The final scene for Jean-Luc Picard in the series finale of Star Trek: Picard was an homage to the final scene of Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, Sir Patrick Stewart had a very different, and very personal, idea for how Picard should end.
Stewart wanted Picard to end with love
Patrick Stewart’s new memoir (aptly titled Making It So: A Memoir) comes out on Tuesday. Time Magazine posted an excerpt from a chapter covering his time on Star Trek: Picard. When he gets to the third and final season, Stewart reveals that he had a different ending in mind…
The third season came off magnificently. But its final scene, in which the reunited crew is gathered around a table with drinks, sharing a toast, is not how it was originally supposed to end. I had a different idea, which I brought to the writers a few months before we wrapped the series.
“What I’d like to see at the end of the show,” I told them, “is a content Jean-Luc. I want to see Picard perfectly at ease with his situation. Not anxious, not in a frenzy, not depressed. And I think this means that there is a wife in the picture.”
You see, the line between Jean-Luc and me has grown ever more blurred. If I have found true love, shouldn’t he?
The writers came up with a lovely scene. It is dusk at Jean-Luc’s vineyard. His back is to us as he takes in the view, his dog at his side.
Then, off-screen, a woman’s loving voice is heard: “Jean-Luc? Supper’s ready!”
Is it Beverly Crusher’s voice? Laris’s? Someone we don’t know? It isn’t made clear. But Sunny was set to record the lines.
Sir Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard and Orla Brady as Laris at Chateau Picard in a season 2 publicity photo for Star Trek: Picard (Paramount+)
By Sunny, Stewart is referring to Sunny Ozell, his wife since 2013. It appears that Stewart was hoping to make the season finale even more personal, further blurring the line between the character and the actor. Even though Stewart is an executive producer on the show, showrunner Terry Matalas stuck with his original ending which mirrored the final scene from Star Trek: The Next Generation with Jean-Luc joining his friends and crewmates for a game of poker, in this case at Guinan’s Bar in Los Angeles. Matalas always said he wanted the third and final season to be a “proper sendoff” for the TNG cast, and the characters playing a game of poker certainly fits that idea.
Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi, Jonathan Frakes as Will Riker, Patrick Stewart as Picard, Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher and Michael Dorn as Worf in “The Last Generation” (Paramount+)
While there was something very satisfying about how the series ended for fans of TNG, there is also a logic to Stewart wanting the character to show he was able to make a commitment to a relationship, which was the entire point of the second season. That season ended with him in love with Laris, who also appeared in the first episode of season 3. However, fans may have balked at leaving the ending unclear on whether Jean-Luc Picard settled down with Laris or Beverly Crusher. Of course, after Laris’ exit in episode 1 of season 3, Beverly Crusher was a major character for the final season, including revealing they shared a son, Jack Crusher.
Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher, Patrick Stewart as Picard and Ed Speleers as Jack Crusher in a publicity photo for Star Trek: Picard
As for Sunny, she actually did make it into the show. In the season 2 episode “Monsters” she played a singer in contemporary Los Angeles. You can that scene below.
Even more of the poker game is on the season 3 DVD/Blu-ray
If you liked the poker game ending, there is an easter egg with a bonus extended version of that scene where Terry Matalas (who also directed the finale) kept the camera rolling. The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard was released on home media on September 5 (see TrekMovie review). You can order the final season of Picard at Amazon on Blu-ray for $31.95. The limited edition Steelbook has sold out and the DVD is currently out of stock. A complete series set with all three seasons is also available at Amazon on Blu-ray for $59.95 and DVD for $49.99.
Box art for Blu-ray
And if you want even more, Star Trek: The Picard Legacy Collection arrives on November 7th. Described as “the definitive release for Next Generation fans.” The limited edition set includes 54 individually numbered Blu-ray discs and unique packaging that houses every TV series and film featuring Jean-Luc Picard. That includes 7 seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, 3 seasons of Picard, and the 4 TNG feature films along with over 35 hours of special features. This limited set also includes an exclusive edition of The Wisdom of Picard featuring brand new artwork and quotes, along with a one-of-a-kind deck of playing cards, a magnet sheet featuring all of Captain Picard’s badges and four custom Chateau Picard drink coasters.
