Not since Nemesis have we seen Patrick Stewart in the role of Jean-Luc Picard, but that all changes in 2020.

On January 23rd, CBS All Access will launch Star Trek: Picard, a brand new installment in this iconic franchise that picks up years after Nemesis left off. Such a dramatic leap has naturally fueled heated debate online, as Trekkies attempt to solve exactly what happened to Picard and The Next Generation crew in the intervening years.

Well, thanks to the newly-released comic Countdown #1 by Kirsten Beyer, Mike Johnson, and Angel Hernandez (h/t ComicBook.com), we can at least cross one name off the list: Cmdr. Geordi La Forge. As the comic is a prequel by design, it takes place in the year 2385, two years before Romulus is destroyed by a Supernova and several more years before the events of next year’s Picard series.

Hidden within those pages is an admiral log which features Picard talking about the fate of La Forge.

As it has been for decades, the voice of Geordi La Forge is a balm for the soul. There is no better officer — no better engineer — that Starfleet could entrust with the task of constructing an entirely new fleet in record time.

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So, there you have it: La Forge retired from the Enterprise – and, by effect, Starfleet – to take command of his distant shipyards. He’s still a close friend of Picard, of course, given his willingness to provide extra ships to aid in the evacuation of Romulus. La Forge clearly hasn’t lost sight of his time spent within The Next Generation crew; we can only hope that his friends get an honourary mention when the CBS series premieres in two months’ time.

Star Trek: Picard blasts off into the far reaches of space – well, CBS All Access – on January 23rd, 2020. And it’ll be packed with surprises, according to Patrick Stewart himself.