Terry Matalas Says ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 3 Passes The Torch To The “Next Next Generation”

The third season of Star Trek: Picard is being promoted as the final season and a “proper sendoff” for the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew, but there has also been much talk of a possible continuation for the TNG and Picard characters. Now the Picard showrunner is dropping more clues for what’s to come.

Safety not guaranteed

In an interview in the February issue of SFX Magazine, showrunner Terry Matalas responded to all the talk about the TNG characters continuing on past season 3 of Picard:

I think there are ways of seeing these characters again, in a kind of Next, Next Generation story. Not all these characters—I’m not gonna say they all necessarily make it out safely of season 3. But I will say that in science fiction, there are always ways of seeing people again. So of course, who wouldn’t want to do this forever?

Jonathan Frakes as Riker and Patrick Stewart as Picard in season 3

The executive producer has often talked about how he would like to see a spinoff series set in the 25th century. He talked to SFX about how the upcoming season sets up the possibility for more:

This season is very much a passing of the torch to the next generation. So it will really be up to the fans to decide if they want to see more. Star Trek has always been up to the fans. The fans brought back the original series characters into feature films and conventions and kept it alive, it will have to be the same here. So we’ll see.

Season 3 poster

Reminder: Final trailer this weekend

There is one more trailer coming, which will premiere at halftime during the NFL AFC Championship Game on Sunday, January 29th. The game starts at 6:30 PM Eastern on CBS and Paramount+. An extended version of the final trailer will likely be released later online.

The third and final season of Picard premieres on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., with new episodes of the 10-episode-long season available to stream weekly on Thursdays.

Picard streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S.A. It is distributed concurrently by Paramount Global Content Distribution on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories, and in Canada it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.


Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.

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OK Terry, that’s enough advance info now. Sigh!

And being realistic, I’m not all that sure that passing the torch from an actor in his 80’s to an ensemble cast mostly in their 60’s and 70’s is “the next generation” exactly? This crew and set of actors is/was the next generation already. Plus, the makeup and look of the characters in this season is deliberately old — if they wanted to move to a new series with this cast, less Picard, that is a weird makeup choice to make when they could have made them all look younger? For example, Dorn and Burton look younger in person than they do with their makeup and hair color for S3.

Im guessing that the next next generation is referring to newer characters the show will introduce, like Geordi’s daughter. Id guess the only legacy character that might continue would be Seven. I also cant figure out why they insist on making them all look so old, Worf could very easily look like a slightly grey haired version of what he was on DS9. To me he looks way too old for where he should be, especially given that Klingons age slower. Geordi looks too old too, and the last couple seasons Picard acts much more feeble than Stewart does.

I also cant figure out why they insist on making them all look so old, Worf could very easily look like a slightly grey haired version of what he was on DS9. To me he looks way too old for where he should be, especially given that Klingons age slower. Geordi looks too old too, and the last couple seasons Picard acts much more feeble than Stewart does.

I could not agree more!

Um because the actors are old? Also remember that we see an older Worf in “All Good Things” and he had grey hair!

Your are missing the point. The makeup and hair design is making some of the characters look significantly older than the actors.

I think they are just allowing them to be their own age. Allowing actors and characters to age gracefully and appropriately is a good thing.

Again, that’s not what’s being said here.

The problem is that people in the 23rd-25th centuries are supposed to be living about double what they are now e.g. Admiral McCoy being 137 and still alive to see the launch of the Enterprise D, so really they should have aged the TNG cast less. I’d say, Marina Sirtis is the only one who looks ok age wise. Other ways would be to have the fictional ages of the characters placed as much older than the ages of the actors playing them, e.g. 20+ years more. The only one they did that with was Patrick Stewart who began in the role of Picard aged about 46, but his character was about 59, as Picard was born in 2305 and the first season of TNG was set in 2364. So, he’s now nearly 100. Another way is to say that one season of Trek equates to 2 years in the Star Trek universe, instead of 1 for 1.

That dude just keeps posting one sentence statements saying basically that he chooses not to believe this is an issue.

