Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard season 3Star Trek: Picard season 3 finally stopped using a hated moniker for Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) from seasons 1 and 2.
Picard season 3 was in many ways a departure from the first two seasons, doing away with many of the show's original cast in order to bring back the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation for one final outing. One cast member who stuck around for season 3, however, was Commander Raffaela "Raffi" Musiker (Michelle Hurd), Picard's long-time friend and colleague who originally worked with him on the relocation efforts after the destruction of Romulus.
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Raffi was a new character created for Star Trek: Picard, but the show needed to establish her professional and personal history with Jean-Luc that took place off-screen. One of the ways Picard season 1 accomplished this was by having Raffi refer to Jean-Luc as "JL", a nickname that only she seemed to use. While the nickname demonstrated a level of familiarity and comfort between Picard and Raffi, it was quickly criticized by the fans and became an almost universally-hated aspect of the first two seasons. Luckily, Picard season 3 did away with the nickname and only had Raffi refer to Picard as "Jean-Luc" in their scenes together.
Why Picard Season 3 Dropped Raffi’s Hated Nickame For Jean-Luc
Star Trek: Picard season 3 likely dropped Raffi's nickname for Jean-Luc for several reasons. The most likely reason is the outcry from fans, who consistently spoke out about their hatred for the nickname. The Star Trek franchise is known for having a very active, vocal fanbase that often has a significant impact on current projects. Given viewers' clear dislike of "JL" and their valid criticisms of it, which included the fact that it felt disrespectful to Picard as a character, it wouldn't be at all surprising if Star Trek: Picard's creative team decided to take their cue from the audience and retire the nickname for good.
Beyond this, Star Trek: Picard season 3 didn't need the nickname for its original purpose anymore. Picard and Raffi's relationship had already been well-established in previous seasons, and the audience no longer needed a reminder of their bond after watching them interact over the course of the show. Another possible culprit is the shifts in the creative team from season 1 to season 3. Star Trek: Picard changed hands a few times, with Terry Matalas taking over as the sole showrunner of season 3 after the exits of both Michael Chabon and Akiva Goldsman. Differing creative visions often result in divergences from the original source material when a project changes hands.
Raffi & Picard Barely Interacted In Season 3
A final, more practical reason for Star Trek: Picard dropping Raffi's nickname for Jean-Luc is that the two characters barely interacted in season 3. For much of the season, Picard and Raffi had separate storylines; Picard was on the USS Titan-A battling Vadic (Amanda Plummer) while Raffi worked undercover with Worf (Michael Dorn) to route out the Changeling conspiracy. Although their paths did eventually cross, the focus of the season remained on Picard and the other Star Trek: TNG characters, showcasing much less of the relationships the first two seasons had spent building.
With Star Trek: Picard now ended, Raffi's nickname for Jean-Luc likely won't make another appearance in the franchise. While Raffi will almost certainly return if Star Trek: Legacy is greenlit, the possibility of seeing Jean-Luc Picard again in anything besides a brief cameo, or seeing him and Raffi interact sometime in the future is highly unlikely. This is good news for those who hated Jean-Luc's nickname, and a fitting end to the whole controversy once and for all.
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