Lea Thompson has already had a busy career. Not only has she appeared as a sexy rock star turned superhero in the notorious Lucasfilm adaption of Howard the Duck, and as a mom turned crush in the Back to the Future trilogy, she’s shown off her dance training with an appearance on Dancing with the Stars. She’s also directed movies and television episodes alike. But now, the Trekkie is boldly directing where she’s never directed before: in the Star Trek universe!In a tweet sent on February 3rd, Thompson announced that she directed two of the upcoming episodes of the sophomore season of Star Trek: Picard: Episode 203 and Episode 204. See Thompson's tweet below:

Thompson has plenty of directorial experience, both on the large and small screens, having directed the 2017 film The Year of Spectacular Men, as well as episodes of television shows like The Goldbergs, Katy Keene, and Stargirl. According to the Tweet sent by Thompson, as a lifelong Trekkie, directing Picard helps her achieve a childhood dream of becoming part of the Trek family. She also thanked Picard showrunner Terry Matalas for making said dream come to pass.

Previously, Thompson has Tweeted about another long-standing directorial dream, a Howard the Duck movie! The character is currently voiced by Seth Green in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and as seen in the climactic third act of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, he was last spotted arriving in a world he never made: the Earth of the MCU! While an alternate-timeline version of Howard appeared in multiple episodes of the animated Disney+ anthology series What If…?, it remains to be seen whether the live-action version of the character will be returning any time soon (in the upcoming She-Hulk series or elsewhere).

However, it’s hard to imagine there would be a more qualified candidate to direct a theoretical Howard the Duck movie than Thompson. Not only did she star as Beverly Switzler in the 1986 classic Howard the Duck big-screen adaptation, but Thompson herself appeared as a character in the (second) 2015 Marvel Comics run of Howard the Duck by Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones.

Lea Thompson is Directing Star Trek: Picard

Thompson’s directing two episodes of the second season of Picard only gives her resume more qualifying experience for a possible Howard the Duck adaptation: after all, it seems like the second season will see Jean-Luc Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) “trapped in a world he never made,” the horrible, horrible 21st Century! Let’s hope he can make it out of there before the Bell Riots come to pass. Ben Sisko won't have been ready for another run-in Jean-Luc Picard.

Picard’s first season is currently available for streaming on Paramount+, and the first episode of the second season will be released on March 3, 2022. The second season of the series will also feature the return of several of Star Trek: The Next Generations most popular recurring characters, Q (John De Lancie) and Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg). The two episodes of Picard that were directed by Thompson are scheduled to be released for streaming on Paramount+ March 17, 2022, and March 24, 2022.