Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Wesley Crusher

When it came to getting Wesley back into the franchise, although only briefly at the end of Star Trek: Picard's second season, producers apparently "went to war over [the] character," as Akiva Goldsman stated in a featurette from the Strange New Worlds/Farewell episode of The Ready Room. One series (we now know which one) was already using Wesley, and so Picard had to 'fight' over whether they could use him too. "It's like Wesley Crusher was the belle of the ball," Goldsman added.

For Star Trek: Picard's third season, we were all left wondering why Wesley didn't return to see how his Mum (and half-brother) was holding up. Whilst a reason was never given on-screen, Wil Wheaton provided his own "headcanon" explanation for Wesley's absence. Replying to Gizmodo's question "Why Hasn't Wesley Ever Visited His Mom?" via Facebook in 2023, Wheaton referred back to the Wesley story A Matter of Choice that he himself had written for the 400th edition of the Star Trek comic. In that comic, he wrote:

We [the Travellers] do not interact with anyone from our former lives because it is too easy to unintentionally disrupt the flow of their time.

On Facebook, Wheaton called this "one of the fundamental rules of being in the Travelers". Wesley would like to see his Mum, but he's simply not allowed.

In the comic, published not long after Farewell, Wesley goes to meet Picard at his Château, but he clearly states that his former captain won't remember the encounter. Wesley does so because he needs Picard's help to "make a choice," which, if wrong, "could mean the end of everything". That choice is of the next Traveller who will replace him. The story ends with Wesley about to meet Kore in the park in 2024.