Comments from Patrick Stewart suggest he isn’t yet finished playing Jean-Luc Picard. 

While presented as his final hurrah, Patrick Stewart has given a strong indication that Picard season 3 wasn’t the last we are going to see of the former Enterprise Captain.

Playing out from February 2023, the well-received final season of Picard did what the previous two resisted, bringing together legacy characters from the Star Trek: The Next Generation era of the franchise.

Facing off against (another) Borg threat to the Federation, the show wrapped happily. Jean-Luc Picard and friends were again around a poker table, in homage to the closing moments of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

It also teased a bright future for the Enterprise-G, under Captain Seven of Nine, crewed by the younger members of the Picard cast. Dubbed “Star Trek: Legacy” by Picard showrunner Terry Matalas we’re still waiting for news on that one…

Picard the Movie?

Speaking on a recent edition of the Happy Confused Sad podcast with Josh Horowitz, Patrick Stewart confirmed he was waiting on the delivery of a script for a Picard movie. He said:

“I heard, only last night, about a script that is being written specifically with the actor, Patrick, to play in it [as Picard]. I’ve been told to expect it within a week or so, and 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.” 

This podcast was recorded in November 2023, suggesting that said script might have been in the actors possession for a number of weeks now.

The interview goes on to cover the making of Picard and how Stewart enjoyed his character’s development. Interestingly, he feels that in Jean-Luc’s apparently content retirement, the former Starfleet Admiral was fooling himself.

What form a Picard movie might take is open to question – is the character a big enough box office draw? Perhaps, but the smart money suggests a television movie for Paramount+. Whether his might link to a potential series with other returning characters, or would be standalone, who knows?

There is precedent, of course, with a Michelle Yeoh-led Section 31 “special movie event” already greenlit for the streamer. That film follows the former mirror universe Emperor Phillipa Georgiou, as seen on the early seasons of Star Trek: Discovery.

While there are no details so far, we’ll be keeping an eye on Picard movie news.