If “Seven” might continue, then She can take somehow the similar role like Admiral Janeway from Prodigy. Well, she has the Authority to be a Leader. Trough the Ex-Borgs , Sunn’s Androids and her time on Voyager and perhaps Riker and Troy’s Daughter. The daughter would be an Scientists Officer. because she displayed many curiosity and easiness in do things. Perhaps more of the “Green Skin” of Lower Deck mixed up with the “Hot Blood” of Riker and Empathy of her Mother Troy… Well, it would be curios to see

many fans hearts would skip a beat, if she do some Easter egg of Riker.. Yes, you guess right. In how Riker likes to sit on chairs, the famous “Riker maneuver”

I’m totally hoping Seven will be the lead on the next show. Her, Worf or Janeway would be my dream to have.

She gets command of the Voyager A

,👍

All of this makes the Star Trek universe seem very small. The mdoern US navy has around 300 ships. Starfleet, which operates not merely on a planetary scale but a multi-planetary scale, presumably has a lot more.

At the time of The Original Series, Starfleet had a lot of ships, but they only had 12 Constitution-class starships. So of course the captains of those ships all knew one another; the people at the top of their profession tend to do so, because there aren’t very many in such a position.

I would love to see Seven and Kira in a future series in lead roles.

As far as Janeway goes, she’s already covered with her own series, so let’s keep these new opportunities open for the actors/characters we love that don’t already have their own series.

Put it in reverse, Terry!

Just like warp drive, alien characters age at the speed of plot. Spock aged like a human until he was about 60, then didn’t age for an entire century, then aged significantly over the next 20 years. Tuvok and T’Pol were both much older than their respective actors. Alexander aged rapidly from birth to when he was played by Brian Bonsall, then rapidly aged between Bonsall’s last appearance and the Dominion War. The TOS Klingons aged 30 years over the course of a century. But people IN THE REAL WORLD age at drastically different rates. And species don’t age in perfect proportion to humans. If Alexander is not an outlier, then we already know Klingons don’t age at a proportional rate to humans. What seems most likely is that, similar to Spock, they have an adolescence that lasts about 8 years, then plateau at around 60 and stay a similar age for about a century or longer. But you can even look on Earth today. The idea that dogs age at 7 years per human year is far from accurate. It’s more like each year they age at a different rate, relative to human aging. There can be no doubt that would be the case for aliens.

That’s all well and good, but if the idea is to set this up for a follow-on series, multi-year run with all of these characters except Picard, having such an older LOOKING crew seems to me (my opinion) like a bad idea.

I think that this interview was Matalas trying to dial back the enthusiasm of the actors to carry on with their role as main cast characters.

He’s always intended this as a send-off and not just for Patrick Stewart.

It seemed fairly clear that there wasn’t an intent to have any of the TNG main cast in continuing main cast or principal roles. The entire generation is having their overdue proper farewell so that they can pass the torch.

Now, the cast interviews (and Kurtzman at the recent panel) have created some expectation for something that wasn’t the plan.

There is a risk, fans may be so focused on keeping TNG stories going, that the new generation being set up might not get it chance.

By any read of this board, it seems that the speculation of continuing TNG leads has already gone too far.

I like your interpretation and I hope you are right.

That makes sense; I think you’re right.

Actors always want MORE, which is part of why they’re not in charge. :-)

It’s funny, I grew up watching TNG. Of course, the cast were much older than I was at the time (being just a kid). Now when I rewatch the show it’s unnerving to think I’m actually older than a fair few of the cast back then. But looking at them now, I suddenly feel young again! Time is indeed a relative thing.

Good point — I hear you!

Stop reading articles if you don’t want any more info. And they clearly mean to the new characters, not the TNG ones.

I’ll comment on the logic of their marketing approach as I see fit. Feel free to disagree. :-) IDIC

OK Terry, that’s enough advance info now. Sigh!

The Paramount+ marketing department, who’s setting up these interviews for Terry, seems to disagree.

And they have already said that season 3 will introduce new characters, which is probably what they mean with “next next generation”.

For me the more interviews the better. I want to know as much as possible. Nothing been spoiled either.

I actually suspect they’re holding back far more than people think.

I’m all for passing the torch, not so much on deck clearing the S1 and S2 characters for Matalas’ new crop. But we’ll see how it turns out.

Well, we should take the Real age of the Actor’s into account. They can not be forever young. I think that’s a bit what she mean, too

Perhaps some “Legends” should create some sort of Sound Databank for future “CGI” Avatars (Like Prodigy). But, well. I do not know if everybody like to do it

Sure, but my main point is why then make them look older than their real age at this point in time like they have done with several of them???

