‘Picard’ Season 3 Showrunner On TNG Sendoff, More Starships, Worf’s Makeup, And Other Star Trek Cameos

On Tuesday morning, Paramount+ shocked the Star Trek community with the news that season three of Star Trek: Picard will feature the return of the main series cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. And for the rest of the day showrunner Terry Matalas joined in on the buzz on social media, providing some insights into the upcoming season.

Matalas on keeping this labor of love a secret, promises starships “galore”

Season two executive producer and co-showrunner Terry Matalas will be the sole showrunner for the third and final season of Picard. Since the announcement, he has been showing an unbridled enthusiasm for the upcoming season, which wrapped production last month. He started off by talking about how he has kept this secret for almost a year. Many were surprised this announcement came before season two wrapped up, but Matalas explained that the team didn’t know how much longer their luck would hold out keeping something this big under wraps.

Matalas also made clear that season three of Picard is what he would do with a Star Trek show given free reign.

Production designer Dave Blass also confirmed that this season three TNG reunion was something made possible by Matalas.

Matalas also made clear that this news was not about cameos, and season three would be a “proper send off to the TNG crew, and it has been a “labor of love for so long.” He also promised, “Federation starships galore.”

UPDATE: How seasons 2 and 3 came together

In response to a question from TrekMovie, Matalas explained how he and season two co-showrunner divided their duties to put together two back-to-back seasons.

Worf is Worf

Klingons haven’t been been featured in Star Trek: Picard (though we did see an archival photo of Worf in season one) and so when a fan asked if Worf would look more like the Discovery-style Klingons, Matalas simply assured with “Worf looks like Worf.”

He also followed up by saying “Worf sounds like Worf“, and that he is “NOT merry.”

When pressed for details on where season three finds Worf on his arc following the events of Deep Space Nine and Nemesis, Matalas wouldn’t offer details except to say he worked closely with Michael Dorn on where they thought he would be after the Dominion War. Of course, Dorn has some very specific ideas about where things went for Worf after Nemesis.

The showrunner also indicated there would be some examination of how the Federation coped following the Dominion War.

Jeri welcomes the new players

With Matalas making clear the TNG cast are not just cameos for season three and how the season will be a “sendoff” for them, it remains to be revealed how the upcoming season will treat the other characters on the show. The only indication so far was a tweet (also retweeted by Matalas) from Jeri Ryan (Seven) about the TNG cast announcement with the actress saying “look who came to play for season 3!”

We are not ready for Beverly and the rest

One of the returning cast is Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher, who hasn’t appeared on Picard and has only obliquely been mentioned. Responding to a fan, the showrunner promised we are “not ready” for what they have in store for Beverly in season three.

For her part, McFadden responded to the news (as reported by TrekMovie) by expressing her love for Matalas for making it happen and saying it was “Cool to make” and hoping it will be “gigantically cool to watch.”

And McFadden also said season 3 was her favorite space dream, in response to Picard writer/producer Christopher Monfette talking about what a dream it was to work with the TNG cast, and also saying they are bringing their best work, adding new layers, and promising a good villain too.

As for the return of LeVar Burton, Matalas responded to the actor’s tweet to tease how fans will find out “whatever happened to Geordi LaForge.”

Jonathan Frakes has appeared as Riker before on Star Trek: Picard and Matalas complimented the actor/director for his discretion after a fan pointed out how Frakes responded to the question about returning as Riker in his TrekMovie interview from last week.

Matalas didn’t have anything specific to say about Brent Spiner or Marina Sirtis, but he did retweet the actress saying “we’re baaaaaaaaack!”

Wheaton responds to questions about Wesley

One notable name not included in the announcement was Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher on TNG, first as a series regular and then as a recurring character. Wheaton is still involved with new Trek as the host of the official Star Trek after show The Ready Room. And Wheaton responded to the news in a blog post on his website which said in part…

I have been reading the Internet, as you do, and I see a lot of my fellow nerds are as excited to see the TNG cast back together as I am.

I’ve also seen a LOT of people — like, way more than I ever would have imagined –expressing dismay that Wesley isn’t part of it.

I share some of your sadness, for my own reasons, but I choose to focus instead on how special it’s going to be to see my family back together again, and how wonderful it’s going to be to talk with them about it in the Ready Room.

His blog post also included how Wheaton imagined “what would happen if Wesley DID show up?” by writing out a scene with Picard and Traveler Wesley.

As for Matalas, he only responded to one of the questions with, “Where is he? That kooky Traveler.”

Hints at more series cameos

With so much love for TNG, some fans are wondering if the final season might see some familiar faces from other Star Trek shows. The showrunner didn’t say for sure, but used a “Maybe” GIF that indicates cameos are coming. In the past, Matalas has hinted that Deep Space Nine will see some love in season three.

Behind the scenes TNG era reunion

Production designer Dave Blass also revealed that many veterans of the Next Generation era have been working on both season two and season three of Picard.

When a fan followed that up by asking what about bringing back some TNG writers, Blass assured the fans are in good hands with Matalas and his writing team.


New episodes of Star Trek: Picard season 2 premiere on Thursdays on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on Fridays where Paramount+ is available around the world. In Canada, it airs on CTV Sci-Fi Channel on streams on Crave on Thursdays. Picard is also available on Fridays on Amazon Prime Video around the world.

213 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

But are they bringing any of the TNG writers back?

And any comments on what will happen with the current Picard crew?

It be awesome and fitting to have Ron Moore and Brannon Braga co-write an episode together for the show. It is to dream….

I actually really like the new crew as was really hoping for them to go out with Picard and explore new worlds in Season 2 and 3, but it’s not really happening due to all of the fan service changes they are making on the show.

Furthermore, I bet a lot of fans would be fine with them being used as sympathetic plot devices to give their lives in season 3 so that TNG cast would be all that was remaining by the finale.

I really hope not. I didn’t like the first season of Picard because of the plot but when I rewatched it and skipped the borg cube and android scenes, the crew grew on me. This season half the crew has nothing to do and now they aren’t even the stars of the next season. I hope they aren’t just killed off without ever getting a decent storyline.

100% agree — great post!

I generally like the new crew too and I hope we get a Stargazer spinoff with them. But it HAS to include Seven! ;)

Agreed. I think there’s potential for a really fun adventure show — with some Trekkian themes and some great character potential, without all the dark end of the universe stuff.The world is dark enough these days.

