Star Trek: Picard: Who Was Thad & Was He In TNG?
Thad Troi-Riker was introduced in Star Trek: Picard, but was he also in Star Trek: The Next Generation? The eldest son of William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) tragically died years before Star Trek: Picard episode 7, "Nepenthe." But Thad was never far from the thoughts of his family when Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) brought Soji (Isa Briones), the synthetic daughter of Commander Data (Brent Spiner), to seek sanctuary with the Troi-Rikers.
It's safe to say Riker and Troi were the First Couple of Star Trek: The Next Generation despite the fact that they didn't pursue their romantic relationship until the final two TNG movies. Riker and Troi were lovers years before they both took postings on Captain Picard's U.S.S. Enterprise-D. The brash young Starfleet Officer met the empathic counselor on Troi's homeworld of Betazed, where she became his "Imzadi" (Betazed for "beloved"). However, the couple broke up, and they maintained a professional but still close friendship when Riker became the Enterprise's First Officer and Troi served as ship's Counselor. It was over a decade later, when Troi and Riker were exposed to the rejuvenating effects of the Briar Patch in Star Trek Insurrection, that the romantic sparks between them ignited. The final TNG movie, Star Trek: Nemesis, began with Riker and Troi's long-awaited wedding before they both left the Enterprise-E so that Captain Riker could take command of the U.S.S. Titan.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view. Start now"Nepenthe" filled in many details of what became of Riker and Troi in the two decades between Nemesis and Picard, and this includes the births of Will and Deanna's two children: Thaddeus, nicknamed Thad, and his younger sister Kestra (Lulu Wilson). In fact, Thad is named after Thaddeus Riker, Will's great-great-great-grandfather, who was a soldier for the Union Army in the American Civil War. According to Star Trek: Picard showrunner Michael Chabon's Instagram, Thad was born in 2381, about two years after Riker and Troi joined the Starship Titan. The baby Thad soon met his uncle, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, who had a photograph taken with him, and meeting Thad may have even started the reversal of Picard's lifelong aversion to children.
Of course, Thad and Kestra were born long after Star Trek: The Next Generation went off the air and a few years after the final TNG movie, so the Troi-Riker children never saw the original Enterprise-D their parents served on - although Will and Deanna told them lots of stories and Soji found Kestra particularly well informed about Data and Picard. Thad and Kestra were raised on starships, and thus, Thad became fascinated with the idea of having a homeworld, which he called his "Ardani." For her part, Kestra worshipped her gifted older brother, who envisioned a fantasy world for them to live on, and he even invented 11 new languages, including one for butterflies consisting of their wings flapping.
When Thad was diagnosed with mendaxic neurosclerosis, a silicone-based virus, Will and Deanna retired from their Starfleet careers and settled their family on Nepenthe, which had regenerative soil that they hoped would help heal their son. Although Thad's illness was theoretically curable with a treatment derived from an active positronic matrix, the synthetics ban of 2385 meant that none were available. Sadly, Thad died from his disease a few years before Jean-Luc and Soji arrived on Nepenthe in Star Trek: Picard. He would have turned 18 in 2399. The loss of Thad brought Will, Deanna, and Kestra even closer, and they take some solace from the fact that on Nepenthe, Thad Troi-Riker did find the homeworld he longed for - at least for a while.
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Source: screenrant.com