With the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard a success, Sir Patrick Stewart is still thinking about what could be next. Even before the final season debuted the Next Generation star was talking about his hopes to return to the big screen as Jean-Luc Picard. Now Stewart has indicated there is an actual project with him in development, including a new script.
Stewart talks new Star Trek script
As a guest in the latest episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, host Josh Horowitz asked Patrick Stewart about his Star Trek hopes and the actor confirmed he was still interested in returning to the big screen as Picard. He then started talking about his experience with the Star Trek movies:
“After we finished recording our seven seasons of Next Generation we made four Star Trek movies of varying qualities, the best one being [First Contact], directed by Jonathan Frakes. He was one of the people who had the most influence on me on the show because of his experience and his understanding of the complexities and how bringing different qualities onto the stage was very, very important in diversity and change.”
As Stewart continued talking about Star Trek movies he dropped a surprise; revealing there is a Star Trek movie script being written with him in mind:
“So it’s an ongoing procedure for me. I heard only last night about a script that is being written, but written specifically with the actor, Patrick [Stewart], to play in it. And I’ve been told to expect to receive it within a week or so. I’m so excited because it sounds like the kind of project where the experimentation that I want to do will be essential for this kind of material. It’s good at 83…”
TrekMovie has confirmed with Josh Horowitz that this interview was recorded in early November as Stewart was out promoting his new memoir, Making It So. This comment from Stewart is the first indication that there is a movie project in development that would include the character of Jean-Luc Picard. Officially Paramount has only confirmed they are developing another film in the Kelvin universe starring Chris Pine (aka “Star Trek 4”), but there have been reports and rumors about other scripts for different Star Trek movies in development at the studio as well.
It is possible that Stewart could be talking about a Star Trek streaming TV movie like the Section 31 film starring Michelle Yeoh which goes into production later this month. Last year it was reported that Paramount+ was looking for Section 31 to be the first of a series of streaming Star Trek movies for Paramount+. It’s possible a streaming movie could be a vehicle to carry on the story of Star Trek: Picard, potentially working as a backdoor pilot for the often-discussed (but not in development) Star Trek: Legacy series envisioned by Picard showrunner Terry Matalas. However, the series finale of Picard ended by putting the focus on the newly rechristened USS Enterprise-G under the command of Captain Seven, played by Jeri Ryan, with a crew of mostly new characters from season 3 of Picard. While Stewart could appear in “Legacy,” it does not appear Jean-Luc Picard would be the focal character.
Patrick Stewart as Picard and Jonathan Frakes as Will Riker in”Imposters”(Paramount+)
Stewart also replied “yeah,” when asked by Horowitz if this script would be “a little bit of a different take than what we’ve seen in the last few seasons of Star Trek: Picard.” He then explained how he is motivated to take on new challenges as an actor, reflecting on his work in Picard:
“What was so interesting about Picard, and the main reason why I decided to commit to three seasons of it was that Akiva Goldsman talked to me about the changes that had happened in my life in the last 20 years. And he said, “Were there any?” and of course, I said yes there were lots and lots and new journeys and new experiences and relationships. And he said, “Exactly! Well that has also been Jean-Luc’s experience.” He’s not the same man. He’s no longer captain of the Enterprise. He was made an admiral. It became really desk work, which is not what he ever wanted to do. And now he’s back at home, living on his vinyard and seeming to be reasonably content. All that was an act. All that was Jean-Luc trying to pretend – as I think my father did – that everything was all right. But it wasn’t.
So particularly the last season of Picard was extraordinary to perform because I was continually being faced, because of the wonderful job the writers did, with a different man. There was one wonderful moment I really enjoyed researching when Picard literally didn’t know what to do, how to deal with a situation. He was stunned by it. And watching him having to cope with that realization of ‘I’m old and I can’t work out how to deal with this’ was it was a fascinating process. So I enjoyed that.”
Patrick Stewart as Picard in “Imposters” (Paramount+)
You can watch the full interview on YouTube.
Woo Hoo!
Well, everything depends on the script, of course. But I think that — unless the script is truly a masterpiece — the character went out on a high note in season 3, and they should leave it at that.
Agreed!
I agree so much!
100%
Agreed. But then the TOS cast went out on a high note in TUC, but then Shatner came back in Generations. So…
Generations was absolute tripe. Made Trek V (which I like anyway) look like a masterpiece…………
Yeah, my point was that even though the TOS cast had a great movie to end their story on, they still used the Kirk character again. If they did it once, they can do it again.
If the team behind Picard S3 is involved, then full steal ahead. Otherwise, maybe let’s leave a great ending alone
Aye, a movie with the team behind Seasons 1 and 2: zero interest. They had no idea how to make a compelling, coherent story. Both seasons had individual elements of interesting ideas, but they were just a big bag of random stuff that never quite gelled together.
