Oh, I agree. One of the things I don't like about TNG is how they turned the show into the Picard & Data Show in the later seasons and especially in the movies. I know they're the fan favorites and whatnot, but it always seemed a little unfair to the other characters, at least in my opinion. But hey, at least with this new series they've made it pretty clear that Jean-Luc is the center of it all. It doesn't surprise me that Data seems to be playing a role tho, even if he isn't physically there all the time - partly because he's a fan favorite and partly because he did sacrifice himself to save Jean-Luc, and it makes sense to me that Jean-Luc would not EVER be over this kind of thing.
Not at all. Data himself is not the focus of this show. His legacy certainly hangs over it all, though, in a very good way.
On the other hand, if they are just going to focus on Picard and Data, at least they're not bringing the others back just to sit around and spew jargon at the appropriate times. I know Riker and Troi are coming back later in the season, but at least there's a character-specific reason for that rather than Picard needing people to flank him as he sits on a starship bridge. I don't think Worf is still hating Romulans as intensely as he did, and even Worf circa The Enemy wouldn't take too much glee at the thought Romulus blowing up and billions of civilians and children dying. Worf was able to sit through briefings with Romulans during the Dominion War and coordinate fleet combat tactics with his Romulan counterparts, and in Nemesis he even recognized the Romulans who helped the Enterprise fight the Scimitar fought and died with honour. And that's before we take into account the deleted scene where Worf is critically injured fighting a Reman and only survives due to emergency surgery performed by a Romulan doctor. So, no, I don't think Worf would object to Picard's efforts to evacuate Romulus and save as many Romulans as possible.
We won't have long to find out. I'll be genuinely shocked if this is anything like the TNG Movies. Everything suggests it'll be the opposite.
Oh, I wish. I'd love to hear Daffy Duck's opinion on the new shows, or what Marvin the Martian thought about the Children of Mars short trek.
Spoiler: Who kills Dahj 1 and why is Dahj 2 "the destroyer of all"? Who kills Dahj 1 and why is Dahj 2 "the destroyer of all"?
The following is my speculation only: Spoiler If androids are responsible for the attack on Mars, or believed to be, and Dahj has a positronic brain similar to Data's, fear mongers might assume that she'll destroy everything if given a chance, so they'll act to stop her out of fear. They can't see passed what she is and will only assume the very worst. That's what will drive them to want to destroy her. She represents the continuation of everything they hate. It doesn't matter that Data never did anything to Mars and that Dahj wouldn't. They don't care. They just hate and this gives them something to channel their hatred into and use as an excuse to do what they do and feel the way they do.
I can't speak for the two extra episodes that @Crewman6 has seen, but the first episode doesn't answer why or who, beyond our seeing their species at one point (they also make a comment about speaking in english, so there's an obvious attempt to conceal their identities). They definitely know what Dahj is though.
According to @Crewman6 Spoiler she is killed by some Tal Shiar agents on Earth, and not some android hating radicals. So there might be more behind her murder than just hate of synths... Maybe she knows too much about something that the Romulan faction on the Borg Cube doesn't want to have revealed.
Well, if you want to be spoiled more, click below -- Spoiler The Romulan agents ARE the synth-hating radicals. And probably also Tal Shiar. It's a little dumb.
Spoiler I knew I was on the right track. It fits the Romulans' paranoid MO. They don't want the same thing happening to them. Again. Hobus would motivate them even further.
i'm not sure about data's story, but I'm betting that the rights of androids/borg/synthetic life is going be a part of the narritive. Maybe used as an allegory to immigrants refugees in present day ... and romulan refugees from the destruction of their planet could fit into that narrative as well.