Star Trek: Picardreinvented 10 Forward fromStar Trek: The Next Generation,but the retcon never made sense to me. With its premiere in 1987,TNGintroduced the world to Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his crew aboard the USS Enterprise-D. This cast of characters would go on to become one ofStar Trek’smost beloved starship crews, as they became like a family to one another and the viewer. The Enterprise-D had a lounge and bar area called Ten Forward, where crew members could spend their free time, allowing viewers to better get to know the characters.
In 2020,Patrick Stewart returned to portray Jean-Luc Picard again inStar Trek: Picard,which picked up about twenty years after the events ofStar Trek: Nemesis. In its first season,Picardintroduced a new cast of characters alongside Jean-Luc, but some familiar faces soon joined the show as well.Whoopi Goldberg’s Guinanreturned inPicardseason 2, as the bartender at a Los Angeles bar located at 10 Forward Avenue. Picard visits Guinan at this bar in 2401, and later visits a younger version of Guinan (Ito Aghayere) at this location in 2024.
3 Years Later, Star Trek: Picard’s 10 Forward Bar Retcon Doesn’t Make Sense
Guinan’s 10 Forward Avenue Bar Existed In The 21st & 24th Centuries
While the 10 Forward Avenue bar in LA was named as a shout-out to the Enterprise-D’s Ten Forward, the name does not make any sense. InStar Trek: The Next Generation,Ten Forward was so named because of its location on Deck 10, forward section 1 of the Enterprise. Guinan served as the mysterious bartender throughout six seasons ofTNG,offering advice toCaptain Picard and his Enterprise crew. While it would have been fitting for Guinan to open a bar referencing Ten Forward sometime after her tenure on the Enterprise-D, it makes no sense that one would exist in the 21st century.
It’s far too much of a coincidence to believe that Guinan just happened to run a bar on 10 Forward Avenue centuries before she would operate a bar on Deck 10, forward section 1 of the Enterprise. The only possible explanation is that Guinan had some knowledge of the future, either from time travel or her extrasensory abilities.Perhaps the Guinan of the 21st century intentionally opened a bar at 10 Forward Avenueknowing (or sensing) that she would one day runTNG’sTen Forward. This doesn’t make much sense, either, butStar Trek: Picardoffers no alternate explanation for the existence of the two 10 Forwards.
10 Forward Has Become Useful For Paramount+ To Promote Star Trek In The Real World
Some Lucky Star Trek Fans Got To Visit 10 Forward Avenue
If nothing else, the creation of 10 Forward Avenue has given Paramount+ a fun way to promoteStar Trek,by establishing a set that’s much easier to recreate in the real world than the bridge of a starship. In March 2022,Paramount recreated 10 Forward Avenue at the USC Roski Graduate Building in downtown LAfor exclusive events to promoteStar Trek: Picardseason 2. The pop-up bar was only around for ten days, but it provided fans with the opportunity to see the new set, tryTrek-themed cocktails, and purchase exclusive merchandise.
Star Trek‘s 10 Forward: The Experiencealso appeared at San Diego Comic-Con in 2022 as a way to promote theStar TrekUniverse on Paramount+.Star Trek: Picard’s10 Forward Avenue set made another comeback in 2025, as one of theStar Trekexperiences at Universal Fan Fest Nights. This event runs select nights from April 25 through June 21, 2025, and also features a walkthrough of the screen-used Enterprise-D bridge set fromPicardseason 3. Ultimately, the 21st-century version of 10 Forward Avenue makes little sense, but theStar Trek: Picardlocation has provided some fun experiences for fans.