Maybe restricting them to feature-length might work better with them, but I’m not sure I want to risk seeing how that would turn out. :P
The team behind season 2 was essentially the same as that behind season 3, no?
Terry Matalas was largely responsible for season 3, hence bringing in different writers and composers. In season 2 he only worked on the first few episodes. It all was approved by Goldsman and Kurtzman, but I got a bit of DS9 vibe where Ira Steven-Behr was given a long leash by Rick Berman.
Yep.
There is only 1 new writer for season 3 (Sean Tretta). All the others had worked on season 2 as well. So it’s basically the same team of writers who gave us season 2 also gave us season 3.
I’m not sure what exactly went wrong in season 2 and right in season 3 but continuing with the season 3 writers room is no guarantee we won’t end up with something like season 2 again.
That may be so, but Matalas obviously had full creative control to implement his vision for S3, and oversaw that writing team in fulfilling his vision, so it was a different animal.
I can’t believe I am defending Matalas…lol Because S3 still did not work for me. But S3 was eminently watchable at least — S2 was not watchable and I want that 9 hours of my life back.
I still think bringing the Enterprise D back in season 3 made no sense. It made about as much sense as Luke’s lightsaber he lost on Cloud City in Empire Strikes Back showing up for Rey to find it in Force Awakens. I mean Star Wars and Star Trek, apples and oranges, but i feel like its what they do make these fan projects to have nostalia bait.
2 hours back to back unoriginality with warp 10 fan service would be more preferable than 10 x 1 hour episodes I suppose
I hope the season 3 team all get the sack. I’m sick of their nostalgia bs.
PS3 wrapped almost two years ago. If they haven’t landed other work by now, that speaks volumes that they aren’t as marketable as the fan base imagines them to be.
You may not have liked it, but it’s not hard to take a step back and see how warmly the critics received it and it was a PR and ratings success. That’s more than enough to get its creatives in the door for myriad meetings, and development of shows takes time. If Matalas is actively trying to get a new show, Trek or otherwise made (we don’t know that he is) then any resistance is down to the creative concept/budget etc, nothing to do with lack of goodwill for what he made or his management style. No reason to make such a big and negative supposition.
This looks to be more on a Picard-centric movie though given what the article says. Forgetting which season of Picard people prefer, I think most would agree that the last time he really excelled with an acting/physical/voice performance of the Captain Picard we all wanted to see was Season 1. It was pretty evident, starting in S2, that Stewart/Picard is slowing down, the voice doesn’t sound quite right, and that was covered up mostly in S3 given it was a full cast reunion season.
It could also just be a cameo. Plus it may be quite advanced and due to film soon – we don’t know that ‘Section 31’ isn’t set in the 25th century era, given that Georgiou time travelled, or even the 24th with this set before Star Trek Picard.
I’m also not sure how willing Hollywood execs are to hang an entire film on the availability of an 83 year old actor (ST Picard notwithstanding) which makes me lean towards thinking any role will be more likely to be cameo or supporting rather than central.
It’s not like casting an actor in a one-off role where they can recast.
That’s an interesting idea
I’m perfectly good with it for what it was, a big old sloppy french kiss and ass grab of fan service. Matalas delivered in spades, and the TNG cast stepped up and did great with the flimsy story they had. Legacy is a popular genre these days, someone will bring Matalas on board. But do we need more fan service Trek? No, we don’t.
If Picard season 3 was passing the torch, the future is legacy. But i think the studio might think a TNG movie might make money. They don’t care about fans feeling like its a bit much, like butter scraped over too much bread.
Feeling conflicted. Sir Pat Stew is showing his age god bless him, and Picard S3 was already a wonderful good-bye to this character full of fan service and basically making up for the mess of S1 and S2. Not sure where they can go but aground.
Very well said. Agree 100%.
Wonderful!
Hmmmmmmm extremely skeptical about this generally and after reading Stewarts comments even more so.
It’s been, what, a script a year since 2016? Keep the clickbait coming, folks.
They’ve spent millions on those scripts i assume. What is the point of having a pile of scripts you never intend to make, honestly studio politics have always confused me.
Nah, tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars. Compared to the hundreds of millions a sci fi CGI extravaganza costs, getting a script is pennies in the budget.
But they keep telling us Star Trek is the studios crown jewel and they want to make a movie. When all the evidence says otherwise. Forgive me for being a skeptic but i am getting old waiting for another movie. In 2 years time it will have been ten years.
And even though they say the tv versions are popular, the story I just read on DenofGeek about the top streaming shows (data from THE WRAP) doesn’t even have any Trek listed, so it must not even make the top 25 (MANDO came in at #1, ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING at 5, those were the only ones I saw that I actually got through the whole season on.) So I don’t see TREK as really prospering in any venue right now.
Wish Hawley got to make his feature!
