Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 is in progress, and Starfleet Academy is the next upcoming Trek series, so of course, the potential of a Picard sequel series was all the buzz at Star Trek Las Vegas over the weekend. Jokes aside, fans will not let go of the possibility of Picard's series finale leading into another show, and I don't think that hype will be lessed by the fact that former showrunner Terry Matalas confessed he did indeed work on a direct follow-up project.
Matalas took the stage with Picard actor Todd Stashwick (both are working on the upcoming Vision series for Marvel) at Star Trek's annual Las Vegas fan convention, and of course, attendees had questions about whether the code-named Legacy series is in the works. TrekMovie.com reported one fan bringing up Michelle Hurd's claims that the showrunner had typed up a 30-page manuscript for the potential series. Terry Matalas felt he had to clarify what Hurd had mentioned, and was quick to note that it wasn't exactly an official pitch that he would've offered up to Paramount+ execs. In his words:
There was a moment in which I was pretty inspired, in which I just sort of spit out 30 pages over a couple of weeks, not for anybody necessarily to see, just in case one day it happened.
I don't find that hard to believe, as Terry Matalas told CinemaBlend he was equally invested in seeing a follow-up happen as fans were at the time Star Trek: Picard was ending. I am a bit surprised to hear he had so much written out in advance, just in case executives were receptive to a pitch, to the point he had a plotline laid out.
The showrunner hinted that his document contained plans for what Seven of Nine's captain send-out phrase was going to be, as well as the general direction for where the plot would be headed. He wouldn't say exactly what was going to happen, but he did tease a popular species being involved, saying:
I knew what the first 20 minutes of it was...I can’t really talk, because it’s not a thing, so it’s hard to talk about. But it did have to do with the Klingon Empire.
My hope is that he consulted Michael Dorn on the actor's plans for a Klingon series and they found some way to adapt that into a storyline, but I'm just spitballing here. I do find it interesting that Matalas wasn't willing to spill all the details on this hypothetical series, seemingly indicating he hasn't entirely shut the door on pitching it one day.
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All this being said, Star Trek does not appear to be in a position to be hearing pitches at the moment. San Diego Comic-Con came and went with only announcements about projects we already knew to be happening. Gone are the days when Trekkies were enjoying five shows in one year, which was at one point the case with Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Prodigy all running at the same time.
It's also a weird time for Paramount, which only recently closed on its merger with Skydance. Once all the chips fall, it's possible pitches start rolling out again and getting greenlit, but who knows what can happen? Robert Picardo doesn't feel the merger will impact the franchise that much, so for now, I'm choosing to stick to that optimism and hope we hear more projects announced soon.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is streaming new episodes on Paramount+ on Thursdays. This season is definitely worth catching up on, whether or not you're also pushing for Picard follow-ups, so get on it!
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