I just flat out disagree with your observation they’re making them look older than their real age.

That’s what they look like.

Dorn and Burton look AT LEAST 10 years younger in person today than they do in Picard S3.

Dorn isn’t really a Klingon.

I saw Burton last year at a con. He looks like Burton.

I saw him too last year. The difference is the makeup team has added more gray to his hair and beard.

I watched Burton in an interview last month. Aside from the contact lenses to make his eyes look cybernetic I can’t tell if he is wearing any makeup.

Klingons live well over 100-150 if they don’t die in battle per Memory Alpha, and I remember it either being mentioned in an episode or books (yes I know books arent cannon), and as Michael Dorn looks younger as himself than Worf there wasnt really a need to make him look older than he actually is.

Same with Burton, he looks younger in person than everything we’ve seen in season 3 thus far, some people and some species just age better, no everyone needs grey or no hair!

Yeah exactly. And if you look at pictures from Burton last year or saw him last year in Vegas, it’s very clear that they have added more gray to his beard and hair for this role

You’ve completely missed the point

Although I think Picard’s story might be nearing its conclusion, I hope to see much more of Riker, Deanna, Geordi, Word, Bev, Seven, Kira, Quark, Miles, etc…. Live long and prosper, TNG, DS9 and VOY legacy characters! 🖖

But then these Shows need an new name. ST: Legacy’s (perhaps)

Just no

Same bro same. I want to see as many legacy characters as possible on both the next season and the next show. And someone here said we’re going to see more DS9 and VOY characters next season too.

This is finally turning out to be the Star Trek I been wanting since Voyager ended way back in 2001. Never cared about JJ verse or any of the prequel stuff. I want a real return to the 24th century… well 25th century now. That’s my and millions of other fans Star Trek.

Trek really has stagnated if all fans seem to care about is legacy characters. And not just legacy characters but “as many legacy characters as possible”.

Yeah, it’s like the 600 lb guy in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life having a 20 course meal, then insisting on, “one last dinner mint.” In other words, at some point you got to move on or you’re going to explode the franchise…lol

I much prefer how SNW and DSC are doing it — by casting younger actors to play legacy characters. I don’t really want or need a TNG 2.0 series where the average age of the cast is 70…just my opinion…YMMV.

It’s NuTrek bro, it’s already been stagnant since JJ verse with that argument then. 😉

No one is calling Marvel or DC stagnant because people want to see all their superheroes over and over again. You think DC is hurting when it trouts out Batman for the 8th time in 30 years instead of making something new? According to the box office it seems to have the opposite effect.

People just want to see their heroes. I’m not against making new ones, it’s why I love Lower Decks and Prodigy so much. But I’m never going to turn down seeing more Spock, Janeway, Seven, Riker or Kira either. More the merrier.

In 20-30 years who are people going to be nostalgic for? It won’t be the legacy characters. Trek needs a mix of legacy characters and fresh ones. Discovery has a million issues but at least it’s pushing the franchise forward. Picard, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks and to a lesser extent Prodigy are mostly relying on legacy stuff.

Bro I just said I have no issues with new characters. I’m only saying I am happy to have as many old characters too.

Out of the five new shows take a guess which one is my favorite? It’s Lower Decks. The show with all the new main characters, not SNW or Picard which are filled with legacy characters for obviously old fans. And I thought I was going to hate that show like I did Discovery and Picard. Guess what won me over, the characters. And first season only had three legacy characters on it. Q, Troi and Riker. So we agree.

But when Lower Decks bring in legacy characters, they are usually there for just an episode or a cameo and don’t show up all season like Q or Spock did on Discovery. I’m just happy to see one show up in an episode like Paris, Kira and Quark. That’s all I need and not every episode.

Do you get what I’m saying now?

I don’t like Discovery much but the one good thing about it today was throwing it a thousand years into the future. It should’ve always been there. That’s why third season is still my favorite so far and not the first two with old characters constantly showing up.

So relax man, I have zero issues with new characters or a show with only new characters. I was mostly speaking for Picard itself because the TNG characters are my favorite cast and they are already turning it into TNG season 8 so I want to see as many as possible. I’m not saying that about every show man. 🤣

And of course they are relying on old characters because they want subscribers and it’s mostly old fans watching. Not many new fans are watching these shows. Look at this board man, I’m pretty new here but I can tell pretty much everyone here are old fans lol. Right? Same for other Star Trek sites I’m on, social media and so on. I might see a new fan here or there who said they are watching Picard or SNW but seem to be in a tiny minority. Maybe Prodigy has a ton of new kids watching but IDK.