That said, I’m liking season 2 so far, although I think I’m the only Trek fan who isn’t crazy about Frakes’ directing.

Personally I’m delighted the TNG crew are back and the logistics of managing the screen time of such a large cast in just 10 hours of television means you have to expect reduced roles for all of the principles even if they’re still in it more than the returning characters. I have no problem with that but I do like the new crew, admittedly some more than others so I hope we do get to see the majority of them survive the season. I think Rios and Raffi would be good fits for a rebooted DS9 and I’d love to see Seven in something again maybe reuniting her with some of her old shipmates.

I mean, Elnor has effectively been written out of this season since they got to 2024. Soji is missing as well, although Isa Briones now plays Spiner’s daughter. They have a habit of getting rid of characters for extended periods of time.

The entire TNG crew coming back is the best Star Trek news since Picard himself was returning. I’m sure the new regulars will be used fine, but it feels like a homecoming with this news for millions of fans who have idolized TNG for the past 30 years.

Ron Moore is a busy guy. It’s unlikely he would be available.

but they are busy with their own stuff….

They should bring Braga back just for all these starships to experience the Burn, he always loved those warp core breaches. Only no more resets, please!!!!! Time to put this nonsensical snoozefest out if its misery once and for all!!!!

Looks Like Jeri Going to be there.
I would remind you that we are just a few months from the release of Jurassic World Dominion, which combines the casts from both sides of the of the Jurassic Spectrum.
This is DOABLE!

Yeah, having the actors is one thing…but it’s the writing that really needs to step up for Season 3. If they were able to get a bunch of the effects and makeup crew back for Season 3, lets hope there are some high profile TNG writers in there too.

I say it doesn’t HAVE to be any of the old TNG writers. Just people other than who they are using now.

Well, could just end up with more of the same in that case. I would prefer they went with people who actually know the characters and might have some insight into how the characters would have developed.

With the caveat that none of the TNG writers from Seasons 1 and 2 are included, of course. I never want to see Star Trek writing that bad ever again, please…that was nearly as bad as the writing on Enterprise.

I take Umbridge my good man. Enterprise had WAY better writing than TNG. Overall. There were some real stinkers. Every series had them. Especially that gawdawful finale. If any show deserves a “proper” send off, it’s Enterprise.

Well I take Umbridge with your umbridge. We all know Discovery is the best written show in the franchise! :D

Lord I hope you’re kidding…

You’ll have to carry that your grave to know if I am Silvereyes! ;D

lol. I get it.

you know gene did a lot of rewrites of early TNG scripts and alienated a lot of the writers in that period.
it didn’t help the quality of the show.
mr piller came in later to stabilise things

We could. But I think we know what we will get if they stick with the same folks. I’d rather take the risk. Worse case scenario is we get the same thing.

If the X-Files revival was any indication, bringing back the same writers isn’t a guarantee of quality. Granted none of them are hacks like Chris Carter, who doesn’t even understand his own characters

the best XF scripts were written by others like glen morgan, Darrien morgan, just like on OS, TNG

I’m liking this season, so far, despite all the fan service. I think Spiner’s character feels unnecessary.

Why can’t we have new things?

And, also, most of them have been busy on The Orville, which is a pretty worthy TNG successor, IMO.

I would call The Orville more of a TNG homage than a successor.

Family Guy in Space. It was really bad when it tried to be funny. The rest of the time it was a Star Wars, Star trek ripoff.

Why we cant have New Things?
Because there is propably ni demand for it.

Look at the people… All they want is what they know.

Thank you Matalas for bringing back together the best crew in Star Trek. You are awesome!

The ds9 Crew is comming Back too?
;-)

I would say the 3rd best crew. The TOS crew is in a class by itself, then DS9 I would rate #2.

Yeah I still miss these guys to death. It’s the reason so many were excited to see Picard back. Now it’s time to bring in the rest of the family!

It’s sounding like this is going to be a nostalgia fest. I don’t mind… I like that stuff as much as anyone. Was just hoping for… Something more substantial. I guess we just have to wait and see.

I’m not thrilled with this current story thus far so it’s not exactly instilling hope in what they are going do in the finale. Time will tell.

On a personal level, if a series needs to get a “proper sendoff” it’s Enterprise. Would really like to see them for one last hurrah. Just one short streaming season will do.

It is nostalgia just like Captain Kirk returning on Strange New Worlds. The fans demanded it and they gave them what they wanted for all intents and purposes more TOS and TNG season 8. I’m not surprised they want to make money.

I don’t think fans “demanded” it. At least not directly. But I can understand why they are doing this. Look at how fans reacted when they used that safety net. The Riker episode was probably the most popular episode from Picard’s first season. Fans loved including Pike. Using the GoF seemed to be generally well received. Returning to Talos IV was fairly popular. All these things were more popular than when they tried something new. So it’s understandable they would do it. As a consumer, while I eat that stuff up as much as anyone else, my preference would be for them to stake out on their own. There was no need to include Kirk on SNW. In fact, from what I can tell fans weren’t demanding it. In fact it seemed that fans were skeptical of the concept of Kirk showing up except at the very end.

Unfortunately this means less original material and more lazy writing.

I was really hoping for Kirk to show up on SNW, and I have some fan friends who feel the same way. I don’t like the term, “demanding it,” but I certainly think a lot of fans want to see Kirk, I personally would like to see TOS redone for modern times at some point.

I think sometimes that those of us who post constantly on Trek fan web sites assume we are representative. I know that is not the case, as there are a ton of DSC fans out there — I saw them fill a convention hall during COVID for SMG last September at the Creation Con in New Jersey — the hall was twice as full as it was for Shatner, and the crowd was younger and much more female than for the other sessions. Yet if you read this site all the time, “DSC sucks.” The broad appeal that DSC has for many new fans, and especially younger and female fans (most of who could probably give a rat’s ass about TNG or TOS) is certainly not represented by us “old farts” who post here daily. :-)

The funny thing about this is you’re not wrong, even old fans have NO problem watching new shows with new characters. We did it four times in fact in the Berman era with TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT. YMMV on the shows themselves but they were all accepted with new characters on them.