I think the reason Paramount are keen on it is because it’s the closest they’ve got to an MCU or a Star Wars, so they’re going to try and elevate it. It doesn’t bode that well if it ever did end up with Disney or Warner Bros.
Personally I don’t really care about the movies (nothing against it if you do). If they keep making premium TV I’ll be quite happy. But if there are a lot of people like me in the fanbase, that doesn’t bode well for a movie any time soon unfortunately.
Plus I bet the contracts for those scripts make it easy for the studios to crib ideas from them, even if they don’t go forward. One of the recent Doctor Who 60th specials was a loose adaptation of an old comic book from the 80s – the writers got credited but I bet the boilerplate they signed all the way back then gave the BBC the rights to adapt it.
It will film 20 years from now. 😂🤣
Phil, is that you?
No, but I agree with the sentiment…
It is Paramount so probably true! 😂
This is probably coming out of the streaming side, which has more luck getting projects to the production stage.
Assuming there’s anything to this at all.
And by that time Transformers 40 will be in theaters. Its like that gag in Back to the Future II with Jaws 19.
Well if they can’t get their stuff together for a Kelvin movie or a Tarentino movie, they might as well do a TNG movie. I’m sure we’re all hoping they do it well!
Yes, my thoughts exactly.
Don’t care about another Kelvin or Tarantino movie at all but this would be my preference for sure!
Same. I’m so done with Kelvin and Tarantino was a bad idea from the start.
Yep! 👍
Maybe this will incorporate all 3 (Kelvin, Tarantino, TNG)
Lol no.
How about the reboot crew meets TNG, they’ve done crazier things. I just think it would cost too much so they won’t.
Well none of the kelvin cast can really cost too much (aside Pine but he has lots of bombs on his resume now, and Saldana but tbh her involvement in Marvel/Avatar doesn’t seem to translate much into other hit movies not an above the title lead ,more akin to Carrie Fisher in Star Wars). TNG cast probably just happy to be working in Trek again (after the superb Pic s3) and PStew def seems up for more, so yeah maybe there could be something of a ‘Generations II’/big finale for both casts on the horizon for the 60th Ann (for P+ or theatre or both)
Saying besides Marvel and Avatar an actor doesn’t do well is like saying, well, besides working for Warren Buffet and Elon Musk, they are really not doing that well. Lol, give me a break! :-))
PS: Zaldana is in THREE major franchises; Carrie Fischer was in one. That’s an absurd comparison, no offense.
Zoe Saldana was also in a recent 8-episode P+ series called Special Ops: Lioness. Sometimes when you scroll through IMDB you find work actors have done that gets no huge media attention … it’s almost like … they just like to work, especially when a quality script/story is involved. Over the last several years I’ve discovered many series that did not receive the attention they deserved.
Yep – Great point!
What I mean is her agent won’t be able to say zoe’s now been in the 3 biggest movies of all time its 10m for her to be in star trek again. They’d probably just write uhura out if that was the case
Honestly, while I liked Picard more than some other people did (still on the lower end of my rankings), I’m not a fan of another Picard movie or season. He got an ending in TNG. He got his movies. He got 3 seasons of a series, and while not everyone was a fan of the series as a whole, many agree that it at least rounded out his journey on a positive note. This isn’t to say I wouldn’t want him in *any* projects, if they can make a guest role work (i.e. in Star Trek Legacy), but not really another full Picard-centric project.
Not to mention, if we’re going back to past shows, there’s plenty more characters/shows that deserve their due more, since they’ve had minimal (or even no) representation in the modern era. More DS9 representation. Any canon Enterprise characters. I’d probably still watch this if they made it, but on the list of shows they could make, this is low on my list of what I’d actually want to see.
It’s all about the quality of writing of course as to how good it would be, but I would certainly watch it.
If we got this news after either Picard seasons 1 or 2 ended, my advice would’ve been to take that script, throw it in a large dumpster, get a gallon of gasoline, pour it in the dumpster, take a match and light it up! And wait for the fire to subside. DON’T LEAVE! Make sure the job is completely done. Once it is, check to make sure every page has been completely scorched before going on about your day and just pretend it never happened.
But after Picard season 3 and amazing the TNG cast was BRING IT ON!!!!!!
I’m so pumped if we got another movie!! And I don’t really even care about the movies but this would definitely excite me after how much I loved last season!
If they are too cheap or broke to make the Legacy show this would be a great alternative! 😎🖖
I don’t necessarily need the season 3 Picard team back but would prefer them over the seasons 1 and 2 people. But I am absolutely confused what else there could possibly be for Picard as a character. Sure, life goes on beyond things but as a character in a story you need to end on high notes with the implication they will go on with life content beyond that point in any way you could imagine but in which you don’t really need to see every detail of… which Picard season 3 cleanly set up Picard’s journey being done- he reconciled with his former love, met his son he didn’t know he had, was reunited with a lost Friend, managed to help save the federation, and then saw his son off to his first day of work following in his footsteps as a Starfleet Officer.