You can pre-order the Legacy Collection at Amazon for $199.95.
Picard Legacy Collection
Making It So arrives Tomorrow
Stewart’s first memoir arrives on Tuesday, October 3 from Gallery Books. You can pre-order it at Amazon in hardcover for $24.48. or Kindle ebook for $18.48.
Making It So is also available as an audiobook, read by Stewart. You can buy it on CD at Amazon for $44.99 or digitally for $19.84 (or via Audible).
Stewart has also just kicked off a book tour with events across the country. Moderators including Whoopi Goldberg and LaVar Burton.
I’m pleased to share the moderators for my #MakingItSo book tour in the US, and sending a sincere thank you to all of you for purchasing tickets. The events are sold out, however, you can still purchase virtual tickets for the conversation in Los Angeles with the great… pic.twitter.com/iGLUa7dtYE
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) September 28, 2023
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Poor Laris. Some say she’s still waiting for him.
She is the Huell of Star Trek.
Ha! Nice!
The third season was excellent, but it had a couple missteps:
1) Jettisoning Laris, which seemed counter to where that arc was going.
2) Keeping Raffi, Picard’s worst character, while tossing out all the good characters.
3) Making Vadic too one-dimensional and thus wasting Amanda Plummer’s talent.
But everything else? Loved it all.
1.) It was always going to be Picard and Crusher – that arc had been going since 1987 so longterm fans deserved that! Laris should never have been introduced as a love interest in the first place. Just another error of the first two seasons IMO.
2.) I have to admit, I thought Raffi was terrible in the first two seasons. Especially how she went on about Elnor. So over the top and not earned in any way. However, I really liked her character in season 3 and her pairing with Worf was excellent. They worked really well together as characters.
3.) I thought Vadic was definitely not one dimensional, I thought she was an excellent villain and did her dad proud in that aspect (Cry Havoc!). However, I do agree I wish she played a greater role in the final then just getting rid making way for the Borg. I’d love to see her return if they do a post-Picard 25th Century show. Even maybe a redemption arc?
As long as we are doing this..
I don’t think the season was all that good but certainly better than what we got in S1 & 2.
Lose the Picard long lost son. Tired trope. Been there. Done that.
Drop all the Borg crap. The Dominion story line was plenty and worked fine. The show really went over the cliff when they showed up.
If they were going to drop in past characters since it was DS9 that dealt with the Dominion it made a ton more sense to get as many of them involved as possible. At the very least Miles O’Brian who had a TNG background himself.
There was no organic reason for the E-D facsimile to appear. I get that fan service is a thing but it needs to feel earned. This wasn’t.
Agree fully except for your last statement. It felt to me that too much was crammed into the third season. Too many character. Too many plot points. too many hair-raising last minute escapes from certain death. And for the love of God, will we just let Q and The Q die? Please!
I like Terry’s ending. In my head canon, Jean-Luc wants to be with family, his crew. He wants to be in Starfleet to be part of Jack’s life. I believe Laris knew he wasn’t coming back.
That was my take as well, the minute Picard heard Beverly’s voice again, it was game over for Laris.
I would have been ok with Laris being a holographic love interest
If that’s the case, then he was a real you know what – rhymes with trick. Picard had too much character to just dump her. Bad show-running and writing, more likely.
They picked the right ending.
No they did not.
Go troll elsewhere.
Says the salt vampire…
Narrator: “They did.”
Matalas just re made the ending to TNG. It was a lame ending. Having Q show up at the bar would have been a better ending.
No, I prefer Stewart’s ending
Absolutely, another reason giving creative control to actors isn’t always a good idea haha
Frakes
Nimoy
You were saying? Lol
Yep.
Damn, this should have been the ending.
Another missed opportunity from Matalas.