But for some reason this new group think the only way to contemplate the same fans who fell in love with all those shows is to give them more of those characters in these new shows. Three of the five shows stars legacy characters already. And then they are pumping them all with even more characters on top of who is already starring in them. And even WITH Discovery, it had a new cast but they still felt the need to attach the main character to probably the most iconic character in the franchise and make them siblings in case they want to have an excuse to bring him on. And they did and now that guy has his own spin off show lol.

Maybe it’s just due to the new shows having a pay wall now and they are worried fans will easily turn away from the new shows unless they throw in characters they know. I obviously don’t know, but fans have accepted totally new characters since 1987. Yes we always want to see characters return but it wasn’t until Picard we had a new show with a legacy character starring and my guess is that will be a common element with every new show going forward.

SNW, PIC and PRO are basically ways to remind people of TOS, TNG and VOY already. They are all doing their own thing in one way but it’s clearly designed to get fans of these previous shows onboard.

3 of the 5 may have legacy characters in them, but every one of the have made numerous call backs to the other shows. LDX is nothing but a fangasm fest, for example. I promise you if you removed all the easter eggs it wouldn’t be near as popular as it is.

P+ isn’t blind. They see this as much as we do.

Exactly! ALL these shows have basically turned into total nostalgia bait. That can’t be denied. Discovery is doing it the least but only due to its setting. And they still try to remind people of past characters all the time name dropping people like Picard, Archer, Janeway etc just in season 4 alone. They have a Voyager J on the show and even showed an image of Leonard Nimoy lol.

I disagree personally about Lower Decks for *me* because as I have said many many times I don’t care about the easter eggs, I really just love the stories in general. But you could be right about the general audience. I have no way of knowing and only speaking for myself here. But yeah fans certainly love seeing them and no doubt get a kick of all the TNG era cameos. Now that I DO love lol.

And we both know probably by the time SNW hits season 3 most of the TOS characters will have shown up. Three of them are part of the main cast now. Technically four when you count M’Bega but he was only in two episodes and only hardcore TOS fans would even know who he is. Even I forgot who the guy was and I grew up on the show.

So no one should be surprised over this news. No one OTHER than how well of a secret they kept it. This is what most fans wanted to see the day the show was announced for obvious reasons. My guess is this was probably the plan from the start, especially once it was decided the show would only go three seasons.

This doesn’t seem to be limited to Star Trek, though. I mean, Hollywood has been pumping out lots of reunion shows or remakes of old shows and movies, apparently because they think these are safer investments than completely new shows.

Yeah I totally totally agree. It’s just a Hollywood thing these days. I been seeing this announcement compared to Jurassic World Dominion where all the legacy characters from the original movie show up in the final chapter.

I’m not either for or against it frankly. I’ve said this many times, if its done well then GREAT, no issues with it at all. Same time I would prefer something new in general because Star Trek has done that successfully in the past. But Picard never really screamed ‘new’ to me anyway. They changed the premise a bit but it was always going to be an extension of TNG in some way and it was always a given other TNG characters would be a part of it, it was just a question of how much?

If you TRULY want something new, you have to go forward in a new and untouched century like the mid-25th century and beyond. Anything in the 23rd or 24th century will just be an excuse to bring out old characters again and again as we are seeing.

Not necessarily. I think if there was a post TUC show it would be tough to trot out Takei or Koenig to play 15 year younger versions of themselves. And if the writers could show some constraint (A tall order, I know) they could do a show in that time frame and avoid too many mentions of the Kirk crew.

You can still have new actors play the original characters though just like we been seeing. I don’t just mean original actors playing the parts. And I’m not saying it shouldn’t be done, I’m only saying if others want to see something totally new like what they did with TNG. But I imagine a lot of fans really have no issues with it at all.

Yep. Star Trek Discovery currently is making the least connections since they moved the time frame. But it also is the show that seems to be the most divisive, too. The safest bet is to make connections to old shows. I get it. I understand it. But that doesn’t mean I like it. Again, I like easter eggs as much as anyone. But I like good stories that stand on their own with no call backs to old shows even more. From where I sit Secret Hideout has failed to give us that. And it doesn’t look like they have any intention to for at least the near future.

Personally I liked M’Benga going way back to the 70’s when I first saw TOS as a child. I liked the idea of a Vulcan specialist. But I understood later about the production side of things. That if he was there it would get in the way of McCoy. He was only there when McCoy was gone for some reason and Bones needed to be the “hero” doctor who healed Spock. But I still thought highly of the idea of a Vulcan specialist on board given the oddity of Spock on a ship filled with humans.

Well said.

I guess that depends on how you look at it. I would love to see Kirk, myself. I consider him the King of Star Trek. The best Captain easily. But I also think his days are over. As much as I would love to see it, I don’t think TOS should be redone as a show. (The feature films are a different story, however) Honestly I’d like to move past Kirk unless you are doing a Kirk centered story of his early days or something. But SNW was not a Kirk centered show. It’s Pike centered. I think highly of Kirk and am jazzed he’s going to be in but honestly, I’d rather he not be.

I’m still on the fence about having Kirk on SNW, at least so soon. But as you know, I predicted a year ago the character would show up in season 2, so not surprised.

But I understand why it’s still bothering others. But it’s for the exact same reasons some may not like the TNG cast coming back, because it could overshadow the new characters. But I made that exact same argument when it was announced Pike and Spock was showing up on Discovery but they made it work IMO.. So I have to think they will do the same with Kirk in SNW and the TNG characters in Picard season 3. There are a lot more of them for Picard obviously but they have ten episodes to play with. And for me, as long as Rios and especially Seven are back, I’m good!

And yeah I personally don’t want another TOS show either. If we had to go back to ANY show again, it would be to Enterprise since those guys didn’t get a great send off and I really really want a season five but not holding my breath. ;)

I also think that Enterprise is the one Berman era Trek that could be reasonably returned to. Even for just one short season. They got shafted and would be great to wrap their story up somehow.

Yeah, they been doing nothing but nostalgia bait since 2009 when not only they decided to make new movies with the TOS characters they also brought Nimoy back for extra measure.

I said this when it was announced Kirk was coming to SNW, that NO ONE should be surprised over the news. No one! And yet people were lol.