I have a lot of friends, most of them don’t even know these shows even exist. No one talks about them other than old fans like here

So they are trying to appeal to mostly to them because they will keep paying if Kirk or Worf shows up. It’s really that simple.

In 20-30 years who are people going to be nostalgic for? It won’t be the legacy characters. Trek needs a mix of legacy characters and fresh ones. Discovery has a million issues but at least it’s pushing the franchise forward. Picard, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks and to a lesser extent Prodigy are mostly relying on legacy stuff.

Well said!

It’s so sad how all fans seem to want is legacy characters instead of new, and pushing the franchise forward.

I’m fond of both. It’ll be nice if whatever spinoff we get manages the balance as well as Prodigy – maybe one or two 90’s-era characters as part of the regular roster, and the rest new faces or modern-era Trek characters.

We can have both!
But ala “Generations”, time is a companion that reminds us to enjoy what we have. So, getting our legacy characters now while we still can is important.
Maybe in 20 years people will want legacy shows with Burnham, Raffi, Boimler, RokTok, and Ortegas. I know I will.

Ideally you get a good mix of both.

I personally still hope there’s a future for Elnor, Jurati, and Soji somewhere. (Not Rios, whose story seems to have come to an end)

I cannot wait for the inevitable legacy character deaths for the insanity in the fanbase that will ensue. “How dare they do this to Character X! Character X deserved better!”

My predictions: Worf and Beverly are toast.

I think it’ll be Deanna. Her connection to Riker would make it most tragic. And she died “first” in “All Good Things” which is obviously an alternate future but would bring things somewhat fill circle. Also, Worf joining Jadzia in Stovokor seems apt for our fearless warrior!

Fridging Deanna would be an appalling choice.

I hope the writers are good enough not to “fridge” her, but Sirtis has made it pretty clear that she’s relocated full time back to the UK and is at a point in her life where she’s ready to mostly retire – she has a lot of extended travel hesitancy. From a production perspective, having the option to imperil her character in some way is a gift.

Worf is surely going to go. It makes the most sense for him to go out in a blaze of glory and die an honorable death.

I will be sad.

If Lore ends up storing dead Beverly’s Katra, that will be the last Trek ep I ever watch. LOL

I’m not expecting a slaughter. Maybe one will go, but that’s it.

I think Worf should get a last stand movie all to his own someday, but not here.

Now I’m just fanfic writing. I’ll just sit back and enjoy the show and keep an open mind.

Erm why is it always “up to the fans?” Surely Paramount has made enough dough over 56+ years to realize Star Trek is a moneymaking property.

Exactly. It was never really “The Fans” — it was every viewer/ ticket buyer.

For all the talk of letter-writing campaigns, passion at conventions etc, the shows/movies get made because someone thinks they’ll make money. And that takes more than just hardcore fans.

I did happen once in 1968 with Bjo Trimble and her letter-writing campaign to get NBC to do a third season. If it wasn’t for that, Star Trek might have been canceled after only two seasons and there would not have not been enough episodes for syndication and then no more Trek.

But since then, I don’t think the fans really had much of a voice with the Powers-that-Be. Maybe the “Ask Ron Moore” board in the 1990s? Conventions? Twitter?

Yeah, the only other major Trek campaign like that was the Captain Sulu one years back. That was actually pretty respectable, and they even had a demonstration for a day at Paramount. To no avail though.

I don’t recall any significant fan campaign at all to save Enterprise after it was cancelled. Most of my fan friends (and I) at the time were kind of like, good riddance…lol I get that it’s more liked now, but fans were not happy with it back then, and many had already checked out of it.

There was a “Save Enterprise” campaign that included an attempt to crowd-fund a season 5, which allegedly collected more than 3 million USD in donations/pledges but was shot down by Paramount.

That was exposed as mainly dollars from the aerospace industry, but they acted like it was fan support.

Smoke and mirrors.

But the fans also have to watch in large numbers. I mean, look at the one series since TOS where even the fans kept tuning out — ENTERPRISE — and that got that series cancelled.