Matalas just re made the ending to TNG. The guy has no original thoughts in his head.
If they moved up the reveal of Jack’s powers, they would have had more room to play.
In my better ending, it should have been obvious to everyone what was going wrong with Jack. Beverly should have beaten herself up a little and then we could have watched Picard take the blame away from her to himself.
Riker would have been saved by the Romulans he chased away, led by Commander Oh and Laris. Then they join the battle to destroy the cube and give room for Picard save Jack.
Connecting those threads would have given the series a real “trilogy” feeling and not tarnished the “reunion” part.
Perhaps they considered this and couldn’t afford it!
I was half expecting the Good Borg from last season to show up and help. Wish they would have left the reunion for last episode.
He’s 100% right. Having Laris at the beginning of the season and then having her disappear was distracting imo, would have been better off to not include her if they were doing that, but they should have included her and then include that scene (also, it should have been Laris).
I think the guys at Red Letter Media were basically right in their review of season 3, which is that not only did Matalas have to fix the first two seasons of “Picard” but season 3 also functions to fix the TNG movies too.
Patrick Stewart is a great actor, but all of his instincts about Picard as a character tend to be wrong. And when they veered away from the cerebral captain of the TV show to the man of action and fist fights of the movies, they lost something. And season 3 also had to fix all of the mess they’ve done with Data since “Nemesis” as well.
In my opinion, people misconstrue the relative failure of the first two seasons compared to the third. A retrospective on Picard could have been wonderful and critically acclaimed in the right hands. Instead, it was schlocky and directionless.
To me, Picard season 3 is thematically the same as The Voyage Home.
People whine about Jack and the ins and outs of the Borg/Changeling plot, but the season is not really about that, in the same way The Voyage Home is not really about the whale probe. At the end of that movie, we don’t know who sent the probe, we don’t why they wanted to talk to humpback whales, and we don’t even know what they said to each other.
And it doesn’t matter at all. Because The Voyage Home is about why those characters function as a family, showing how well they work together, and why they deserve to be together again on the bridge of the Enterprise-A at the end.
Picard season 3 matches those themes exactly and builds exactly to the same conclusion, of that crew as a family on the bridge of the Enterprise-D. And the message season 3 seems to want to convey is that Picard, Riker, and all of them had forgotten how much better being with each other made them. And it was what they had lost. Picard was wasting his final years on a vineyard and searching for new connections, when he had become distant from the ones that were the most dear to him.
This is one of the best responses I’ve ever read on this site. Insightful, thoughtful and in my opinion spot on. Agreed and good job!
Bit disagreement on TVH. And I’m a HUGE TOS guy. That silly probe is irritating to this very day. Nothing about it made a lick of sense and it contributed mightily to dragging down that film. We absolutely needed to know at the very least some sort of “why”. That entire film actually feels the least Star Trek like to me out of all of them. No one seemed to wonder about why the probe was here or where it came from. Or that we might be hearing from them again. It made zero sense that whale songs could travel from the ocean through the vacuum of space as well.
Sorry. I could go on and on with the problems of that film.
Agreed
The thing is there was nothing to “fix” in the movies. I’d argue the only things to “fix” from earlier seasons was first, turning Picard into a robot. But that ship sailed in S2 as Q was pretty much the only one who could have done that. The other thing was if they wanted to bring Data back they should not have said the data download to B4 was rejected. That was the easy way to bring him back right there. So agian, that ship has sailed. He really should have remained gone. What S3 could have done would be to wrap up Lore. Get rid of it once and for all. That way Spiner could have still taken part.
I’m pretty sure the ratings win was all in the near-complete reunion of the TNG cast, including the ship.I don’t think having got everything together they were going to shy away from what was probably going to be the most popular option.
It was the blue pill after all …
While the poker game was a bit derivative, it’s a better ending than this. An ambiguous ending with Laris/Beverly being used as shipper bait and thrown into an old-fashioned housewife role is the worse alternative imho. I guess this is why Picard and Beverly’s relationship status was left unresolved.