And no one should be surprised over this. The only reason they are is because of how well they hid it for so long and the actors constantly saying they weren’t coming back to the show at all like Frakes did literally a week ago that the article cited.

It is what it is. They have decided,which isn’t rocket science, fans will more likely pay for these shows if there are legacy characters in them. We’re all talking about it now and we’re all watching no matter how we actually feel about it. SNW and PIcard basically sound like they are going to be quasi TOS and TNG seasons next year.

And if the fans and probably the studio had their way, Picard would’ve just been a TNG revival from the start. But Patrick Stewart didn’t want to do that, which was understandable. But he’s only back to remind people of TNG in the first place, hence season one being a quasi sequel to Measure of a Man.

“Was just hoping for… Something more substantial.”

You and me both. This is what happens when they “over-listen” to the fans.

Listening to the fans is a double edge sword. I have been a proponent that talented people should do what they think will be a good story regardless of what the fans say. I feel like those who cave to the fan base may not be all that confident in their skills.

To the fans and to the actors. See: Insurrection, Nemesis, etc.

So any possibility Season 3 might arrive late 2022 instead of 2023? Considering its likely going to be completed by the end of the summer it going to sit on the shelf doing little if it’s not released until next year.

Is there really room? We have 35 new episodes including this week coming in 2022

Picard 5 remaining
SNW 10
Lower Decks 10
Prodigy 10

25….i can’t do Prodigy….same with sw clone wars….my man child alter ego has limits lol

Ooh, that’s unfortunate. Prodigy is wonderful (and so is The Clone Wars, for that matter, even if it takes a little while to get there).

Yeah, let Picard Season 3, BREATHE!

Are you sure they are going to be back up against each other like that? LDX has come out late summer early fall both times. SNW is slated to finish in July. There might be a break unless Prodigy is ready to go by then. Which I’m hoping it will be. So far it’s the only show I look forward to seeing.

I wouldn’t really include the kid/teen-focused animated shows. They can fit in more live action Trek for sure in 2022.

But they already said they don’t want to overlap any of the shows, so it doesn’t matter. They overlaped a few recently but only by a few weeks and it seems like because Prodigy wasn’t finished with episodes 6-10 and had to rework the schedule a bit.

But they already said they don’t want to overlap any of the shows

Yet they’re doing it twice this year so far.

Because as I just said, Prodigy got delayed and they had to move some of the shows around. Remember Picard was advertised to come out in February. Then they pushed it to March because Discovery took a mid-season break. How often do mid-season breaks happen for these shows these days? And why do you think it even took a break? Because they didn’t want Prodigy and Discovery to overlap too long together.

They could’ve overlapped both shows for the entire season which ironically a lot of people thought they were going to do.

Funny you say that, because out of the current crop, the two animated shows are the ones this fan cares about most.

I have to agree. I think it will be too much if they try and squeeze Picard season 3 this year. Of course I would like to see it ASAP but this is the issue when you have five shows in the pipeline and don’t want to overlap them, everyone has to wait their turn. ;)

Well, September 28th is the 35th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s debut.

Matalas also made clear that season three of Picard is what he would do with a Star Trek show given free reign.

Interesting phrasing. Perhaps Matalas is not thrilled with the creative team he’s working with currently, but since he doesn’t have seniority, he has to play ball for season 2.

I don’t think that he is dissing the current creative team. Time Travel Stories Like Season 2 are very specific, You Have to dot the I”s and cross the T’s.
Wheras next year, he will be able to CUT LOOSE!

You think this season has a specific storyline? It’s a hodge podge of half-thought-up ideas, much like season one.

Free reign likely just means he gets to do whatever he wants without any mandates and little oversight.

For example, I’d bet you that the studio told him to include the Borg or even the Borg Queen specifically in season 2. Borg episodes get big numbers, so they probably wanted that.

But sounds like after the studio saw dailies from season 2 they were happy to give him total creative control as a reward.

That is not at all what he’s saying.

I agree with your interpretation. Reading between the lines I believe that is EXACTLY what he means.

Great post!

if they brought the duo of ronald d moore and brannon braga back to write season 3 i’d be 100% hyped. they also need a chance to redeem themselves after generations. the CBS / Paramount + writers have been ‘inconsistent’ to say the least with new Trek

redeem themselves after generations”

They already did it’s called First Contact.

the other script was worse. Kirk as a hologram on the holodeck. That doesn’t mean Generations story was good, or the way Kirk died made any sense other than his first death. Or the greatest Captain ever buried under some rocks. and no starfleet memorial, or statue. And no Spock to mourn him. The movie sucked.

I actually like Generations on a couple of levels, but looking back the true and (I think) fitting send-off for the TOS crew was TUC. They just should have left James T. Kirk’s death ambiguous for the time being…instead of “bridge on the captain.” So many lost opportunities over the years, it’s a shame.

I, too, think Generations was a lost opportunity. They needed to get Kirk, at the very least, involved in nearly the entire picture. Not just bookend it. That said, I do love Kirk’s final line. It was super appropriate. “It was… Fun.” Too bad the time travel problem made for far too many plot holes.

Also, did he say “oh, my” before Takei started using it?

To each his own, but I can’t stand Generations…it’s at the bottom of the barrel for me. If I may draw an analogy, it makes Nemesis look like The Godfather and Trek V like Lawrence of Arabia…that is how poorly I view it.

Yeah, I think Generations was great, despite a few missteps.

Yeah Generations could’ve done a LOT more with Kirk. I never had a big issue with killing him off but how they did it left a sour taste in my mouth personally.

Generations really needed one more rewrite so that Nimoy would agree to take part. But Paramount insisted on that Thanksgiving 1994 release and there just wasn’t time.

More Kirk and less “funny” Data.

One thing I noticed while watching it in the theater was that every scene with Kirk in it was just more interesting than all the scenes without him. Stewart is easily the better actor but oddly Kirk overshadowed Picard in every scene.

Would it have been better having Kirk phasered in the back as they originally shot it? We may not like the ‘bridge on the captain’ thing but it was better than his original demise.

It’s a real shame they just didn’t get rights to the “Federation” novel and do that story instead of Generations. It was a great ‘bridge-the-gap’ story between the two generations, and even had Zephram Cochran lore in it as well. The Garfields know their stuff when it comes to Trek and Trek tales. Generations was a fun-ish enough tale, but a great story was already written.