Picard season 3 very cleanly wrapped up Picard as a character and to risk creating a poor follow to that seems dumb to me… so I hope whoever is breaking the story and scripting it is an absolutely fantastic writer because the task here is pretty massive to accomplish as near as I can tell.
The only thing that makes sense would be something tied to Legacy. Either a Picard movie for Paramount+ that acts as backdoor pilot (although, I’d argue Picard season 3 probably does that), or just a pilot script for Legacy that features Picard and centered around him in some way.
I mean you could do Legacy as part of the series of TV movies instead of a full-blown series. I don’t know if the economics are better or worse in justifying costs when you amortize it either for a 2-hour-ish film versus a 10-episode series.
Given they are about to start filming the S31 movie, and now this news, perhaps they want to do a several TV movies per year as a cost saving measure versus greenlighting new series — then you have the movie dates scheduled for the couple of months in between 3 ongoing series…so people keep their subscriptions going?
I would be totally behind that, more and hopefully different, original ideas, a variety of casts and directors, and if a film is a flop, move on to the next. Much preferable to an entire series on something which may not interest, imo.
The problem with this theory is that puts a Legacy streamer 3-5 years out. And that assumes that a Legacy big screen outing doesn’t crater (a distinct possibility), or a main character actor doesn’t die.
There is no Legacy.
Hmm, I am not really down with this. Forgetting which season of Picard people prefer, I think most would agree that the last time he really excelled with an acting/physical/voice performance of the Captain Picard we all wanted to see was Season 1.
If this is going to be the next Trek movie, I am kind of disappointed and skeptical.
It is probably for streaming. Can’t see this having any shot in theaters
Same. No chance in the box office but SNW has already proved Trek can be a streaming success.
Even episodes of PIC were in theaters
True but it was very limited. Perhaps they decided this was the best way to go for a feature. Could want to capitalize on S3 of PIC. Not the way I would go but it’s not my $$
Those were promo events where Paramount gave away the tickets for free. That’s not gonna work for a wide release that actually has to make back its costs.
Why in the world is there always this fascination with a “movie.” Please, no. We ended the story with a pretty good romp. Finish on a high note. Move on.
Exactly – In 13 movies, we have had 6 good ones, and 4 great ones. If you get a season, you will get 20-30% great episodes, and at least 50% of the others good. SNW, breaks the template with maybe only 1 lesser episode a season (although season 2 had no bad shows).
So with a movie, you might get good, bad, or great. And you get to wait years for that. As season guarantees you will get some good to great shows, and you get it week to week, generally 20-40 episodes a year for the past few years. Even 2024 will have a season of Discovery and Lower Decks – and that’s after the strike.
Opinions will vary on quality. In my mind, two horrible ones (Generations and Final Frontier), and the remaining 11 get divvied up between good and great, depending on my mood.
Again, we lost the First Splinter for this?
TNG streaming movie most likely. Way cheaper to produce one of those…theatrical is too risky $100M budget plus expensive visual effects for lower returns vs streaming movie can be done for $20-30M ballpark.
Please, please no. Just let him and the TNG crew fly off into the space sunset. They’ve hung up their hats, their space hats.
Wow. I hope it works out!
Let’s see, Shatner was 63 when he filmed Generations. Stewart would be 85 (at the earliest) if this gets greenlit. Watching Ali fight well past his prime was painful to watch, folks.
I mean, there are people who still want Shatner to reprise his role as Kirk. Stewart is young compared to that ;-)
They also killed Kirk off. It wasn’t for that he probably would’ve been in the first JJ verse movie. And I read he was supposed to be in the last movie until they gave Bob Orci’s story the boot.
I read the same. And Orci even wrote a cameo for him in the first movie as a recording Spock had but Shatner doesn’t do cameos (most of the time).
Shatner has about 10 times the energy than Stewart. Christopher Reeve gets thrown off a horse in his thirties and it paralyzes him and ends up killing him. Shatner gets thrown in his eighties and uses a cane for about 6 weeks. Stewart in his early eighties can work only about 4-6 hours a day.
Have you actually seen Shatner lately? By his own admission he’s huffing and puffing through his day now, and his work involves voice over and narration. His action hero ship sailed years ago.
Just my opinion but pass. S3 Pic ended the JL story. I’m not interested in any more stories where Patrick plays Patrick. I prefer Legacy.
I’m thinking this will probably be a Legacy movie too but Picard is apart of it somehow. It would be strange none of that cast wouldn’t be back at all.
Agreed! If it doesn’t involve the TNG crew, the Ent-G, written by Terry, and directed by Frakes, I’m not going to bother. I’ve started to give up on modern trek. It’s one bad idea after another.
