The sixth episode of Star Trek: Picard’s third and final season reunites Picard (Patrick Stewart), Riker (Jonathan Frakes), and Beverly (Gates McFadden) with three familiar faces from The Next Generation, as Worf (Michael Dorn) and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) board the Titan to track down more clues about the Changeling plot on Daystrom. It’s there that Riker, Worf, and Raffi discover that a version of Data (Brent Spiner) is being used to store information, while Picard and the crew of the Titan head to the Fleet Museum in hopes that Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) may be able to help them escape the clutches of the Changeling-filled Starfleet that is after them.

Ahead of the premiere of Episode 6, Collider had the opportunity to speak with Picard’s showrunner Terry Matalas about everything that went down in the episode, from Geordi La Forge’s return, to Jack’s grim diagnosis, what Brent Spiner contribute to Data’s return, where things are headed with Vadic’s plan, what’s next for Raffi and Seven’s (Jeri Ryan) relationship, and a whole host of other juicy tidbits about how “Bounty” came together.

COLLIDER: So one of the big revelations in this episode is Jack having Irumodic Syndrome like his father. I really like the way that this really connects to a lot of the larger themes of this episode about the things that parents pass on to their children, both good and bad, personality traits, all that. It’s a very meaty story that’s kind of unfolding. But I also really liked how we see Beverly, Jack, and Picard all react to this diagnosis in very different ways, like they’re going through the different stages of processing this. What went into the decision for how each of them would react? Because Beverly feels very practical, very doctor, reporting the diagnosis. You have Jack that’s like, “I’m hitting the bar,” and then you have Picard that seems a little bit more unmoored by this because there’s a guilt associated with it.

TERRY MATALAS: I mean, I think you just summed it up perfectly. I mean, that is exactly it. I think Beverly is trying to be as practical and look for a way to diagnose it and then treat it. Jack, on one hand, is relieved that it’s not insanity, and now has something that he can point to, but also has resentment that he can also point to because it is that he can point to his father after all. And Picard has guilt. It comes from him. He finally got to this place of acceptance that he has a son, and he immediately found that he’s passed this thing onto him, and he sees his son is not handling it particularly well. However, by the end of the episode, I think they both come to a nice place with it. I love this episode.

I love, also, just the themes of what we pass on and the themes of evolution and the themes even from the La Forge family. It all came together better than we could even imagine in every way in performance, symphonically with the music. I think LeVar is extraordinary. I think Mica, his daughter who comes on, is wonderful. I think Ashlei is phenomenal in that scene with LeVar. And Brent is extraordinary as the five different versions of Datas and Soongs. And yeah, we’re really proud of this one.

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I have questions for every single thing you just mentioned. There’s so much that happens in this episode, and I think I’ve re-watched this three or four times at this point, and I’m really continually impressed by how much is in this episode, like, trying to come up with which questions to ask is there’s so much that happens and it’s all done so well. It’s the best usage of time that I’ve seen in an episode of television in a very long time. But what goes into it from the creative standpoint of maximizing the time that you have, like making sure you hit every point? What happens in the writer’s room? I’m sure people are always curious about how things evolve in the writer’s room.

MATALAS: I mean, that’s a tough question. I mean, this particular writing staff who I’ve had, many of these writers who have come with me throughout the years from 12 Monkeys, we’re super ambitious. So we like to pack a lot in, and we’ll know if we’re successful early on in the first couple drafts, or if something’s got to come away. But the good news about this one is, every one of these stories were all on theme. They were all telling a version of the same story of what we pass on from one generation to the next, including the setting itself of it being a museum, or being a Section 31 experimental archive. As long as the emotion of these characters is working– when you read it, if it’s emotionally satisfying in the story, then I feel like we’ve done our job.

It works really well. There are so many moving pieces, and they all fit together like a puzzle, which I think is why a lot of people are going to be really excited about this being the episode that brings Geordi in. I know a lot of people have been really anxious about seeing his character, and this really feels like the midpoint of the story. You get this great connection with what’s happening with Picard and Jack, and then you have Geordi learning through his daughter, which is such a beautiful thing to see, and recognizing that he needs to get involved in this. So I really love how all of that plays out. What was it like getting to bring LeVar back, and getting to play into this beautiful story of fatherhood, and daughters, and fathers and sons? It’s so beautiful.

