The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard did pretty well this awards season, picking up Astra TV Awards, sweeping the Saturns, and earning showrunner Terry Matalas a WGA nomination, only the fifth in franchise history. Fans have been talking about a follow-up series, but Matalas is reiterating that his “Star Trek: Legacy” concept remains only a hope. While he is ready to work on Trek again, he’s already looking to other projects.
Ready for the call to return to Star Trek
Matalas participated in a special Zoom chat with members of the Master Replicas Collector’s Club in late February, and one of the first questions was about Star Trek: Legacy. The executive producer understood, saying:
“I am asking [about Legacy] too… I can answer, there’s nothing. Look, they have Star Trek that they’re making. They have Section 31 in production right now, which is cool. Strange New Worlds is also shooting right now. And they are prepping Starfleet Academy. That’s a lot of Star Trek, a lot of money being allocated to Star Trek. So I don’t know what you have to do. So the answer is: No… not currently. Look, anything can happen.”
Later in the discussion, he revealed that he is currently working on other projects:
“I’m working on some things I can’t talk about yet and I’m meeting on some things I can’t talk about, but they’re cool… not Star Trek: Legacy, guys, there’s no secret here. That’s not a thing… I can tell you that I am not working on anything Star Trek at the moment, but I’m enthusiastically looking forward to what they are going to do.”
While he has other projects, Matalas noted he was ready to return to the final frontier if the call comes:
“Whatever they would let me do. If they need somebody to paint the walls, I’ll be there, whatever. Again, it’s a corporation. Also Alex Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout company is running it and has been holding that together for some time. So they have very fine people figuring it all out. They know where to find me. If they ever wanted me, I would happily be a part of it.”
Michelle Hurd as Raffi Musiker, Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut as Ensign Sidney La Forge, Mica Burton as Alandra La Forge, and Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine in “The Last Generation” (Paramount+)
Legacy would have hybrid approach to serialization
As for what kind of stories we might see if Legacy were ever to happen, Matalas was reluctant to offer details but made it clear he has put some thought into it:
“I would love to do [Legacy]. It would be a dream to go back to the 25th century to do Next Gen—to do a version that incorporates a whole lot of new characters but sees that world. Yeah, the second I bring up any ideas from it, it becomes a headline so I’m not—but there was really great stuff with the Klingons and Worf, that’s all I am going to say. But it was cool.”
While he didn’t offer specific storyline ideas, Matalas did weigh in on how Legacy could balance serialization versus a more traditional episodic format:
“There’s a larger richer story you can tell over ten hours than just one. If I were to do another series, I would do a hybrid. I think you do a version of both longer arcs and “of the week” Star Trek stories is a great way to do it—in a way that Strange New Worlds is doing it, but maybe a hair more serialized.”… As far as serialized and “of the week,” I think they live can live together. 12 Monkeys was a show that had an episodic identity in which each episode was primarily a kind of different mission, but it was still part of a whole. What’s interesting with Star Trek is new missions come in but there can be longer arcs. The one I think about the most is FX’s The Shield with Michael Chiklis. It was a procedural cop show with a new cop thing every week, but there were serialized threads—major ones—running through the series that were phenomenal. That’s the way to do it, in my estimation.”
Terry Matalas at the 2024 Saturn Awards (Albert L. Ortega)
More to come from Terry…
Check back later this week for more of Terry’s Master Replicas Collector Club chat and see what he had to say about seasons 2 and 3 of Picard, including characters and storylines that were considered.
The Master Replicas Collector Club offers discounts and early access to product releases and more including these members-only Zoom chats with celebrities. The next one with be with Battlestar Galactica star Jamie Bamber.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