I was thinking Legacy too but why would a Legacy movie focus on JL and not Seven?
Not really feeling it. PIC S3 didn’t do that much for me, and Stewart lost his will to do new and experimental pretty early on in his own show. I get the desire to have Sir Patrick do more Trek projects while he’s still able, but the character of Picard has gotten three send-offs so far, and “All Good Things” is still the best of them.
So, someone is writing a script. Paramount has taught me to not get excited until it’s greenlit and in production. I’m not sure what story is left to be told for Picard. I thought season 3 of Picard was a good ending for the character.
Yup. I can write a script. You’re never going to see it. We have only had about 8 scripts for Kelvin Trek 4, if you include Tarantinos in there.
Great to hear Picard might be coming back! A little confused tho how he could have gotten a script during the strikes?
I don’t remember the exact timing when the writers strike ended and I’m too lazy to look it up but it’s possible the script was written before the strike and they simply decided to send it to Stewart at that time.
That’s true. I guess I might be confusing the interview time with the time he got the script. My bad.
its gonna be a TNG reboot in the Kelvin universe. i think if they reboot TNG it would be fun to have Tom Hardy as Picard
Then they would’ve sent the script to Tom Hardy and not Patrick Stewart. 😉
They prob would have sent it to both lol. But Hardy would prob hard refuse.
Yeah but he said a reboot. But I guess old Picard can come through a black hole chasing the Borg from the 25th century because they want to assimilate a new universe and he meets his younger version played by Hardy on the Enterprise D whose parents were assimilated by the Borg when he was a kid.
I really love this idea! 😁
We also learn his younger version went from cadet to Captain in like a week and is now dating Guinan.
I should’ve stopped when I was ahead. ☹️
Ha ha, Picard Prime! I’m all for it. Just keep Abram’s out of it!
You left out a whole lot of unmotivated lens flare, but we get the gist.
Well we do know that ratings and star power are what drives productions and the three ongoing live action projects (SNW, S31 and now this movie) have the benefit of an Academy Award-winning lead (S31), and top 10 streaming ratings (SNW and Picard).
As someone already said, regarding the quality, it all comes down to the script. Of course who am I kidding, I will watch it no matter what haha.
This worries me. Picard is a character served best with the other TNG cast members. I did not like seasons 1 & 2 of Picard at all.
OK, so this looks like it is going to be a Picard-driven movie, unlike the reunion/ensemble cast S3 of Picard. I have significant concerns that Stewart playing Picard can still carry a movie where Picard is the primary character. I think most would agree that the last time he really excelled with an acting/physical/voice performance of the Captain Picard we all wanted to see was Season 1. It was pretty evident, starting in S2, that Stewart/Picard is slowing down, the voice doesn’t sound quite right, and that was covered up mostly in S3 given it was a full cast reunion season.
I’d much rather they do one-off TV movie with something new, or at least something that ties to the current series and characters versus another fan service reach with geriatric actors.
Legacy as a movie rather than a series? Or will it be Chis Pine meeting Patrick Stewart in a crossover movie.
I like your first idea. For the second idea, I’d be tempted to recast a younger Captain Picard who could support future movies.
I was sad when S3 of Picard ended. I liked it a lot. I love TNG era. A Picard movie isn’t needed, if they do it, I hope it’s awesome, but it ended on a high note already and I’m nervous to role the dice again.
I hope its being set in that one year gap in the finale so they can “borrow” the old girl again for a personal mission. Or she was held in Service during that year because of their heroic actions and is now on a good will tour under Captain Riker, whose dream has come true after all and supports Jean-Luc on his new adventure.
It wouldn’t have to be because of the heroic actions. Once again the fleet is decimated after the battle, we can assume the Excelsior was not the only ship which got fired upon. The 1701-D, along with Captain Riker might be needed for a lack of ships and captains.
It is INDEED!!!
It seems to me that Picard has had two wonderful finales with All Good Things and The Last Generation, both finales of series. He has had one horrible finale, Nemesis. Why risk it with another bad ending.
There is another captain out there who had a bad death. An actor who hasn’t reprised his role in 31 years, and who has way more energy than Patrick Stewart, who could only work part time on Picard.
Give us a Shatner movie.
LOL
The torch was passed in VI with Kirk’s final personal log as Captain of the Enterprise, and he had the best exit from the franchise with second star to the right. Generations was not necessary. It wasn’t a TOS film, and it wasn’t fair to the TNG cast because they couldn’t stand on their own. Stewart and Shatner had good chemistry and i thought Malcolm McDowell was brilliant, and the Dennis McCarthy score was one of the best. But the nexus made no sense and Kirk’s second death was unworthy of the character. I’d say for me it only about 30% of it worked.
