Quote Originally Posted by SJNeal View Post
This may be blasphemous, but I'd trade both Q and Guinan for Crusher in S2. She's just as integral (if not more so!) to Picard's history/character as they are.

McFadden seems willing, but I'm sure the situation in the writer's room hasn't changed much since the 90's; no one wants to write the exploits of a middle-aged single mother.
Supposedly they wrote possible futures for every single TNG regular (and recurring) characters. I simply can't imagine them *not* having a plan for Crusher. The fact that she's just MIA is narratively jarring. She's one of Picard's oldest friends and sounding boards. If she were dead, there would have been a mention of it. The only thing that makes sense is if they had a falling out of some sort. Or Beverly is in an unreachable place.