Star Trek Picard: Professor Moriarty Could Make Another Franchise Appearance

Professor Moriarty is such a timeless villain that, after vexing Sherlock Holmes on the pages of Arthur Conan Doyle's seminal detective novels, he materialized once more in the 24th century to philosophically terrorize the crew of the Starship Enterprise. In two classic "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episodes, and again in the "Star Trek: Picard" Season 3 episode, "The Bounty," Daniel Davis portrayed a holographically generated, yet nonetheless sentient version of Moriarty. Now, he says another guest role as the cunning mastermind after his brief appearance on "Picard" may be in the cards.

Speaking with Screen Rant, Davis dropped some hints that his days as a waistcoat-sporting holographic Moriarty will yet continue. "As far as Moriarty is concerned, I spoke to one of the producers when I was in Los Angeles shooting this episode," Davis said, "and she said to me, 'Well, you know, Moriarty is one of those characters who can pop up just about anywhere in the 'Star Trek' universe.'"

Davis sounds fairly sure he'll end up reprising Moriarty another time, so where might he show up?

If Daniel Davis is to return to "Star Trek" as Moriarty once more, there are more series ongoing in the franchise at one time than at any point before. In his conversation with Screen Rant, Davis noted the wide range of shows, saying he'd have ample opportunity to play the villain in any of them. "Because," Davis said, "there are other 'Star Trek' shows now [like] 'Discovery' and 'Strange New Worlds.' Even my dear friend Kate Mulgrew is voicing Janeway in the cartoon. So maybe Moriarty will show up. He may not be done yet. We don't know. But fingers crossed."

The most likely casting would be to give Davis an appearance on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," the franchise's latest flagship offering which uses an episodic format in the tradition of "The Original Series" and "The Next Generation." Given that the Moriarty of "Star Trek" was created by the Holodeck on board Jean-Luc Picard's Enterprise, he wouldn't yet have existed during the events of "Strange New Worlds." But this is science fiction, where anything can be explained away with a bit of technobabble. More unlikely things have made their way into "Star Trek" canon thanks to time loops or advanced alien abilities than the arrival of Moriarty in the 24th century.

The character has also been referenced on the adult animated series "Star Trek: Lower Decks," making that series another contender to host Davis as Moriarty. On the other hand, his stated friendship with Mulgrew, who is currently voicing Captain Janeway on "Star Trek: Prodigy," makes the children's animation another good bet for a Moriarty appearance.