The hottest topic right now with Trek fans is the new Jean-Luc Picard Star Trek series in development, featuring the return of Sir Patrick Stewart into the iconic role. Two weeks ago Marina Sirtis, Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Deanna Troi, blew up the Trek Internet when she shared a photo of a reunion of the TNG cast with Patrick Stewart. Now we know a little more about what they learned, or rather didn’t learn, about the new Picard show.

Jean-Luc Picard is back, TNG is not

Eleven days ago, the weekend after Marina Sirtis shared the image of the cast reunion, she along with her TNG co-stars Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher) and Michael Dorn (Worf) were featured on a panel at Rose City Comic Con in Portland, Oregon. And immediately after introductions, the photo was the first thing Sirtis started talking about, asking the crowd how many people saw it.

Sirtis then let the crowd know there were no Picard show spoilers coming, saying:

I got 30,000 likes [on Twitter]…that is the most likes I ever got. So, don’t ask us anything about Patrick’s show, because we know nothing.

In case you missed it, here is the tweet that garnered coverage across the globe:

Of course we covered it here at TrekMovie, but that single tweet was picked up by dozens of mainstream outlets, many of which speculated that the gathering could lead to something more. Even the Hollywood insider site Deadline got into the game with the headline, “‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Photo Fuels Speculation Of Reunion On Picard Series.”

Now it appears, it was just a nice dinner with old friends. In fact, after some banter back and forth about the tweet at Rose City Comic Con, Sirtis made it even clearer that the cast was in the dark about the show, saying:

All I have to say, all we have to say, I am speaking for all three of us now, When Patrick said “Jean-Luc Picard is back,” he didn’t say TNG is back.

Sirtis’ mention of the quote from Patrick Stewart comes from his announcement last month at Star Trek Las Vegas where he did indeed say “Jean-Luc Picard is back” but also noted that the new show will be “something very, very different.”

In response to a fan question later during the Rose City Comic Con Q&A, the three TNG cast members made it clear that they have not been asked to be part of the show:

Michael Dorn: We weren’t asked Gates McFadden: My cat got a huge contract offer, though. Marina Sirtis: We weren’t asked… But I was asked to be on The Orville. I am on The Orville.

Whether or not the Picard show will feature any other members of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast is one of the key questions we have about the show. As of now we still don’t know, but the discussion at Rose City Comic Con indicates it is possible Picard’s story in 2399 may not involve any of his old Enterprise-D friends. That said, the writers’ room is just getting started — so the sky’s the limit.

Dorn still wants to explore Klingons, Sirtis disagrees

While they had nothing to say about the Jean-Luc Picard show, the cast did offer some thoughts on what they would do with a Trek show. Here is the fun exchange in response to a fan question about what they would do if given total creative control of Star Trek:

Gates McFadden: I would probably ask Patrick Stewart to be in it. Michael Dorn: I think that they have always kind of scratched the surface of the Klingons. And I really think that they should do something where… Marina Sirtis: No, no. We know a lot about Klingons. We know nothing about Betazoids, but we know a lot about Klingons. Talk about scratching the surface. I know I had a mother, and that was it! Gates McFadden: Well it would be better than having Crusher’s family, where they are all in love with lamps. That would be a disturbing, disturbing show, right?

Of course, Michael Dorn’s longing for a Klingon-focused series is referring to his long quest to convince CBS to do a new TV show centered on his character of Worf. Gates’ comment about the women in her family is in reference to “Sub Rosa,” a much-maligned episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation in which Dr. Crusher falls in love with a ghost-like entity trapped in a lamp. Earlier this year TrekMovie’s Shuttle Pod podcast discussed “Sub Rosa” in a podcast dedicated to the weirdest Trek episodes.

Keep up with all the news about upcoming Star Trek TV projects at TrekMovie.com.