You need fans in force, plus a healthy number of casual viewers to keep a major Trek series going for years — you need BOTH. An exception would be a lower cost series like Lower Decks, which can get by with mainly just hardcore fans watching (i.e. doesn’t expand the market).

If I hear “expand the market” one more time from you, I’m taking a flight down to SOCAL and you better watch out (and it won’t be ’cause Santa Claus is comin’ to town)!

Awesome!!! :-))

I agree with your first statement: whenever they say “it’s up to the fans,” they mean “it’s up to the fans to vote with their pocket books.” If it were really up to fan sentiment only, ever series of Trek would get 20 seasons, or we would just be on season 57 of TOS.

But I take issue with another comment of yours – there is no indication (let alone proof) that LDS doesn’t bring in any new fans. There are a lot of fans it can attract: fans of comedies, animated shows, fans of Jerry O’Connell…

It’s basic viewership economics. We have to watch in numbers for them to make that money. For example if this gets half the viewers of SNW, you can kiss any follow-on series goodbye.

While we don’t see them here, there are certainly people on other social media who are saying that Lower Decks is their entry point into the franchise.

Without detailed stats, we can’t know how significant the show is in building audience, but there’s equally no support for the view that it’s only attracting long term fans.

I’ll grant him some hyperbole.

Oh man, again? Some character dies for no reason, like Data, who’s emotional chip was obviously having some issues again, Picard not noticing and killing his friend? Or do they make it less d*mb this time? I’m not going for smart in New-trek, I’ve given up on that.

Don’t mince words, Spock_y. Tell me what you really think!

Data didn’t have an emotion chip when he requested to die. That was left behind in his body.

Huh?

“We’re going to kill a character, just because, but it’s ok because it’s scifi so they can come back. *eye roll*

Not that we have any say, but Worf makes the most sense to be the one killed off. He has the most screen milage and dying of old age off screen would actually be a disservice to the character. A glorious death Ala Kor would be awesome

You could have be right. Honorable Death to die in battle while Protecting a friend

Yeah, I was talking about that in a thread above. Worf deserves the “Logan” treatment.

(I don’t need a ton of replies from people who hated Logan. I just like the idea of a big bloody Klingon last stand epic)

We keep getting mixed messages on this. The cast wants to return for more, yet we are hearing not everybody gets out of this. I think this is almost certainly the finale for the TNG cast, but it’s hard to say there is a TNNG seed until the show airs. It’s quite possible we might be seeing a SNW sort of spin-off thing going on. We know we are getting some new characters we haven’t seen in the teasers yet, so perhaps that’ll spark more interest in such an idea once we get the Trailer. I would love to see a passing of the torch, if only we can get a continuation in this TNG universe with Terry at the helm.

…if only we can get a continuation in this TNG universe with Terry at the helm

I still want to see a great Season 3 before I fully buy into Matalas. There is a lot of ASSUMING going on here about how good S3 is, and you know what they say about the word “assume.” :-)

Yes! This: “I still want to see a great Season 3 before I fully buy into Matalas.”

If someone hadn’t said it yet I was going to add it myself. IMO, there hasn’t been a good season of PIC yet, so talking about continuing it has no resonance with me until season 3 comes out and is actually good. Here’s to hoping!

Yeah, we’re all just pining hopes on him because the first half of Picard season 2 started out well and 12 Monkeys was well-regarded.

But Michael Chabon has a Pulitzer and Akiva Goldsman has an Oscar, so the proof is always in the pudding.

Well, they can’t very well say, “Nah, end of the road for me. My character bites it in week three.” ;)

Except that the whole marketing around this season is that it’s final, but the actors are contradicting that at almost every turn…all of them.

It’s the final season of Picard, sure, and probably Undiscovered Country time for the TNG cast as an ensemble. But of course actors are going to make it clear they’re up for work beyond the scope of this show – VA work, cameos, etc.

For my money, the character least likely to survive is probably Picard himself. That said, they’re making Geordi a family man, which makes me worry that they’ll kill him for the pathos.

Picard has now his Android Body. Perhaps he can be fixed. Like Data. But well. they sure will keep his Old Age appearance for sure (Well, his true Age of course)

It was made clear Picard’s golem body continue to age naturally and die. All it guaranteed was he could live out his life without the neurological defect. He does not have an android body that was artificial like Data and Lore.

