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If you’ve seen the Season 3 trailer for the Paramount+ original series Picard, you might have been surprised to see Star Trek: The Next Generation’s resident Klingon warrior, Worf, isn’t quite as ready for a fight as he once was. Instead, he now prefers pacifism to war, which is quite a shocking change.
But, for those expecting a Worf that shies away from fights to search for only peaceful solutions, that’s not going to be happening. “Well, I think it’s important that he’s not really pacifist,” showrunner Terry Matalas explained during the Television Critics Association press tour panel for the show. “He prefers pacifism, but he does have a giant anime-sized sword.”
For Michael Dorn, the actor behind the character, though, this is a logical evolution for Worf. “He’s always been looking and searching through The Next Generation, Deep Space [Nine], and the movies for who he is,” Dorn explained.”And that’s the one thing I wanted to impart to [the writers and producers].”
That was something all of the cast did, as Matalas said, “One of the things we endeavored to do was to make sure that all these actors starting, with Patrick on, were very comfortable with where we find our character now. They’ve lived with these characters for decades and have strong opinions as to where we should find them.”
Ultimately, this new version of Worf will be older, wiser, and perhaps not quite as quick to the draw as the one we’ve known in the past. That said, the old Worf is still buried in that character and chances are you’ll see him rear his head sooner than later.
“You’ll find, even in his introduction, it’s the least passive version of him,” Matalas teased.
The third and final season of Picard premieres February 14 on Paramount+.