It seems unlikely that Ron Moore feels he has to redeem himself.

…which he doesn’t.

Same. I always loved Ronald Moore like so many others and wish he would come back, but yeah he’s pretty busy and moved on from Trek long ago. I know Brannon Braga is more divisive but I always liked most of his stories too EXCEPT Threshold and TATV. Those two alone probably does deserve a life long ban from Star Trek. ;)

I’m joking, I would like to see more former Star Trek writers in general come back. And we did have Bryan Fuller, Nick Meyer and Joe Menosky come back, but it didn’t quite work out with any of them. ;)

I like everything but Generations, and These are the Voyages. These of the Voyages was an insult to me as a fan of Enterprise, a bad TNG episode. Not a love letter. Its up there with the worst episodes of Star Trek ever, no its not turnabout intruder bad. But bad in a different way.

I’m not giving up hope on potentially seeing Wesley. It could very well be he is still under a NDA and would be a cameo spot for an episode or two. However, I am realistic in knowing it may not happen.

It would be kind of weird if they announced everyone, but kept Wesley a secret. You’d think if they saved anyone for a surprise it would be Worf.

I think it makes sense to keep that one secret–because Wes is with the Traveler. So the big reveal would be the Traveler’s return.

I agree that holding Wes as a surprise makes sense, because it’s *plausible* that they might not bring him back. Wheaton wasn’t in the later seasons of TNG or the movies (excepting that blink-and-you’ll-miss-him cameo in Nemesis), so his absence from “Picard” seems like it would make sense — but how much more powerful would that surprise be, if it comes when everybody else was announced a year in advance?

Of course, it’s still possible that this is all exactly as it seems. But I hope not. Or, if it is, I hope Mike McMahon has a Wesley episode planned for Lower Decks.

Generations II

The should make amends for leaving Kirk under a pile of rocks.

I never understood how burying him under some rocks is worse than shooting him out of a torpedo launcher. He’s dead. What difference does it make what they do with his body?

Dude, you do realize that in the torpedo tube launch funeral, the character ended up coming back to life, right?

LOL, I think you just unintentionally reinforced Tom’s point.

What I never understand is why not just bring them back to their planets lol. It’s such an odd thing to me. I remember watching TWOK as a kid and my very first thought was ‘why don’t they just bury Spock on Vulcan where his home and family is???’. Of course then we wouldn’t have to search for him in the next movie I guess. But it’s just an odd thing to do.

I guess you can KIND OF excuse it for Kirk in Generations since he died a century after everyone knew he was dead, but the guy is iconic in Starfleet, why not bring him home and have everyone honor him?

It was in their wills and they both had no children to contradict the will. They are also both Jewish! So, quick burials. Nothing fancy.

But I don’t think that was the reason it was done though, unless you’re just joking.

Well, it was thought that Kirk was blown out into space and probably atomized. There really was nothing for them to bring home. As opposed to what Picard put under a bunch of rocks.

I’m talking about after he died helping Picard obviously.

It just seemed a tad disrespectful for a “legend.” Kirk may not care but this sort of thing is for the living. Kirk should have been brought back to Earth for a more proper burial. Not laid to rest on some alien world where his alien remains will get discovered by the non warp species on the neighboring planet one day.

I’ll go further…it was a F’ing travesty that I still have not forgiven Rick Berman for.

If I remember correctly, in a comic or in a novel, Kirk’s body was brought back to Earth.

Picard put stones on Kirk so he wouldn’t be eaten by animals. But then the body was beamed out when Picard was found. Now it’s a memorial of Kirk’s place of death without his body.

If that was thought of in the film it would have required a lot of exposition or screen time at a time when the film was wrapping up. But still….

What about Whoppi Goldberg´s Quinan?

You have been watching season two, right?

That doesn’t specifically address season 3.

I want to see the Sovereign Class Enterprise E. But pretty much the same with some refit elements. Not completely reimagined like the Discoprise.

We’ve seen Sovereigns in the first episode of this season…they look like the E-E.

LOL, come on, dude. The Discoprise is in no way “completely reimagined.” It’s simply derivative of TOS E and TMP refit E. It’s instantly recognizable as the early Enteprise. LOL

Kelvinprise is a completely reimagined Enterprise, but I disagree about the Discoprise. It clearly looks like the Enterprise, just made to look like it fits better with the TMP refit.

I disagree that it looks like it works with the TMP refit. Not at all. It looks like it belongs in the Star Trek Discovery world. Completely. And just a few tweaks would do wonders. Paint the Enterprise white. TOS Enterprise was white as was the TMP refit. And turn up the lights on the bridge. It’s way too dark.

I don’t agree that the new Enterprise bridge is way too dark. I always thought the TOS Enterprise bridge was way too dark with all the spotlights on the actors and black panels housing the Christmas tree lights. Discovery’s bridge is dark, but from what I have seen of the bridge in SNW, the bridge seems to be nicely lit. If you want to argue that the hull of the Discoprise is too dark, then I do agree with that. But not the bridge. Not compared to TOS.

It may not need to be as bright as sick bay or the halls we have seen. But that bridge is pretty dark. The TOS bridge was very well lit. A case might be made that it was TOO brightly lit. But it was lit awfully well. Perhaps if they met just half away and turned the dimmer up some?

the tos enterprise was not white it was a grey look at all the models available including the one at the smithsonian and the remastered cgi version

Same! I really really want to see the Enterprise E back! And I feel it’s a stronger chance we’ll see her since they basically showed sovereign ships this season. I was so excited to finally see one on television.

And I like the Discoprise. Yeah it’s reimagined in some ways, but mostly because its 2022, they have to modernize and upgrade it. It’s still a tad too big IMO, but it looks amazing.

Well. Things are looking better and better. Picard Season 2 is good. Season 3 may be Epic. Strange New Worlds is looking Great!. Been a bumpy road. Let’s hope everyone.

No, it’s been a LONG road.

But our time is finally near.

OMG no… NO!

Yea, but on that series fans bailed and it got cancelled. :-)

Getting from there to here?

I’m not really enjoying Picard season 2 as so many others but it is definitely better than season 1 so far.

So TNG Season 8.

I accept.