This is starting to feel like a 10 episode remake of Nemesis

Yep

Boy, a Seven of Nine series would be wonderful…

Same. At the least, I want Seven, Raffi, and Elnor’s messy little family unit to carry over the spinoff.

And Soji! And it should have Queen Agnes of Borg as a supporting character.

Yeah, they’ve got to revisit the Borg Queen they left guarding the gate.

👍

Seven is my third favorite character in Trek after Picard and Janeway. Both Picard and Janeway lead their own show already so it’s Seven’s turn now!

I’ll still take Picard and Janeway though!

Can this guy not shut the F up now? I have to avoid all these websites because too much info. Maybe the websites can stop posting these quasi-spoilers too. Let me just watch the show already, right?

Yeah, he’s really out of control. I’ve never seen anything quite like this. He really needs to stay off Twitter now until the premiere. Kurtzman needs to step in and calm down this near-daily, unnecessary info release.

Nobody is forcing you to read the articles. The producers have talked about “passing the torch to a next next generation” for quite some time so there’s no spoiler in the headline if you still want to visit Trekmovie.

Instead of shutting up, it’s much more likely that Paramount Plus will actually ramp up their promotion efforts in the next few weeks leading up to the season premiere.

My good friend… promotion is expected… trying to drive interest is expect… but there’s just been too many potential giveaways of elements we don’t need. You are correct we are not forced to read the articles… and I don’t… but I literally am having to avoid reading actual one sentence “headlines”. That’s the difference, good sir.

…but there’s just been too many potential giveaways of elements we don’t need.

Exactly!

too many potential giveaways of elements we don’t need

That’s certainly subjective, judging by all the comments from fans who cannot get enough little tidbits.
The way I treat these is: I read them, and then I probably forget at least half of them pretty quickly because they aren’t any big spoilers.

Social media has made most people an attention seeker, and that includes Matalas.

Social media has made people younger than most of us here expect a constant drip of behind the scenes information to promote a major premiere.

He’s managing expectations while generating hype, which is his job.

Exactly!

Synth Picard isn’t as compelling as real Picard. I know he’s already dead. If he dies again, it’s not him it’s a synth recreation that has no feelings and is not the same person inside.

Having RoboCard was just a dumb idea all around. Especially when they completely avoided it in season 2. And they avoided it because yeah it was dumb.

This show turned out so bad but I am hoping next season will be great. Being RoboCard won’t matter much at this point.

RoboCard – LOL!!! Thanks for the good laugh!

😁

We all contribute to society in our own special way!

I know this wasn’t really possible, but they should have recast the role when Picard died. Turning Picard into a synth didn’t really mean that much in season one and they didn’t even bother exploring it in season two. It would have been more interesting to see a different actor take on the part.

Yea he gets this android body at the end of S1, but then he has all of these medical issues in S2? How do you have a medical coma that can be treated in a 21st century hospital when you have a positronic brain? Makes no sense?

Another reason why I can’t stand S2.

It’s almost as if the producers realized turning Picard into an android was a dumb idea and just dropped it.

I’m all for this idea for the next show. I think having new characters would be great. And maybe they can also have Worf too And Riker, maybe Troi and Beverly and Geordie. Maybe if Lore can be on it too I guess. It will be a completely new show.

😁

Dont destroy my hope for a new series Terry !

Star Trek Titan
Michael Dorn as Captain Worf
Jeri Ryan as Commander Hansen
Michelle Hurd as Commander Musike

I know I am not alone with wanting a seven and raffie spin off series there is hole lot of people on Twitter and fb groups wanting a series with them as the two main leads to the point there is a hashtag for wanting this series and plenty of fan posters with the two in it either holding hands or just thier pics inside a heart shape

Seven and Raffi? Good god no, they have zero chemistry and are extremely dull together. There’s just nothing there.

Yes this. I love Raffie.

I’ll never understand people wanting Seven and Raffi. They have literally zero chemistry together. Season 2 made that painfully obvious.

This confuses me. Their relationship mostly happened off screen. all we saw was the first crumbs of it at the very end of season 1 and then them squabbling in season 2 while they wandered aimlessly around Los Angeles until they kissed in the last episode.

I’m not sure what people are investing in when it comes to that relationship and these two together as there was nothing really shown to us.

Exactly!

Yeah. Few of the actors were well-served by S2, but the potential is there and I’d like to see the characters handled by better writers on an actual ensemble show.