I have often wondered if Leonard Nimoy as Spock would have added some humanity to the movie, he obviously hated the script refused to star in it or direct it. Kirk by himself without Bones and Spock doesn’t work for me. Chekov and Scotty didn’t have that closeness to him, they were fine officers but i never felt like they were Kirk’s brothers like those others.
What’s often missed with Generations, is that the Kirk/Scotty/Chekov trio help launch the new Enterprise…a bookend of sorts to the same trio ordering the original’s destruction in Search for Spock (a theme of death and rebirth). The same goes with Kirk dying from a fall, which bookends his near death at Yosemite in Final Frontier (themes are reversed: “rebirth” in the sense of being saved from death and then his ultimate demise). He died alone in the sense his ‘family’ – Bones, Spock – weren’t with him. I don’t know if the writers intended to pull on these specific threads, or if it just worked out that way. These moments (though very controversial) compliment these earlier scenes nicely when viewed in that context.
I hate that GEN was his last movie. I wish they would bring him back for the Tarantino trek and give him his S3 Picard. But, judging by their promotional posters, they don’t want to look back.
Something fractured the relationship between Shatner and the studio. Really a shame they did not work something out to get him involved in this new era of Star Trek.
Couldn’t just be one thing, given how often the studio heads change and the studio itself morphs. Has to be a whole series of disses (and yeah, I’d include not ponying up money for Shat to try fixing TFF in there, though why he didn’t just pay for it himself, I’ll never understand … even an elaborate fix-up job would still quite literally be horsefeed for him.)
New year, new script.
See you next year.
I do think if this is a streaming movie then they are much more serious. The S31 movie is actually moving. But that’s what happens when your TV movie is probably only 10% of what a theatrical movie will cost. ;)
It could be another theatrical movie but considering how much time they been ‘working’ on the last Kelvin movie script, I refuse to believe they knocked one out so fast if the plan is to put it on the big screen. But I been wrong before. ;)
Stewart has been chatting up wanting one more TNG big screen adventure, and many are connecting those dots. But yes, the announcement is vague, so it could be a streamer as well. Or maybe even something a buddy handed off to him, and Sir Pat is just having a Michael Dorn/Simon Pegg moment with it.
I’m pretty sure the S31 movie won’t cost anywhere in the $150-200 million range but at the same time I also doubt it’s going to be only $15 million. Unless they make it using mostly existing assets from DIS and SNW.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it cost in the 50- or 60-million-dollar range. I still don’t understand it, no one was asking for section 31. Just like no one asked for Starfleet Academy.
I’m curious if they will be good or like those forgettable short Treks that weren’t necessary to the other Star Trek media. Other than Calypso that was excellent.
Sorry for the slight tangent, but…
I’ve seen this argument of “no one asked for this” quite a few times, and while I definitely get why these project ideas may not appeal to everyone and I won’t argue against that (I’m skeptical myself with the Section 31 movie), this specific argument may honestly be my least favorite argument against new ideas. Though granted, I may be a bit biased because:
So for me, yes I get why people may be skeptical of certain ideas, but I don’t agree that just because “people didn’t ask for this,” it means they shouldn’t try new things, because sometimes you’ll be surprised by how well these unique ideas will land.
That complaint was well stated about Deep Space Nine, the show was so much better when they added the Defiant and Worf. Season 3 was an improvement 4 was when the show got good. I liked Captain Sisko over Commander Sisko.
No, DS9 was the one Trek show from that era that was hitting on all cylinders from day one. I can count the number of clunker episodes on one hand. Avery Brooks remains the single best actor in Trek from that era.
Not only that, I’ve been “asking” for an academy series since Harve Bennett first brought it up in the 1980’s, and I have other fan friends who also have expressed an interest in that concept over the years.
So there, I have just disproved completely that statement. :-)
Yeah, it could very well cost as much.
Georgiou has her fans. Michelle Yeoh definitely has her fans. Plus, she’s now an Oscar winning, highly in-demand actress – who wants to do a Star Trek project. So I can definitely understand that P+ is eager to have S31. That said, the project has been in development for years and at some point switched from a full-fledged TV show to a single TV movie. So chances are they had trouble developing S31 into a concept that would sustain an ongoing series. Or maybe Yeoh no longer wanted the time commitment of a full series.
As for Short Treks: Especially the first badge was done to tide fans over the long wait between seasons. This was back when CBS All Access had far less content to keep people subscribed. Also, the first badge was done on the cheap, basically shot on the side between scenes of the actual production all on existing sets. They probably spent a little bit more on the second badge. They also used Short Treks testing bed to try out things. Mike McMahan first got to write a Short Trek before they gave him his own show. Short Treks also tried out going animated before Lower Decks and Prodigy did it as full shows (of course, TAS had come before any of it).
Funnily, a friend of mine enjoyed the Short Treks more than Discovery back at the time.