This is just awesome news. I shed a tear or two during the announcement video. In a crazy world such as this how great it is to have Star Trek to lift our spirits.

My vote goes to replace the lame theme they have now and restore the TNG theme in the title credits for season 3. I think it’s only fitting.

Yeah, and go to a 1.33:1 video format. Also, the finale should end with them getting on a preserved galaxy-class that they can rename Enterprise-D2

Finale??? I want them on the Enterprise-D2 on the first episode!

LOL, dude, you completely ruined my attempt at humorous sarcasm.

Admittedly, an “Enterprise D-2” on screen would be very cool though!

I totally thought you were serious – as folks say stuff like that here.

I don’t mind it, but I don’t understand what the opening graphics have to do with this season, other than the shattered glass with the rose from the Picard conservatory.

BTW, I haven’t heard the composer comment on this, but does the Picard theme riff on part of the Goldsmith TMP/TNG theme? The melody seems like it’s based on a few note.

Only risk is they can get away with a rubbish story but sooth it over with a nostalgia fest…hopefully not!

That would be my prediction of what we are likely to see, unfortunately. Their priority seems to be fan service.

And wonder how the rest of the cast feel to go from lead cast to sub-supporting cast…

This proper send off better not be a holodeck episode of Discovery like TNG was with the Enterprise finale. LOL

Or everyone getting killed off or something. Picard becoming a robot was quite enough.

I’m betting that Cabrera, Hurd, Ryan, Pill and Briones were not told when they signed up that they would be be minimalized by the end of the series in favor of a TNG full cast reunion season.

I might be wrong, and Season 3 could end up being fantastic, but “I have a bad feeling about this” that instead of taking this in a new direction with this new and I think great supporting crew or Picards, they are instead “STID’ing the TNG” here will an ill-conceived throw back to past Star Trek series. They are now “over-listening” to the fans — this changing the whole series to support fan service is very risky.

My opinion!

Like when Sir Patrick invited the TNG cast to dinner, informed them there was going to be a new series and that they weren’t going to be a part of it? I’m guessing that was probably worse.

More likely than not, heading into Season 2 they were likely informed that there would be a Stargazer spinoff.

Good points!

I suspect they will be okay with this given that it’s going to result in a Stargazer series in which they are the leads.

Half of the TNG cast already showed up in Picard season 1. There is plenty of room for all the characters, classic and new.

only 2 of the tng main characters showed up in season 1 in actuality and one other showed up as both a dream version and a digital simulation version of the character

“one helluva villain”

Again with the villain…. (sigh) (yawn)

Some of the best Trek characters are villains. Khan, Kai Winn, Dukat, Paxton, the Borg Queen, and the Diviner just to name a few.

And some of the worst are villains. Adm Markus, Sybok, Lore, every “Badmeral” in Star Fleet…

The Badmirals aren’t all bad. I thought Cartwright and Leyton were both pretty good.

Khan is the only interesting character to me on that list, with the exception of maybe this newest version of the Borg Queen (who still doesn’t make sense as part of the Borg, but is pretty creepy/fun/compelling)

How can they do a TNG reunion with no Dr. Pulaski?

She had a terrible experience on TNG and was marginalized by the cast. It seems unlikely she would want to be involved in any way.

Pulaski is a poorly written and badly written character with few fans. She was a temporary mistake that the writers quickly fixed. There’s no reason to bring her back–and I doubt Muldaur would come back anyway after being so unceremoniously removed.

She’s not a popular character but she wasn’t poorly written. Everyone just exaggerates the hating Data thing. I actually prefer her to Crusher.

I do too. I liked that she came across as an outsider. And I liked that she saw Data as little more than a walking computer. When she used the “I don’t like to use the transporter” line it was a little too Bones for me. But other than that, I liked her much better than Crusher. It’s probably good in the long run she left. The obvious move for her was to warm up to Data. Which I would not have wanted to see.

She did warm up to Data by the end of the season.

She was starting to, yes. I should have put it that way. TNG needed a gruff character, however. At least to contrast the happy smiley fleet vibe they portrayed. Even Worf gave off that ‘happy fleet’ vibe. I wished they used Ro more. She filled that role later.

I think she had potential. I think she was better written than Dr. Crusher ever was (ducks and hides).

I liked Muldaur — but she kind of vanished after they threw her character down an elevator shaft on L.A. Law. I always wondered if she’d pissed folks off, or something.

I always hated Pulaski as a character until I did a grand rewatch of the franchise last year and watched all of season 2 again, which I don’t think I did outside of a few episodes (the good ones) for decades. But I have to say by the end of the season I did like her a lot more. She did warm up to the crew by then and her and Data were creating a good relationship. If she stayed on, she probably would’ve been more popular but I’m still glad Beverly came back.

I’m one of those few fans, and I dispute the idea that she was badly written.

Pulaski was far better than Crusher—she actually had a personality for a start. I think Diana Muldaur was the better actress. It’s a shame she was treated so badly by the NG cast and we never saw the character again.

And THAT is why she worked WAY better than Crusher ever did. She had a personality. Every other TNG character, apart from Worf, came across to me as bland soulless automatons. There was actually very little difference between robot data and Geordi.

And that was why when DS9 came along it was instantly better. We had more real people staffing that station. People with personalities. And I very much enjoyed seeing Sisko’s annoyance at Picard showed through right off the bat. It was a signal to the audience this was not going to be ‘one big happy fleet’ like TNG was.

LOL. You are being sarcastic, I’m guessing.

Obviously

Lorna bought it, hook, line and sinker. :-)

The same way they have been since 1989…

I’d prefer they left out Crusher.

We can’t always get what we want. I’d prefer it if they left out everyone but Worf.

i perfered pulaski over crusher wish they had left crusher at starfleet medical and kept pulaski on till the end of the series and the 4 film as crush was a boring and crappy doctor while pulaski was funny and interesting and a way better doctor

Is it bad that I’m most excited by the possibility DS9 finally gets some representation in the NuTrek era?

New Enterprise with design in the vein of the D, so I can get the nasty taste of the E out of my mouth.

I really hope we see chief o’Brien.

