Can we expect a more Marvel-like approach or a “Star Trek: Legacy” show?
As Star Trek: Picard cracks through its final run, and appears to be a fan pleaser, thoughts naturally turn to the future of the franchise. With Discovery’s fifth and final season dated for 2024 too, soon the only live-action series standing will be the original series prequel Strange New Worlds.
Certainly there has been talk of two further shows. One is a Star Fleet Academy series, the other a Section 31 spin-off following Michelle Yeoh’s Emperor Georgiou’s character. The latter, naturally, may have become a little more difficult to schedule since Yeoh’s recent Oscar win.
However, there may be another way forward and a recent interview with Alex Kurtzman in SFX magazine, as reported by Trek Movie, indicates they may pursue a more Marvel approach with a mini-series approach:
“… I think we could absolutely continue to tell stories about individual characters that are set up on the show in other contexts. That’s the beauty of having a universe now is that, in a perfect world, we’re not just doing seasons of television, we’re doing event series, we’re doing single events that could be two, three hours long. I think that we are now at a place where that’s really possible.”
Post-Picard potential
While the Admiral may be parking himself in dry dock, the show which bears his name brims with spin-off potential. Indeed, the Picard season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas and various cast members have been talking about the future, dubbing it “Star Trek: Legacy”.
Initially, there’s the fertile territory of the USS Titan – captained by the gloriously crabby Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick), with Commander Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) as his first officer.
Then, should they all survive, the series has provided a trio of The Next Generation’s next generation. We’ve met two of Commodore Geordi La Forge’s daughters, Sidney (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) and Alandra (Mica Burton). The former pilots the Titan while the latter is an engineer who works with her father.
Of course, the other potential legacy character is Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher’s troubled son Jack (Ed Speleers).
Naturally, any series set in this post-Picard timeline has the potential to work in characters from anywhere across the 1980s/90s era of The Next Generation/Deep Space 9/Voyager too.
While there’s nothing specific announced just yet, you can be sure we’ll be watching intently.