MATALAS: It was amazing. It was absolutely amazing. He loved every minute of it. Having his actual daughter there in those scenes, passing the torch from one generation to the next, right there in front of us was special to him and to us. So, it was incredible. It was really incredible. And he’s never been better too. To meet this version of Geordi who is older, confident, is fully formed, has a family, has his own responsibilities, is not under the shadow of the Enterprise, and in the command of Jean-Luc Picard, it’s so interesting. Watching LeVar just dominate those scenes, it takes your breath away.

Well, that’s what’s made it so fun to watch these characters from The Next Generation cast reunite. They’ve all found their own place in the universe, and now they’re trying to figure out how to fit back together as this crew. And they do fall back into things really well, but it takes time. Sometimes you see, in other shows, where they bring back characters, and it feels like no time has passed in a way that doesn’t benefit the story, and this just works really well. I have to say that, not only is it fun watching LeVar and his daughter get to be on-screen together, that moment at New York Comic-Con where it was announced that she was going to be playing his daughter was such a special moment because, like you said, it’s the passing of the torch. It’s very fun to see this happen within the Star Trek family, so to speak. I also really love that Shaw, who has been so disillusioned by all of these legendary characters—

MATALAS: The only one he is impressed by is Geordi La Forge, the engineer.

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Beautiful. I thought that was beautiful payoff. I hope that more people continue to like Shaw because he is quickly becoming one of my favorites. The Next Generation cast has spent a lot of time together over the years at conventions and various things. They still kept in touch. They still had those moments together in real life, but it’s fun to see them getting to come back together after this time has passed. I wondered, did they get to come up with how their characters would hug or handshake, or how those reunion moments would work? Or is that really in the script, and then it just evolved? How did that come to be? Because I love that moment in the transporter room.

MATALAS: Well, that was in the script, the moment is there. How they pace it and the actual physicality is all them, but the moment itself was definitely written.

Speaking of the evolution of characters over time, we have, finally, this reunion between Raffi and Seven. Maybe I’m missing something, but I feel like at the end of Season 2, they weren’t in a terrible place, but now they’re like awkward exes. Are we going to see more of what happened in that in-between time, or get more of these moments between the two of them? Because I know people love them.

MATALAS: Raffi and Seven are on a journey this season. Their romantic relationship is certainly on a pause so that they could focus on their careers in this moment, but they will always be family. But I think fans of Raffi and Seven will find their journey worthwhile by the end.

That actually ties into another question that I had about the themes of the crew with the family, and I really love that moment. I feel like a broken record, but there are so many moments I love in these first six episodes I’ve seen, but I really love that moment with Jack and Seven on the Bridge looking at the ships. That was the moment where I was like, I want Seven to be his cool aunt figure, cool older sister figure. It was such a fun moment.

MATALAS: Totally.

What has it been like getting to really explore the crew as the family theme that we’re seeing through this? We’ve seen it in other Star Trek series, but there feels like something really poignant in Picard with the way that this story feels like it’s headed, where things are coming to a close. What has been like getting to unpack all of that with these different characters who have had really strong connections to their crews?

MATALAS: Well, I think that’s what Star Trek is all about. It certainly, to me, is what it was going back to the original series on. So, it’s just reflecting all of the great Star Trek narratives for me. And in that moment, specifically, those aren’t ships that they’re looking at, they’re homes. It’s easy for nihilist fans to say, “Oh, they’re tossing out some nostalgia member berries.” But really, they’re not looking just at some starships. [They] are looking at the homes of different incarnations of Star Trek.

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I love that moment. I love seeing the Voyager. It made me feel the warm and tinglies, but then you also are getting this great moment with both of them and both of their personalities, and they play off each other so well. It’s a really fun moment.

MATALAS: They have great chemistry.

I feel like I have not talked about any of the stuff that has happened over on Daystrom, but the Moriarty reveal is really fun. It’s something that we saw in, I think, the first trailer that dropped, it’s a really fun connection. Are we going to see more cameos that haven’t been revealed yet? Are there more things that we should be anticipating? Obviously not what are they, but will there be?

MATALAS: Yes.

I also really appreciate how Picard, throughout all three seasons, has found ways to incorporate Brent Spiner and Data in very fun, very creative ways that allow him to be a part of this plot. And you know, found another really fun one with this. Can you talk a little bit more about bringing him back? And are we going to get more of these moments like with Geordi where it’s the pure elation of seeing Data again? Are we going to get more of these moments of the Data and the crew?

