Well, the destruction of Romulus was followed by the (apparent) death of Spock. If Picard had invested his life's work in reunification as e.g. a Starfleet emissary, he might have actually been living there with his wife (possibly Bev) and children (?). He goes offworld to buy milk at the store, and BOOM goes everything. That would be hard to take, I think, and might make one question their place in the Universe.
I doubt it's going to be anything as dramatic as that. I'm going to guess that Picard is simply bored with retirement life and goes on some dangerous mission to make himself feel good about himself again.
I thought the point was that the Hobus incident had some profound effect on Picard and where he finds himself in the series. Being bored doesn't quite sound like it fits the bill. Besides, that just sounds like Kirk's motivation in any of the TOS movies.
I myself can't see how it would profoundly effect Picard in any kind of personal way. Yes, it's a tragedy that Romulus was destroyed, but why would it have such an influence on him any more than anyone else?
Yes, but your post is nothing but speculation. There's no real evidence that anything you wrote actually happened to Picard in that time, any emotional response to the possible death of Spock notwithstanding.
But that's what this discussion is -- pure speculation. Of course we don't have any official story or evidence at this point. The last time we saw Picard, though, he was working with the Romulans toward peace negotiations.
I'm not saying that people can't speculate. I'm just saying that I myself can't see how the Hobus event would have profoundly affected Picard. And as the for the Romulans, Riker took over the negotiations at the end of Nemesis.
Because he wanted to broker peace with the Romulans. He comments as much in Nemesis (I don't fault anyone for blocking it out): If there is one ideal that the Federation holds most dear it is that all men... all races can be united. What better example than a Starfleet captain standing in the Romulan Senate. Nothing would make me more proud than to take your hand in friendship... in time... when that trust has been earned. Picard also has mind melded with both Sarek and Spock. As Unification illustrates emotional transference can be affected via mind meld. Picard may have felt such an impact and desire to complete Spock's mission when he was lost. Yes, this is all highly speculative. But, it is supported by Picard's own history, his passion for diplomacy, and a highly personal connection through Spock and Shinzon to Romulus in particular.
I re-read the Character Breakdowns and, if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say Picard's mission isn't above-board. Given who he's associating with, I'd say this is a mission he's taken on his own accord. If he were still in Starfleet, it's probably something they wouldn't approve of. I think, like I might've said before, Picard hired contractors to help to get him where he needed to be. Connie and Lawrence seem like people Picard brought on, no questions asked, because they could get the job done. Alana, being a former intelligence officer, probably knows stuff that can help Picard get around. K'Bar is probably a Romulan from Spock's underground who is now loyal to Picard who might be picking up Spock's mantle. I have no idea about Straton but Dr. Smith is probably brought along with him. Or maybe Dr. Smith comes with the ship since holographic people have probably become standard on all ships since the VOY Era, and not just on Starfleet ships. Indrina, I'm guessing, is an aspiring young archaeologist who's really focused on archaeology to such an extent that she's socially inept because she's not interested in anything else. Maybe Picard took her under his wing and remembers when he was thinking about considering a career besides Starfleet. And now here he is doing exactly that: something besides Starfleet. Picard. I don't know how much DS9 will be addressed, if at all, but I've been of the belief for 20 years that the Dominion War changed the Federation. We see so little of the Post-DS9 AQ and nothing of it that we do see really challenges that idea. They don't need to refer to the Dominion War per se, but they can say that Starfleet has changed for the worse. Maybe the Federation, as the only standing major power, has also changed for the worse. He and Starfleet no longer see eye-to-eye even though he thinks what he's doing is in the best interest of the Federation. It would make him more willing to go with a "rag-tag group" if he had very little support from anyone else. I'm guessing he and Crusher are no longer together. Someone else suggested she might've died. Which definitely would've put him in a funk if that's the "different place" we find him in at the beginning of the series.
New casting announcements today. I'm sure some enterprising go-getter can start matching the announced actors with the descriptions from the character breakdowns, but I'm too lazy for that shit. https://deadline.com/2019/04/star-t...-harry-treadaway-isa-briones-cast-1202597412/ Personally, I'm disappointed that there isn't at least one recurring character from TNG on Picard's new crew, but what are you gonna do?
There'll be guest spots, maybe not in the first season but at some point. And the director of Episodes 3and4 could stick on a costume and record a cameo?
Guest spots are not regular characters. But, it's also hard to envision which character would actually fit, so....I guess I could live with Admiral Riker and Beverly popping up a couple times a season.
I never expected any of the TNG cast to be regulars. I do expect to see some TNG cast in guest roles. Maybe even for multiple episodes. In Discovery Admiral Cornwell is just a guest actor and it seems like she pops up every other episode. But if we don't see any of the TNG cast I'm not disappointed. It's not impossible for Picard to have one adventure where he doesn't bump into anyone we know. It's been 20 years. It's possible that he has made new friends in that time.
Surely he’ll bump into enterprise crewmen as often as he bumped into stargazer crewmen in TNG. Bok, Q, Guinan, sure
I'm rather happy there is no sign of such. My interest in this upcoming show is inversely proportional to its similarity with/callbacks to TNG.
There's almost certainly going to be someone in the first season, even if it is just a cameo. We know Jonathan Frakes is going to be directing an episode, so since he'' be in studio anyway, they can go from there to work in an Admiral Riker cameo.
Now that we know a little more about the characters I was curious how well the info in the OP matches. I don't know about the character descriptions but the character names don't certainly match (but they could have been changed once the leak happened). And the doctor doesn't seem to be an EMH.