Super happy for this news!! It’s probably the best news since they announced Patrick Stewart coming back to Star Trek. Honestly, it probably should’ve been a TNG revival show like how SNW is a prequel show to TOS back in season one. It’s what fans really wanted. But better late than never. ;)

And I’m more excited DS9 is going to get more mentions next season. Yes, FINALLY, discussing the Dominion war. Why was that not done the FIRST season??? Again, it’s just common sense to me.

But it’s a great time to be a fan! :)

Yeah really, seems like they could’ve tied some of the aftermath of the Dominion War into what we saw in season 1. But whatever.

I’ll bet the Dominion plays a waaaay bigger part in the story next year than they’re saying. With Rene Auberjonois🙏 passing away (and Salome Jens🙏so the Federation wouldn’t even have access to the female Founder who surrendered herself to them.), maybe they’re gonna say that Odo died and that leads to the Dominion coming after the Federation again? Odo was the only one preventing the Dominion from attacking again. He was the voice of reason, so to speak.

So, if he died, then that leaves the Dominion right back where they were before Odo came back, right? And I’m pretty sure the Founders are probably still ticked off that the Federation tried to commit genocide on them. I mean that’s not something you forget about anytime soon and without Odo around, they could’ve decided that it’s time to make the Federation pay for what they did. That could be why Picard might be at odds with Starfleet again.

Maybe Picard’s discovered something that leads him to believe that the Dominion has re-infiltrated Starfleet and the Federation and that’s why he goes to his old crew mates because he doesn’t know who to trust? Live long and prosper, Tiger2 🖖.

Terry Matalas said that DS9 is gonna get some love too in season 3 and that has me wondering 🤔 could season 3 be about bringing back Captain Sisko from the Celestial Temple 😯? That would be a big enough adventure in my eyes to lead to a team up. With Terry Matalas teasing massive amounts of starships in season 3 of Picard, I’m gonna speculate that Picard is being pursued by Starfleet for some reason and he needs his former shipmates help because he needs to stay off the radar. Maybe The Dominion play a much larger part in the story next year than they’re telling us?

It really sounds to me like next season us DS9 fans might finally get to see what we’ve been wanting to see since 1999 and that is the return of Captain Benjamin Sisko. But maybe somebody doesn’t want him to come back, such as The Dominion or another player we don’t know of yet? Or maybe next season involves Captain Sisko’s daughter and Picard stumbles upon her existence and takes it upon himself to help protect her from somebody? Maybe she’s being pursued because she’s just starting to manifest some type of celestial powers like the Prophets have and this is what puts Picard at odds with Starfleet again?

This could be a situation that would require her father to return, wouldn’t it, to help save his daughter? It sounds similar to Soji’s story but I’m sure they could tweak it to make it so it’s not similar. I can’t wait for season 3 of Picard to get here now!!!! Live long and prosper, Trekmovie 🖖

As much as I love and adore TNG, DS9 is really what I want to see more of in these shows and it’s a little frustrating we haven’t had ONE character back. I don’t count Odo from the holodeck in Prodigy.

And I know you been really pushing to see Sisko back and you’re not alone but I wouldn’t hold my breath. A lot of people thought it was possible this season but the story is far too removed from him now. Again would love to see it happen but I think they would’ve announced him coming back too. But maybe that will be a big surprise next season too. But I think it’s possible we will see DS9 characters, just ones where their back story is much less complicated lol.

Yeah, I agree with your comments, Tiger2. I just would really love to see Captain Sisko return. But it would be nice to see any of the DS9 characters again. I know this will be the last chance we have to see any of these characters again so whoever shows up in season 3, I’ll be very happy for 😊❤️.

And if Captain Sisko doesn’t return on Picard, then I guess I’m gonna have to keep my fingers crossed that maybe he’ll show up on Short Treks or that anthology show that Akiva Goldsman mentioned a few months ago where he said he had an idea for a story about Captain Archer and a Captain Sulu story. Tales of the Federation, I think it was called. I know he said the show doesn’t exist but his ideas were pretty detailed for a show that doesn’t exist. So maybe it’s on the drawing board for a possible idea for a future show, you know?

I can still keep my fingers crossed🤞😊. Live long and prosper, Tiger2 🖖.

Except for Worf, none of the TNG crew really have a connection to Sisko. If they wanted to bring back Sisko it would make much more sense if they got the DS9 band back together again to look for him (those that are still with us).

Then again, it also seems like the biggest hurdle to getting a return of Sisko might actually be Avery Brooks. He has basically vanished from the public eye. Whether that’s by his choice or whether it’s just that nobody is hiring him is unclear. But Brooks has said before that he thinks that everything important has been said about Sisko.

Just to let you know, Avery Brooks is a tenured professor of theater arts at Rutgers University. Also, Avery has said to Cirroc Lofton that he wants to work but, after 2013, Hollywood stopped sending him scripts and blacklisted him for some reason and he has not Cirroc have any idea why. Cirroc also said that if Avery got the right script, he would do movies or TV shows again but nobody’s sending him any scripts. Cirroc talked about Avery on his podcast one time and gave the fans an update.

So, it’s not that Avery’s retired. Hollywood turned it’s back on him. Plus, if they offered Avery Brooks a lot of money, like they did with Sir Patrick Stewart, then he would come back. Remember Sir Patrick used to say the exact same thing about playing Jean-Luc Picard, “Oh, Picard’s story has been told and I can’t see ever see playing that character again”. And yet here he is on Picard playing Picard again.

An actor saying that they’ll never return to play a character that they played before is just a go to answer for them when they’re dealing with the media. If anybody could convince Avery to come back, it would be Terry Matalas. Look what he did with Gates McFadden. She was really all done with Star Trek and yet now she’s gonna be on the next season of Picard.

I’ve been a Trekkie since 1991and in that thirty years, from the time I was 12 up to 42, I’ve learned to always expect the unexpected when it comes to Star Trek. Live long and prosper, DIGINON🖖.

He also said he would never play professor X again. And yet now he is in Disney Marvel playing him. Or at least a variant of Charles Xavier.

My dream have been heard! The TNG Cast really comes BACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!
I just hope it’s not “only” Spiner coming back, but Data really!

How many more come backs would you like for Data and Spiner?

As it’s the final tng reunion only one come back. Also Data not really had a come back since nemesis. He was just in Picard’s dreams/visions and we saw datas “soul” in a simulation of some kind. In the “real world” data never returned.

