10 Great Star Trek Performances That Made You Love Bad People
4. Q - John De Lancie
Q's introduction in Encounter at Farpoint was a late in the day addition by Gene Roddenberry, padding out the runtime of D.C. Fontana's original script. Initially, the character seemed to be simply crammed into the script with no apparent reason other than to have another menace for the crew to deal with. Oh, and something about a trial.
John de Lancie was one of the single greatest additions to the Star Trek universe and Q would become one of the most popular recurring guest characters throughout the Next Generation's run. While his appearances on Deep Space Nine and Voyager varied in quality, de Lancie's back and forth with Patrick Stewart were, more of than not, a delight to behold.
Beginning as a seemingly overt villain in the pilot, de Lancie developed the character into something of an anti-hero. True, he introduced humanity to the Borg, costing 18 lives in the process but this allowed the Federation a little extra warning for what was coming.
He would continue to pop up in Picard's life, offering his 'help' along the way. Yet by the time that All Good Things came around, the idea of having the final episode without Q in it was unthinkable. That strange trial that had popped up in the pilot return in full swing.
De Lancie's Q evolves from something of an annoying antagonist to a strange guardian angel by show's end, helping Picard to see the possibilities of the universe. Q was one of the best and it will be a crime if he doesn't pop in to say hello in Star Trek Picard.