MATALAS: One of the first questions I had to ask myself was, “How the hell are you going to do a Star Trek: Next Generation reunion without Data being a part of it?” This character has died twice, and you can’t just bring him magically back to life. Something else has to happen. However, there are some stories that haven’t really been told with Data, which is he was backed up onto B-4. Lore is still a dangling chad. What if there was a final android that was almost perfectly human in the way that Soji or Picard was, that could look like Brent Spiner today?

But what if it was Jekyll and Hyde? What if both Lore and Data [were] in there with all these other things? Wouldn’t that give Brent Spiner something really interesting to play? And couldn’t that promise a really interesting final Data/Lore story? I took that to Brent thinking he was going to reject the whole thing, and he was like, “Oh, that’s actually really cool.” Brent was unbelievably collaborative with it, and Brent had ideas that only elevated it in ways I couldn’t have imagined. In fact, some of the best moments of this story were Brent’s idea.

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What we’ve seen so far has been great! I also love the way that this episode incorporated an actual flashback to The Next Generation I thought was a really fun callback. I was curious, are we going to see more of those, or is this just a special occasion because of the situation that they were in?

MATALAS: You might see a flash of something.

I’ve obviously watched The Next Generation a few times in my life, but it’s nice to actually visually see the moment that’s being called back. Because then I don’t have to go to YouTube or Paramount+ to try to find the clip that’s being referenced.

MATALAS: It bridges the two together in a really beautiful way. That’s Jonathan Frakes, that’s Brent Spiner. These are the moments that we’re talking about.

In the process of bringing that footage in, was there any amount of restoration to the footage that had to be done to fit new standards of television? Because things have obviously evolved a little bit. Now we’re watching it on little computer screens.

MATALAS: I think we did a little bit of noise reduction and some color timing to it. I think we cleaned it up a little bit, but not much.

We also get in this episode a hint that maybe Vadic has her own agenda, which I thought was really neat. How long do we have to wait to see a payoff of that?

MATALAS: The next episode is all about Vadic’s backstory. That’s my tease. You’re going to know everything you want to know about Vadic in the next episode.

There are a lot of brilliant moments in this episode, as I’ve said, but I love Deanna showing up at the end, being the payoff of, I’m assuming this Vadic’s quest to find people related to this crew, to torment them in new ways. That moment was great. I was curious, and maybe this is too soon to ask this, but are we going to get any payoff at all for that very oft-forgotten connection between Deanna and Riker, which is that they have telepathy? I saw, I think it was Frakes that mentioned it in an interview that he did, and it got me thinking about that again. Are we going to see any hints of that?

MATALAS: I would say the answer is: keep watching.

Can we expect more of Picard’s associates and his crew’s associates to potentially get pulled into this whole thing that Vadic is pulling?

MATALAS: There will be other people. Yes and no.

Are there any Easter eggs in this episode that we should keep our eyes out for?

MATALAS: Oh my God, this episode’s chock-full of Easter eggs.

Maybe a favorite?

MATALAS: My favorite Easter egg is probably the body of James T. Kirk.

And the Tribbles?

MATALAS: The Attack Tribbles.

Attack Tribbles! I don’t know if you’ve seen the Mirror Universe Tribbles toy that came out a few years ago, but they have terrifying teeth, and I was like, “Is that what that is?”

MATALAS: No, this is some genetically enhanced thing. I don’t know what they were doing, but they shouldn’t be.

It was terrifying. Do you have any favorite moments in this episode? Which I feel is a hard question to ask with this episode.

MATALAS: I have so many. I love Jack and Seven looking at the ships. I love Shaw and Geordi. I love when both Picard and Geordi realize it’s their kids that had stolen the device at the same exact moment, “Jack.” “Sidney.” I love the Titan decloaking and coming to the rescue. I love Riker taking the punch at the end, and saying, “Ooh, look at you. How much of that goo shit did they pour into you?” He’s just like Indiana Jones. He’s fantastic. I have so many. I love LeVar and Sidney’s scene, you know, “You taught me that, you taught me to believe in family, that the crew is my family.” I love this episode, one of my favorites.

So what can you tease, aside from Vadic and her backstory, for Episode 7?

MATALAS: Things are about to get a whole lot worse.

The first six episodes of Star Trek: Picard’s third and final season is streaming now on Paramount+.