My money is on Wesley showing up! He may be more of a cameo, but he’ll be there. It’ll be a later surprise. After Trek is the ultimate coverup for his inclusion!

In my head canon there are four types of Klingon;

The first are the Pre-Augment virus originals seen in Enterprise.

The second are the Augment virus-infected version from TOS.

The third are the “Orc” versions from DIS, which are part of their continued attempts to undo the damage caused by the virus.

And the fourth are the cured versions from TMP through Voyager.

I wish they’d have a ‘family photo’ of all the designs together. Even a quick shot in an alien crowd scene would be enough.

Yeah. Hopefully someday ONE of these series will address it. I do fear, though, that because of the unwarranted backlash we may never see Klingons other than Worf ever again.

Well, I don’t think every criticism was unwarranted. Putting aside any issues with the new design, aesthetics and all that, they could’ve made it more acceptable by mixing them with the designs we already knew.

I had a similar issue with The Force Awakens. Just about all the alien species in the bar scene were new, which was okay, but it would’ve been nice to see some familiar species in there as well. It simultaneously connects the history of the old while making the universe feel larger with the new.

Those designs we already knew were not canonical post Enterprise and pre TMP. In the TOS era, which is when Discovery took place in, Klingons were portrayed mainly by white guys in blackface or white guys with just facial hair. There were no ridges, no long hair, no teeth, no nothing that resembled the post TMP Klingons.

In the second season of DIS, the actor that portrayed Tyler made himself look ike a TOS era Klingon just by growing his facial hair and his long hair.

They wouldn’t have been able to do the VoQ plot twist had they used TOS Klingons.

They wouldn’t have been able to do the VoQ plot twist had they used TOS Klingons.

Yeah well, all the more reason they shouldn’t have attempted that silly twist.

It wasn’t silly, though.

You’re right, it was very silly. ;-)

And it was contrived. Everyone spotted the “twist” well before it was revealed. Another poorly developed mystery box.

And how would that have been a bad thing?

There was nothing wrong with the VoQ plot.

Well, it wasn’t the worst thing in Star Trek Discovery. That’s about as far as I can go.

That’s fine by me at this point. Star Trek Discovery really screwed the pooch on the Klingons. (as well as many many many other things) They had a golden opportunity to show the original version and the film/Berman era versions of them. Showing there were different kinds on Qo’nos. But opted not do. Bad move.

They didn’t screw up the Klingons anymore than they did Tellarites (whose redesign also conflicts with the one seen in TOS and ENT yet no one ever complains about).

Klingons in the TOS era don’t look like they did Post TMP in TNG, DS9, VOY, and first three seasons of ENT. They look like white guys in blackface or white guys with beards.

Portraying them in DIS the way they were portrayed in TOS is not an option, and portraying them like they were shown post TMP would go against canon.

Given those facts, conceiving an entirely new look (which can be explained within the narrative as being part of their continued efforts to restore their original ENT-era features) was the only logical course of action.

It was expected that Tellerites would get a bit of a makeover. The Andorians did and that was very well received. No one is really complaining about the makeover. Especially when those makeovers are improvements over the limitations of 1960’s television.

Read my Klingon comment. They had an opportunity to show different kinds of Klingons in one room. And opted to not do it. Enterprise decided (they didn’t need to IMHO but they did) to explain the difference between TOS and TMP onward Klingons. It’s canon now. They could have chose to embrace that canon. Instead, decided to make a major change to a race who’s look was pretty firmly established at this point. And I’m not talking about small window dressing things. They made MAJOR changes. That is what set the fans off. I think I read somewhere, maybe I’m mistaken, but I read that an original Klingon idea was for them to be gold skinned but it was decided that would just be too costly. And I find it a bit disturbing that you keep mentioning the race of the actors who played Klingons on TOS. As if that’s relevant to anything.

I recall reading that they were intended to be gold skinned or something like that. But in the ’60s it came off as blackface, which looked terrible. Specially when contrasted against how two of those actors looked like in DS9.

Major changes were required. They couldn’t continue from where ENT left off, which was the same problem as with TOS, white actors in blackface.

Blackface to their right, canon to their left. They had to come up with something new, it was unavoidable. The only other alternative was white guys with beards.

Just hire black actors then. Michael Dorn and Tony Todd seemed to handle it just fine.

So did the ones they hired to play Pre and Post Augment virus-affected Klingons in Enterprise, but then they screwed it up by mixing in a couple of white actors they painted black like they did in TOS in the ’60s.

If DIS had adhered to that, all the Klingons would have been black guys with beards except for VoQ, who’d have been a white guy with a beard. And the process used to turn him into Tyler would have been to change his skin color or some stupid thing like that.

Simply put, TOS-era Klingons don’t work. They never did, whether they were played by white guys in blackface, white guys with beards, of black guys with beards.

And given that canonically they can’t have ridges after they’re infected with the virus and before TMP, a redesign was mandatory.

Maybe Wesley will have a cameo during Picard’s wedding, however like in Nemesis it will get cut, and the only way to see will be in the deleted scenes on the bluray. lol

Also… I know lots of folks have pointed out a frame from the Picard season 2 trailer thinking it’s Sisko. I wonder if that’s a misdirect and it’s actually from season 3.

Why would they put footage from season 3 in a season 2 trailer?

There was always a sad inevitability about this.

wish they would have not brought back worf and instead brought back tasha or ro both were much more interesting and better characters worf was a pathetic excuse for a klingon a crappy security/tactical/stratigic ops starfleet officer a horrible father and angel of death for anyone who got into a romantic love type relationship be it being murdered happened twice of being killed somehow happened in a alternate timeline future

Tasha is dead (twice in the prime timeline, infact)…with the exception of Spock, characters that are killed off in a major story point typically stay dead in Star Trek.

What if Wil IS making an appearance and he, and they are keeping a secret – looking over the last year, there’s enough holes in his regular posting that might be PICARD shaped. Since his focus has been his new book and The Ready Room could easily be cover. We know he’s doing a lot of audio-book narration for others and he did appear on S.W.A.T – so who says he didn’t cover up a couple of days filming in secret? If you know where look…ask his friend Blaine :)

20th Century TNG Klingon vs 21st Century PIC Klingon?

Not matter I happy for both he wear on TNG Klingon or PIC Klingons
Let accept it that