I don't know how much or how little bearing this will have on the Picard Series but what does everyone think the status of the Alpha Quadrant powers will be in 2399? I think the Breen are still part of the Dominion. How relevant that is the Picard Series, probably not very. The Klingons are probably still allies to the Federation. Maybe not as close as when Martok was in power but still on good terms. If only because they want this series to be different from Discovery. The Romulans are a mess after the destruction of Romulus. Cardassia is still a long way from being what it used to be and will never become that again. They're in the background as the type of third-rate power Dukat never wanted to see them turn into. I think the Ferengi can go one of two ways: 1. I heard somewhere that Rom was equated to the Jimmy Carter of the Ferengi (I don't remember the source off-hand). If this "Jimmy Carter" is succeeded by a "Ronald Reagan", then it's possible that the Ferengi have gone back to their Old Ways and are worse than ever. 2. Under Rom they become closely allied to the Federation to the point where maybe they might even join the Federation. If they join then that potentially leads to 2A... 2A. I strongly doubt this will happen, I'm pretty sure it won't, but depending on how "Real World" the Picard Series wants to get or how much they want to delve into Current Events.... they could have a Ferengi as President of the Federation, who Picard is against. Picard is the Bernie Sanders to this Federation President's Donald Trump. But they probably won't do that.
Romulans likely are crippled and pissed off. Klingons are still likely BFF's with the feds. The spoon heads are likely a 3rd rate nation now and the prior of the galaxy. Breen have likely slunk off and are hiding behind their borders. Dominion are likely seething behind the wormhole kept in check by odo. Ferangi likley threw Rom off the tower of commence or exiled him. Borg once they recovered from janeways virus are probably gunning for the federation as they are now a threat and the both assimilate or eliminate threats.
Since they've got all those Klingon costumes and designs from Disco, I suspect they'll play a large role in The Picard Show, tying into the AGT Klingon/Federation relations breakdown.
My guess is the romulan will be in civil war like Syria. You will have hard line romulans wanting a authoritarian government supported by the tal shir. Representing the Assad reguime. They want a return to the glory days of the empire. You will have another faction more moderate, spawned from the peaceful pro Vulcan population. These might be covertly supported by the federation. You then might have fanatical romulans who are less concerned about rebuilding and more about revenge and destroying its perceived enemy's with Nero viewed as a sort of martyr. This would represent ISIS. Amidst this billions of romulan civilians are flooding the federation and the federation needs to find a way to help them. The series would be less about the federation under threat and more about humanitarian aid to star nation that's collasped.
Old Picard: "You 25th century millennials are too concerned with latinum. You see, money didn't exist in my century. We worked to better ourselves and the rest of humanity..." Miral Paris: (patting his shoulder) "You told me this story yesterday."
Quoting what I wrote in the other thread: "Well like I said in the other thread, I was hoping the Romulan Star Empire would survive in a weaker state, but Kurtzman seemed to say or imply that it had fallen completely. So going through how the others could look.... UFP is by far the strongest in "local space," but it's not unrecognizable or anything. Klingons are strong, but may be having internal struggles. I assume the Cardassian Union is gone too, but that might not be the case. There's still peace with the Dominion with limited contact. The Ferengi are sort of divided into liberals and conservatives. As for the lesser known powers, the Breen might be the closest thing to an active adversary if there's no new enemy introduced. The Tholians are probably just doing what they've always been doing, the Tamarians are probably close allies if not members, and the Sheliak are just staying away." That also leaves the Talarians, Gorn, and Tzenkethi, who are also probably in the same place. Zalkonians might have ascended by now. Personally I always thought it would be interesting if the Ferengi, Orions, Pakled, and Nausicaans (among others) form their own mercantile/capitalist alliance as a counter to the Federation. Not enemies, but sort of rivals.
Would be able to show the humanitarian side of the federation. They won't be interested in getting involved in the war except dealing with romulan extremist factions that would threaten the federation. However they would welcome romulan refugees.....or should. The series could be about billions of romulan refugee trying to assimilate into a federation their government told them to hate and to try and adapt to the freedoms the federation offer compared to their old life of fear from the government and Tal shir.
Space Trump: "We need a self-replicating minefield across the Neutral Zone to keep those illegal Romulans out! We're building the minefield!" On a more serious note, I wonder how many Romulans feel the same way that Nero does? That Spock, and by extension The Federation, did nothing to help during the Red Matter Crisis and might be responsible for it?
With the Romulan Empire gone after the destruction of Romulus my guess is the subjugated races have finally been freed of Romulan oppression.... and that's going to be a focus of this new Picard series, possibly with many of them at war with themselves or the other powers. My thinking with the Klingons is that once the Romulans are gone they would go right after their territory and try to conquer those races that were just freed. I see the Klingons being antagonists to the Federation. The Cardies are probably still decimated. The Dominion stays on their side of the wormhole. Big question for me is what are the Borg up to. I doubt this Picard show would ignore them. Looking forward to the answer to all these questions/ideas.
Whoever the president of Federation is, the Romulans (or another adversary) somehow helped/manipulated in getting him elected.
I'd imagine that the Romulans are probably in another period of isolationism as they were prior to TOS and prior to TNG. But in their absence, someone else who were in their shadow (or had been kept in check by the Romulans) has stepped forward and has caused all sorts of new problems for everyone--especially Picard. Elsewhere, I think the Federation-Klingon alliance is still intact; the Cardassian Union still in post-Dominion War recovery, but in a lot better shape than we last saw them; and everyone else still going about as they were before. It's also possible that the Alpha Quadrant may be flooded with millions (if not billions) of homeless Romulan refugees that managed to escape Romulus before its destruction or were off-world at the time. That in itself could create something of a crisis in the region, IMO.
I’ve always imagined Cardassia being treated like the Japanese after WW2, in regards to being allowed only a limited military meant just for self-defends
It might be interesting to see the Orion Syndicate take advantage of the weakness of the major powers in the aftermath of the Dominion War and become something of a bigger threat beyond just being a criminal organization. Something much more difficult for the Federation to try and deal with than a typical nation state.