By Brandon T. McClure (@btmcclure @fakenerdpodcast)
It’s a crazy time to be a Star Trek fan right now. Five shows have been released since 2017’s Star Trek: Discovery with a sixth one on the way. Currently Star Trek: Picard is airing its third and final season which sees the return of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This season has been better received than the previous two seasons and that’s got the fans begging for more. Turns out the showrunner for this season of Star Trek: Picard has plans to continue the story, should Paramount be interested, through a show called Star Trek: Legacy.
When Star Trek: Picard first aired on CBS All Access (Which became Paramount+) in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the series saw an older retired Jean-Luc Picard now living in his family's vineyard, content with making wine for the rest of his life. But a young being, who claimed to be Data’s daughter, sought him out and set him off on a new journey that took him to new worlds with a new crew. This season was ran by Michael Chabon, who would leave during the production of season 2 due to a massive contract he signed to develop more in the world of Star Trek. This, however, has yet to come of anything. Terry Matalas took over the show and season 2 was released in 2022. That season saw Q return to help Picard come to terms with the death of his mother. As ambitious as those two seasons were, they were generally not loved by the fandom at large. But season 3 had a lot of promise.
After being contacted by Beverly Crusher, Picard reconnects with Captain William Riker to help him find her. While this is going on, Raffi, a character introduced in the first season, is uncovering a plot to destroy the Federation. This is all connected and sets the stage for a story that would be filled with nostalgic callbacks, returning cast, and exciting new characters. Terry Matalas and his crew of writers, production designers, directors, and more, crafted a season that harkened back to the 90s era of Trek, which is commonly referred to as the golden age. Star Trek: Picard season 3 is capable of standing on its own without the support of the first two seasons and operates as a legacy sequel to not just Star Trek: The Next Generation, but Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager.
William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in Star Trek: Picard
With any legacy sequel, there need to be characters to pick up the mantle from the older generation. That’s where Star Trek: Picard truly shines. While some characters already had kids, like Worf’s long-forgotten son Alexander, or Riker and Troi’s daughter Kestra, this season introduces Jack Crusher as the son of Picard and Beverly. What’s more, this season also introduces Geordi’s children in the form of Alandra and Sydney LaForge. The frustrating thing about these characters is that fans like them. They like them a lot and there are not that many episodes left with them (1 at the time of this writing). It’s a good problem to have, certainly, but many fans are wondering if these characters will ever be seen again.
Lt. Commander La Forge (LeVar Burton) and Alandra La Forge (Mica Burton) in Star Trek: Picard
This is where Star Trek: Legacy comes in. Terry Matalas’ proposed spin-off of Star Trek: Picard would pick up after the events of the series and seemingly feature these characters that fans have fallen in love with. Matalas is talking to everyone about this show (except for me) in the hopes of gaining interest in it. When speaking with TrekMovie.com he spoke about how he feels the 25th century, the year that Star Trek: Picard is set, is the present day of the Star Trek universe, and that he would love to explore what the century looks like around the galaxy. “Boy, wouldn’t you want to check in with the Klingon Empire? Wouldn’t you want to check in with Deep Space Nine and The Doctor [from Voyager] and everything that went on with the Berman-verse?” He adds that he would like to “explore the galaxy and sort of get back to the Next Gen roots of storytelling” and that that is the “kind of version of Star Trek I’d like to see, with this group of characters that we’re seeing”.
Strangely enough, this is not new territory for fans. When Star Trek: Discovery aired its second season, it introduced Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, the second captain of the USS Enterprise. Captain Pike took command of the USS Discovery for a mission to search for Spock, whose disappearance was related to a mission that threatened the galaxy. Anson Mount’s Captain Pike and the other two returning characters Spock and Number One were so well received that fans began demanding a series focused on them. Eventually, Paramount+ gave in to fan demand and greenlit Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in May of 2020. When it was released in 2022, it was an instant hit with new and old fans alike. Now, Trek fans are being called on once again to campaign for Star Trek: Legacy.
Paramount+ has already announced a new show in the form of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, but that’ll most likely be set in the future of Star Trek: Discovery, which leaves a gap of time not being explored by the franchise. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is set in the mid-23rd century, just before Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: Lower Decks and Prodigy are set in the early 2380s, which technically makes every Star Trek show on the air a prequel series. There’s still plenty of room for a series set in the early 25th century, the “present” of the Star Trek timeline as Terry Matalas said. The show could continue to explore strange new worlds and pick up characters that fans haven’t seen in ages. Characters from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine like Ezrie Dax, Bashir, or even Miles O’Brien (who let's face it, should have been in this season of Star Trek: Picard). There is plenty of room for a show that deals with nostalgia while also paving the way for the “next generation”.
There is a legitimate fear with Star Trek: Legacy that is worth bringing up. Star Trek has never been a nostalgia machine. It’s always been a franchise that’s more concerned with moving forward than backward. In fairness, this changed with the 2009 film Star Trek, and the current era has been struggling with that ever since. Both the first seasons of Star Trek: Discovery and Picard were less concerned with nostalgia than doing something new and the fans were not receptive to that. Sure, it probably had more to do with creative choices, but studios often take the wrong lessons from these things. Star Trek: Lower Decks is a show built upon reference jokes to past Trek and was very well received when it launched. So Star Trek: Legacy could be more interested in looking backward than forwards. Ideally, that wouldn’t be the case. The show would hopefully not center around nostalgia and only sprinkle it in when the story called for it. For the most part, that is how season 3 of Star Trek: Picard has been structured so there’s no reason to think that Star Trek: Legacy would be any different.
Following a story about the kids of the crew of Enterprise D is incredibly appealing because they’re good characters that fans have enjoyed. Perhaps Kestra Troi-Riker joins the USS Titan with Sydney LaForge at the helm and her sister Alandra in Engineering. Captain Seven of Nine and her first officer/girlfriend Commander Raffi Musiker at the conn. The cast is already there and waiting to explore the final frontier of the 25th century. Hell, maybe they’ll finally remember Alexander. One thing is for sure, if this is the last time we see these new characters, it’ll be a shame.