Contact, he was presented with the following definitive Star Trek: The Next Generation list of episodes to watch:

"The Measure of a Man"
"Yesterday’s Enterprise"
"The Best of Both Worlds, Part I and II"
"Darmok"
"I, Borg"
"The Inner Light"
"Chain of Command, Part I and II"
"Tapestry"
"All Good Things…, Part I and II"

Recalling the episode “Tapestry” specifically, Speleers reflects, "That's exactly where you see the young, roguish Crusher came from. It's really interesting because Picard is always held in such a way, he holds himself in such a way, not even strait-laced. He can make quite big, bold choices when he's captaining a ship, but he doesn't do it in a Kirk-way. He does try and keep it on the straight and narrow. But yes, ‘Tapestry’ completely highlights where he's come from. It shows the journey that many people go on as well. Jack is certainly in his roguish element, and I feel that he will change with time. And you can see, this season in particular, Terry always described it as sort of an origin story for Jack.”

The Ready Room Welcomes Star Trek: Picard's Ed Speleers

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Christine Dinh (she/her) is the managing editor for StarTrek.com. She’s traded the Multiverse for helming this Federation Starship.

In addition to streaming on Paramount+, Star Trek: Picard also streams on Prime Video outside of the U.S. and Canada, and in Canada can be seen on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Picard is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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