Picard Showrunner Terry Matalas Hopes To See The Next Gen Characters Continue Into The 25th Century
This post contains spoilers for the series finale of "Star Trek: Picard."
For weeks now, the "one last ride" sentiment of the final season of "Star Trek: Picard" has been balanced out a bit by persistent murmurings from the show's cast and crew. "This is the end of the road for the crew from 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,'" everyone essentially seems to be saying. "Unless...?" There's a whole world of speculation to be wrung from that meaningful ellipses, and at a press event attended by /Film, "Star Trek: Picard" showrunner Terry Matalas once again added his name to the growing list of people who would love to see the these beloved characters again.
/Film's Vanessa Armstrong attended a roundtable interview featuring Matalas in which the showrunner seemed eager to both focus on the present — the series' finale just aired this week, after all — and look to the future. "My current biggest hope is that everybody really just enjoys this," Matalas explained, referencing the epic finale that saw almost the entire Enterprise-D crew reunite for a nostalgic, emotional last hurrah. Matalas says he hopes "that we sent the 'Next Gen' characters off in a really good way and that everybody likes this next generation of characters."
'Gosh, I would love to do more'
The next generation of characters Matalas references here includes Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), the son of Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden); and Sidney La Forge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut), daughter of former engineer Geordi (LeVar Burton). Both characters have been a hit this season, as "Star Trek: Picard" crafted a satisfying final storyline that both reached backwards to the characters' pasts and forward to a hopeful future. Matalas emphasizes that pulling off the climax of the season wasn't easy, saying, "These last two hours were really, really hard to make. It's a giant movie on a television scale and it almost killed me. So I just want everybody to really like this."
It makes total sense that the showrunner would want us to focus on what's actually in front of us without getting ahead of ourselves, especially given that, even if we do see more of the original "Star Trek: The Next Generation" cast, it seems unlikely that the franchise will get the cast in one place again anytime soon. Luckily, the ending we were given was a lovely one: In a sweet final scene, the ensemble that's been working together for decades shared drinks, played cards, and toasted to a particularly heartfelt verse from Shakespeare.
Still, Matalas admits he'd be happy to see the story continue with a mix of new and old "Trek" characters. "Having said that, gosh, I would love to do more," he explained at this week's roundtable interview. He went on:
"I would love to see Seven and Raffi and Jack and Sydney and the crew continue on, and I'd love to see more of Riker and Geordi and Worf and Beverly and the rest of the TNG gang continue on too in the 25th century."
The future is in fans' hands
This proposed line-up pretty much matches up with where the story left each character in the series finale. Seven (Jeri Ryan), Raffi (Michelle Hurd), Jack, and Sydney all ended up working aboard the newly renamed Enterprise-G, so any future "Star Trek" stories from this era would likely involve them. It's thrilling to hear that Matalas can envision the return of castmates including Burton, McFadden, Michael Dorn, and Jonathan Frakes, though, as the showrunner confirmed just last week that no future project featuring this cast is in development yet. Matalas previously mentioned an idea for an inter-generational "Trek" series called "Star Trek: Legacy," and it certainly seems like an idea that's ripe for the picking, but he clarified that as of now, the idea "is just a pie-in-the-sky wish on my part."
The series finale's forward-facing epilogue all but serves as a pitch for "Star Trek: Legacy," but Matalas says the future is in the hands of viewers. "We'll see," he said. "I think it'll be up to the fans to be loud if that's a thing that they would like to see." Matalas notes that there's plenty of other great "Star Trek" out there right now, from original series prequel "Strange New Worlds" to the upcoming show "Starfleet Academy" and the film "Section 31." Hopefully, though, there's room for one more adventure. "It would have to be something that would really be wanted by the fans to happen," he explains. You heard the man, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" fans: Make some noise!