I think Beverly was left vindicated in ditching and hiding from Picard who was indeed compromised by the Borg. Probably explains his AI obsession in S1 and S2 unknowingly being manipulated to get the Borg the secret to full electronic life without the need for organic imagination (something even V’ger could not accomplish). Ironically he did it get it, but they had grown too impatient and didn’t realize what they had until it was too late.
Lower Decks does nostalgia. Fans: “Yay!”
Picard does nostalgia: Fans: “MATALAS SUCKS!”
Win some, lose some…
I think the vast majority of fandom loved Picard season 3 (e.g., it’s audience score at Rotten Tomatoes is 90% compared to season 2 of SNW’s being 75%).
The people on here who complain about it and Matalas always seem to me to be more upset and threatened by what they perceive season 3 of Picard to be instead of judging the series on its own terms. Since it in a lot of ways was embraced by all the people who complained about Discovery and the stupid departures from canon that Discovery took, then to like season 3 of Picard, which fully embraces the Berman era of the franchise, old-school LCARS and all, is for some to tacitly admit those people were right.
That you don’t have to update every design for a modern audience, turn the Gorn into xenomorphs, and make Khan Canadian. That maybe, just maybe, you can make more Star Trek that looks like the Star Trek we know and build on it. It’s a crazy idea, but it seemed to work.
By all indications, Picard season 3 was a run away success on every level. Obviously it doesn’t mean everyone loved it (and I had issues with it too, but generally liked it). But this should’ve been the show in the first season and what most fans wanted in the first place. But then again, fans were truly receptive to the first two seasons too…until they weren’t. Most seemed happy just to have Picard and Seven back and mostly liked the new characters,it was the stories themselves that lacked.
And that was the other issue, season 3 didn’t just feel like a return to Berman era Star Trek (although honestly, SNW, PRO and LDS all feels like Berman era Trek to me, just not as directly I guess; Discovery is really the lone holdout in that regard IMO) but just a more competent season overall. Of course having Crusher, Worf and Riker back full time got people excited, but it sticking to landing is more important than anything. If it didn’t people would be dogging it like they still do Nemesis 20 years later.
So are you saying the final act of S3 was the best part of it? I sure don’t. That was where the show fell over the cliff IMHO.
Season 3 was awful, I say that as a fan of the first two seasons.
Cognitive dissonance. Fanbases are all the same
The very simple difference is one of them is good at it. A big chunk of Lower Deck’s nostalgia is about critically examining the franchise, and celebrating stuff that fans would call bad or embarrassing as still being Star Trek.
There’s a reason the people who hate the “memberberries” Lower Decks gives us loves Picard. These people say that Lower Decks hates Star Trek, and is making fun of them, despite being so milquetoast and celebratory. Because any reference to the past that isnt treated with complete reverence is an attack on the franchise on a whole. Lower Decks positions the TNG era as well meaning but imperfect, while Picard positions it as what is going to save the franchise.
I think this divide also comes in the people who are glad season 3 didnt reference the first two seasons. There’s no need to reference those, they were bad. While someone else would be willing to say, yes it was bad, but it happened and pretending it didnt isnt great. It’s a similar divide.
While it’s obvious I have my bias to one side, I can mostly understand both sides of this (if you hate all the other modern trek shows, S3’s TNG stuff DID save the franchise for you). It’s just to say, while fans of both shows are numerous, there can definitely be a reason people would like one but not the other.
Yes… That is a conundrum.
I agree with others, the ending they went with was the better one. It was more of a celebration and catharsis not to just the end of Picard, but 35 years of these wonderful characters. And take it from someone who watched the finale in a full theater, people were ecstatic, clapping and laughing as those guys sat around the table playing poker. I thought it was the perfect ending.