I have been “asking” for an academy series since Harve Bennett first brought it up in the 1980’s, and I have other fan friends who also have expressed an interest in that concept over the years.
Speak for yourself. I’m perfectly good with S31 and Academy moving forward.
Wow very interesting news! I am on the fence over the idea. On one hand I agree with people that Picard got a great ending in The Last Generation. Matalas specifically said he wanted to do that season just to wipe away the buzzkill Nemesis turned out to be and why mess with that? Fans seem to still love it. I just checked IMDB and it still has a 9.4 rating. That’s the rating it got after it aired almost 9 months later. Same time though, that’s probably another reason why it’s being considered BECAUSE what great fanfare season 3 got obviously. If people hated it, I doubt we would be here. And I was NEVER convinced that would be end regardless and that they would always try to find a way to bring him and the others back. If so, I just cross my fingers it will be worth it.
But reading some of the posts, I’m always surprised other people are surprised over these type of announcements lol. I’m certainly not claiming I thought another TNG/Legacy movie was in the works, but I have always been under the belief that nothing is off the table either. I have a feeling everything under the sun is being considered one way or the other. Maybe some more serious than others but they are probably constantly thinking up proposals that would get fans interested or excited about what’s to come. I wouldn’t be shocked if a Janeway movie is being knocked around or an Enterprise revival or a Bashir show. I bet lots of ideas are thrown around all the time, but this is one of the few that made it to script stage which means they are at least serious about it, but how many Kelvin scripts are collecting dust somewhere lol.
That said, Chris Pine has said he’s never read a single script for the next movie while they are sending Stewart one to read and get his input on. That tells you how clout Stewart has AND that they are actually serious at least.
But yeah, who knows? And I think it will ultimately be a streaming movie because they wrote one mighty fast lol. And I doubt Paramount has the motivation to produce any Trek movie on the big screen, but I’m prepared to be proven wrong if this is meant to go to the theaters. Maybe we will get a movie for the 60th after all!
They aren’t serious about making a movie in July of 2026 it will have been ten years since the last one. I’m sick of the news every 2 months, the mountain of screenplays and then they go off and make another Transformers or Mission Impossible instead.
No they aren’t. I’m so sick of even discussing it. I’m discussing this because at least it’s something different lol. And we know nothing about it, so who knows? But at least they haven’t announced it over a pressed conference just to troll everyone. That was the great thing about Picard season 3, not only did they surprise us the TNG cast was actually coming back, but they had already shot it so we weren’t just being fooled over it like the movies.
I’m not going to overthink this idea until we learn something beyond they sent Stewart a script to read. Writing one isn’t the hard part, it seems to be everything else these days.
In the end, even though they want to talk about a Trek movie, Paramount knows in general, Trek series will succeed, and Trek movies are so-so at best. The shows generate merch sales, the movies not so much.
Even the streaming movies – they have spent years talking about S31, and going to spend a year making it, – and we will watch it on Paramount + and maybe watch it a couple times – meanwhile people will be on the 3-4th rewatch of SNW. The movies will be forgotten- none will be as good or remembered as the first 4 TOS movies.
People love nostalgia and fan service, that’s the only reason Picard S3 has a high user rating. Strip that away and there’s very little if anything left.
Saw the interview, nothing is stated that this is a new Star Trek script with Picard. Patrick was talking about what it was like to bring his performing to the television stage and while Star Trek was the context, it wasn’t his topic. From there he segued into getting a new part to play that was written for him specifically. No mention of Picard, the character. The podcaster wanted to stay focused on Trek, but Patrick was taking about his career. Naturally, a non-Trek script would be “a little bit different from what we’ve seen with Picard”. Truth remains to be seen, but this article’s author merely interpreted what they wanted to hear.
It’s possible all the click bait sites are jumping the gun a bit.
Let me guess… Jean-Luc Picard has to take on the Borg. Again.
It’s either Borg or Soongs. Take your pick.
That’s what Stewart said. People assume he’s referring to First Contact but Frakes, of course, also directed Insurrection ;-)
It’d be hard to top S3, but I’m okay with it as long as it’s just part of my Par+ sub. Bring it on…
I think it’s also a business move on Par + as well.
Producing some movies throughout the year may be cheaper vs. three separate series at 10 eps each.
Don’t do it, Patrick! It’s a trap!
Ah, dont like it. Its enough old Trek now. Lets do new things.
Star Trek XIV: The Search for the Enterprise-E.
Give me!
Just give us Legacy.
Make it about the Enterprise exploring the galaxy and the human condition. There, that’s the foundation of all good Trek in my humble opinion.
Forget epic space battles, and fakaxy ending monsters. That’s for you know, Star Wars.
Jean-Luc Picard, don’t you mean the Patrick Stewart show.
Yes, exactly.
