Warning: Contains spoilers of the latest season of Star Trek: Picard.
Star Trek: Picard continues to throw up surprises. The son Admiral Jean-Luc Picard never knew he had; Jack Crusher is the free-thinking con artist who smuggles supplies around the Quadrant. Legendary Enterprise doctor Beverly Crusher is his mother, and the two of them work together to ensure proper medical care is provided to oppressed people everywhere.
Beverly named her son after her beloved deceased husband, Jack. Picard and he were close friends when Jean-Luc was a young officer, at one point even being trapped in a shuttle for ten hours while having to fly blind.
When Picard discovers he has a long-lost son, the relationship between them gets off to a rocky start. However, this does not prevent Picard risking everything to save him from the clutches of Changeling hunter Vadic (played brilliantly by Amanda Plummer). Why she wants him is anyone’s guess, but it might have something to do with the terrifying visions of a red door plaguing his mind day in day out.
Theories about Jack’s mysterious origins have been floating about the internet for weeks now, with some predicting he is a body-morphing Changeling, and others claiming he could be from the Mirror Universe. Whatever the case, viewers are on tenterhooks to find out what exactly lies beyond Jack’s “Red Door.”
Where have we seen Ed Speleers before?
Jack is played by 34-year-old British actor Ed Speleers, best known for his TV work. Speleers starred in Downton Abbey between 2012 and 2014, playing Jimmy Kent. He also made appearances in other big-budget British productions Wolf Hall and the ever-popular Outlander.
Speleers began his career at age 17 when he won the chance to play a starring role in the dragon-heavy fantasy film Eragon, beating an incredible 180,000 other applicants to the role. Whatever the actor does in the coming years, he will always be able to say he was in Star Trek alongside the legendary Sir Patrick Stewart.