Now THAT said, Stewart’s ending could’ve worked if the point of the show was to get him to that phase in his life and was an arc the character was on for the last 3 seasons, but it wasn’t. They ACTED like it would be in season 2 and that he and Laris were going to get serious only for it to just be a bizarre after thought by the end. It wouldn’t have felt right at all in season 3 since she literally disappeared after the first episode. It could’ve worked with him and Beverly which most fans probably wanted, but again that wasn’t the focus of the season, but their son.
As much as I enjoyed season 3, the show overall was a train wreck. Every season just felt completely disconnected from the previous ones other than referencing some of the story lines. I don’t know if or when we will get a Legacy show but it has to be better thought out than what Picard ended up as a whole. But I really trust Matalas to do that.
Yeah them sitting around playing poker was the perfect ending! … on All Good Things. But of course, why come up with something new when you can just reference old Trek.
Heh. Indeed.
Instead they just recreated the All Good Things ending. Makes sense given the rest of the season had nothing new to offer either.
I still want him to end up with Laris. She is perfect.
He can be a friend to Beverly, father to Jack and husband to Laris.
Hell, it is the 25th century, they could all live as a loving family.
Not surprised Stewart wanted the ending to be all about him. The fact that he says the line between himself and Picard has become blurred is a problem, and we see that clearly in the 3 seasons of the show. That character he played didn’t feel like Picard at all. The actual ending was perfect. The crew, his friends and family, all together and happy.
I agree. Picard has always felt the antithesis of ‘all about himself’ so that weird disconnect definitely exists throughout all three seasons.
Stewart’s idea sounds more consistent with the first season of Picard, but the filmed ending is more consistent with the third season and the idea of it being an extended next gen final movie.
I agree with Patrick Stewart about tgat ending. They could have worked in the toast to say goodbye to the crew and flashed forward a bit. The show is PICARD after all and it would have brought it full circle to show him back on the vineyard and content (wife or not) just smiling and sipping a glass of wine.
Team Laris, here. I like Stewart’s ending better.
Not that it would have saved the season or anything, it really was the better ending. It felt like Picard’s story has finally been told. And really this should be the end of TNG. They get two endings and that’s more than enough. Ending it at the poker table (which didn’t work on TNG to begin with) calls back to that TNG scene which was not an ending at all. That tells the viewer who picked up on that there is still more to come.
I feel like they went that way only to keep open the possibility of more. Ending it like Stewart suggested is more of a closed door.
That poker game ending of “All Good Things” is one of the classic show finales of all time.
To copy what people often say to me… (And yes, it’s obvious but turnaround is fair play I guess)
In YOUR opinion. Others saw it as awkward and clunky.
The line between Jean Luc and Patrick only blurred because they gave him too much control over this series. Making Picard more like Stewart is a disservice to the character. I think Sir Pat needs to scratch his life story itch in some other place and way.. not by changing the Jean Lucy character inexplicably.
Agreed!
A three way with Laris and Beverly? For mature audiences only…
I’ve seen videos like that 😉
The most chemistry Picard has ever had on screen with a love interest has been Cmdr Daren from the TNG episode Lessons. Laris? Don’t make me laugh.
I didn’t like the ending at all. They were so desperate to cram all the old characters in that some new stalwarts were left in the dust. Laris especially. I didn’t like her demenour when he came back to find her ready to move on and with a few sweet-talk words, she abandons her life in favour of his. Then he f’s off in season three and we never see her again. What a shame for the actor and her character – all to recreate a scene from the old series.
His idea for the ending probably would have left fans till the end of time going who’s the women, who’s the women, tell us tell us who is she.
Yes. I think that was the point. The woman could be whoever each viewer wanted it to be.
As much as I respect and appreciate Patrick Stewart….his ending read so generic and cringe worthy, though a decent compromise would have had Laris in the background at the bar….. giving Picard a drink and a wink or wearing a ring.
I think it should have been revealed that he was living in the Nexus since the events of Generations, and the reason his life went the way it did, is because JLP truly believed after the death of his brother and nephew that he did not deserve happiness, which explains why he created the life he did, a life of unhappiness and regret about choices he made.