What might get me excited at this point is if they got a fresh batch of scriptwriters who are proven to be particularly good and creative (for whatever new project). Maybe some successful science fiction book authors. And add some passionate Star Trek geeks from the internet into the mix, to guard the canon cohesion.
Michael Chabon has more awards than most. Pulitizer, Nebula and Hugo. Fans hated his work on Picard.
I don’t think we saw what he wanted us to see. Or not the way he wanted us to see it. That’s what happens in someone else’s sandbox, quite unfortunately.
Especially when production is such a shambles that scripts are being written before the actual story has been hammered out. I suspect we were seeing no one at their best under those circumstances.
There were a few interviews back at the time where it sounded like the show had too many cooks trying to pull the show into different directions.
Chabon owned some of the controversial decisions (e.g. I think killing off Picard was his idea) but for others it seems his hand was forced.
The problem with getting famous/successful science fiction authors to write for Star Trek is that playing in the Star Trek sandbox comes with a lot of rules. There’s a whole lot of “canon” that is more important to some fans than getting a good story. So I can imagine many authors simply don’t want to limit themselves to fitting into that box and will rather write something else where they have more freedom. TOS hired some famous sci-fi writers at the time but that was when Star Trek was still very much an open book and very little had been established about the world. And even those people got their stories rewritten, which a famous author probably would simply accept today.
I guess we also see that more and more with the shows. Many of the canon violations that happen are probably not mistakes because the writers didn’t know better but they are conscious decisions because the writers thought it would make their stories better.
I love Patrick as an actor. I love Picard the character and I love TNG cast, but this is a bridge too far for me. For waaaaayyyy too long now Star Trek as a franchise has been stuck in the past and unable to grow and tell new stories.
The stories of the future worlds and adventures in which these characters exist are being diluted by fan service, and fans who frankly can’t grow up, or are mentally stunted by the desire to live by canon. It’s not just Star Trek drowning this way. Star Wars, DCU, MCU they’re all eating themselves because they simply can’t challenge the status quo, and try tell new stories in new settings.
YEAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! BRING BACK DATA TOO PLEASE WITH THE ENTIRE TNG CAST!!! And please answer the question if Data still got his super physical strength…This remained unanswered. I hope he still got it
I agree. We need more Data. Maybe the bad guy can be a relative of Data, and be played by Spiner.
It should be a movie sequel to the episode ‘A Fistful of Data’s’. A Few Data’s More.
As soon as they announced a sequel to 48HRS (which was something like the weekend after it hit theaters), I was CERTAIN that they would call it FOR A FEW HOUR MORE. Was bitterly disappointed when the sequel showed up years later with a lame ANOTHER 48 HRS title (then I saw the movie and was even more disappointed.)
If you listen to the end of the (very good) interview, Stewart confirms the film will feature the whole TNG cast.
NOW I KNOW WHY PARAMOUNT DID NOT THROW AWAY THE ENTERPRISE D BRIDGE 😁😁😁😁🙏🙏🙏🤠🤠🤠🥳🥳🥳
I really enjoyed PIC S1. There were elements of S2 that I really liked. S3 I loved, and not just for the nostalgia; I really felt it moved all of the TNG characters forward in time in some unexpected and satisfying ways. After the Borg are destroyed, we skip ahead a year. Picard gets to watch his grown son take his first post aboard Captain Seven’s Enterprise. When I watch the ending, I don’t picture a Picard movie, or even another TNG movie.
Sure, I’d love to see a few of them again, maybe working with legacies from DS9 and VOY … but I’d really rather see a Captain Seven series (hopefully not titled Legacy). Jack and Sidney are on the Ent-G, so they could see Stewart, McFadden, and Burton guest star in the pilot episode. Otherwise, let’s move on. “… All Good Things” and “The Last Generation” were very satisfying conclusions for the TNG crew as a whole.
I believe it was Kurtzman who said he would like to do future one-off P+ exclusive Trek films (like the upcoming S31 project) … maybe they can stick this project there.
It all sounds so desperate, unnecessary and a little bit sad.
Am I the only one who felt like Picard s3 was overrated? I mean, yeah, it was decent and mostly enjoyable, but people talked about it like it cured cancer or something. It was a step in the right direction but it certainly wasn’t some peak of quality.
…I believe it to be the peak of quality for these showrunners. What Trek could be in the hands of a company other than SH, we can only guess.
I enjoyed it mostly for being a TNG reunion which is what I wanted to see since S1 of the show.
If this new script that Patrick Stewart mentioned is for a P+ movie, then I am enthusiastic for that. In addition to that, I would also like to see a “Project Phoenix” movie with a Kirk. Not necessarily Shatner’s Kirk.
They should definitely follow up on this. Project Phoenix could be so much more than just a PIC S3 Easter egg. I would throw Shatner in if possible.
No, you’re not. It was well done as fan service, but there really isn’t much more to say about it than that.
lol no you’re not the only one.