If they do this, then for Christs sake, can we at least see them make out and wake up in bed together once in awhile?

They have chemistry, but it’s not what it could be given the writers are too chickenshit to explore their relationship.

Zero chemistry, and putting them in bed together will only make that fact even more obvious.

I think it’s a chicken or the egg problem. Maybe it’ll provide chemistry maybe it won’t. My point is that the writers aren’t even trying to give them a real love relationship to work with

Seven definitely!

But Hot Mess Raffie, pass. 🤮

I actually liked her in the beginning and then she got annoying—fast.

Maybe next season will change my mind. I kinda like Tilly now after 4 seasons so you just never know.

Meh. Jeri Ryan and Michelle Hurd have great off-screen chemistry. It’s not really translating on-screen, but they’ve also not been given good material. As it stands, I’d still like to see Jeri Ryan back, but I don’t love Picard’s take on Seven and could do without Raffi.

i want them kissing each other and holding hands and hugging at least once a episode if they get a series and both of them are married to each other and share a quarters and a bed
just to set off the homophobic sexist racist fandom menace part of the fan base and all the homophobic sexist racist maga-t nutjobs in the usa
plus having a lesbian couple on as series leads would be a first for trek

As a queer person I have a problem with this Michelle. I get that you want to see intimate parts of their relationship on screen, but your motives for that seem problematic.

You say you want this just to set off the homophobic part of the fanbase or because of a novelty factor (it would be a first for Trek)?
That would literally be weaponising and politicising an onscreen queer relationship with the aim of causing controversy and exactly what every TV show, or piece of entertainment, should aim to avoid in this day and age.

Queerness is not a novelty, and it is not something to be used as part of some alternative agenda. It’s a way of life and identify for very real people who consider that the norm of their lived experience. I remember someone once telling me that “Queerness isn’t queer for queers”, and it stuck with me. It just means that this life is all we know, it’s normal and again, not a novelty.

What we need is to see from all forms of entertainment is true, 3-dimensional, realistic and nuanced queer relationships explored because these things exist and deserve to be treated with respect and care. I have yet to see many good examples of this in genre television in particular. We definitely do not need another underwritten, unrealistic and shallow portrayal of a queer relationship that is celebrated simply because it exists, and was created just to tick some onscreen diversity quota or to rile up the bigots.

TBH I have zero faith in the creators, specifically the writers, of PIC to be able to create a realistic and complex on-screen queer relationship. From what we’ve seen of Raffi and Seven’s relationship – or more importantly what we didn’t see as much of their relationship happened offscreen – it has been an incoherent mess and a missed opportunity. Maybe if they decided to actually get some queer people into the writers’ room to offer their perspectives on it that would help, but I’d imagine they’d stick to who they have already.

After watching how limply Discovery has developed its LGBTQ+ characters since Michelle Paradise has been in charge, I still say it’s more about talent than it is being a card-carrying member of the community.

I’d argue that DISCO is a poor example for writing in general. For me it has had a problem with developing all of their characters and storylines, period.

When in doubt, they just hit the reset button and create a huge threat that the characters react to in lieu of any actual meaningful organic development.

Absolutely. Keyword being organic. The number of times characters just blurt out a new facet of their being without the show having done enough work to set it up is maddening. Things like Stamets worrying about the adopted children he hasn’t properly developed a familial relationship with. Or Georgiou suddenly being on a redemption arc in her last two episodes. Or Adira suddenly fangirling over Detmer. Or Owo blurting out her backstory in the middle of a crisis.

And Picard does better but so many decisions are just rooted in, “They have a trauma to overcome.”

And then you look at Lower Decks, and amidst the exaggerated tone and silly humor, there are proper character arcs and consistent characterizations for Mariner, Tendi, Rutherford, and Bold Boimler. It’s just better fundamental writing!

Worf is going to die.

If he does, good. He deserves a warriors death. It would be a fitting end for him.

When I hear it’s up to the fans, I don’t think it’s numbers but our response to S3. I think it’s whether we like the season and embrace the story. I guess we shall see.

If Worf is the one to go, he better go out like a Klingon warrior.

Which of course explains why they are marketing S3 during the freaking NFL playoffs.

Something is telling me Deanna is going to be the one who potentially dies.

I think Matalas has said that this season involves conflict between Crusher and Picard, but also Riker and Picard – which could come about by the death of Troi on this mission to save Picard and/or all of humanity… or whatever motive is behind this particular “big bad” of the season.

And to me Sirtis has been the quietest out of all the cast members in terms of press and marketing for this season. I’m not sure if she’s even been interviewed for it at all, or even has commented on it, and that seems odd.

But honestly I don’t want anyone do die. Killing off main cast members for shock value is old hat at this stage since Ned Stark lost his head all those years ago. For me it’d honestly be less predictable and then more enjoyable if everyone comes out alive at the end; which I hope will be the case.

BUT if Matalas is telling the truth and someone is on their way out I had a say I’d hope it’s Raffi for me. A great actress but they’ve done such a disservice to the character overall. What could’ve been the making of a great arc fell apart for me pretty quickly. I feel like her sole purpose in season two was to slow down the progress of other characters by way of her negativity and reluctance to accept what was happening due to grief and guilt, which got old really quick.

If dead characters stayed dead in major franchises I would not have an issue with ending a character. But they always cheat that and bring them back. It cheapens the gravitas of a character’s death and fans now wink-wink because they know the characters can be brought back.

I’ll say one thing about Ned Stark…that dude at least had the honor to stay freaking dead! :-)

I think sometimes it does depend on how clever creators are about it, but generally I’d agree with you about characters remaining dead having more of an impact.

Data comes to mind as an example. With the over saturation of Soong-themed ideas, and Data actually being in season one, and Spiner playing different variations of the same theme over and over I honestly have gone beyond the point of being invested in any of it as it just seems so convoluted and overworked at this stage.

But yeah Matalas saying in one breath that not everyone may make it through safely from season 3 but then also suggesting that through the shenanigans of Sci-fi storytelling they could return doesn’t really sit right with me in a way. It’s almost like he’s preempting some negative reaction in case people are not pleased, so that he can maintain “well it’s sci-fi so they could potentially come back somehow”, or plant that seed before it airs.

A very odd statement to make.

Well said!

Yeah, that was a not-great combination of 1) gearing the audience up for another character death in a show that has mostly used them in a clumsy attempt to wring unearned emotion out of the audience and 2) undercutting that emotional impact by reminding folks that if they kick up enough of a stink, someone might well tech-tech the character back to life. As you mentioned, very odd thing to say before the first episode has even aired.

Agreed!

Best bet is any spin-off would be called Star Trek: Titan because it’s a snappy marketable name they haven’t used yet.

Who would be in it remains to be seen, probably a mix of legacy and new characters, but I’d lay strong odds on Seven of 9 and Raffi, assuming they can lock down the actors.

Love these updates. Very excited. And this is going to be a great year for new Star Trek, with 60 episodes about to be rolled out from the five current series.

But I’m starting to get worried that we haven’t gotten any renewal news for any of these shows in over a year. None of the live action shows are in production and there’s no word of if/when they’ll start up again…

Hopefully I’m worried about nothing.

Starting to suspect we will not be getting all of that new 60 episode content this year. I think it’ll more than likely be spread out over this year and next year because of the lack of renewal announcements. Otherwise they’ll run out of Trek content and have a huge gap until they have more to offer.

I agree.

Next Generation. Use characters from the 25th Century in Star Trek Online.

Michael Dorn today looks 30 years younger than Worf here now. Makes no sense at all!!!

Yep

It’s an odd decision, yes. 60 year-old Worf looks as old as the Blood Oath trio who were supposed to be well over 100 by then.

Maybe there’s a story reason for it that we haven’t heard yet. Maybe he got some disease that turned his hair white, or he spent a lot of time time-traveling, so he’s actually lived decades longer than the date would suggest. I can think of a dozen story reasons why Worf might look older than Dorn.

Same reason Shinzon has no hair in Nemesis. They think audience are stupid and need to see Picards Clone have no hair because we need to see the resemblance with our 60 year old Picard. And god then they showed our Picard in his academy days without hair and that was so stupid. It would have been super easy to add a whig, film it early when Hardy still got hair, or later when grown back, or added CGI to the mix.

In reality, until the show starts it’s impossible to say what the reason is. There may yet be a genuine reason. Perhaps Worf just aged really quickly. He’s been through a lot afterall.

Well Picard is already dead, so….

“Terry Matalas Says Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Passes The Torch To The ‘Next Next Generation'”

Maybe they could call it “Star Trek: The Generation After That.”