First things first: If you haven’t seen the end of Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard yet, you should do so now. It’s worth it as the series finds its way after the weak start. This is due to the reunion of the crew of Starship Enterprise: The Next Century (OT: The Next Generation), which means that in addition to Picard, Riker, Troi, Crusher, Worf, Data and Geordi are back. This good news may come with bad news for the future of the series.
The State of Picard Season 4: It’s complicated
Star Trek: Picard was supposed to have three seasons from the start, and season 3 was announced as the final season of the series, even on the promotional material:
Paramount
Star Trek: Picard
Showrunner Terry Matalas stated at press briefings in January (via The AV Club):
What better way to end this journey than to look back at the beginning and bring some next gen friends with you. The story feels like a conclusion.
That sounds like a clear cancellation of Season 4 of Star Trek: Picard. But now things are getting complicated, because other people involved draw less clear conclusions about the adventures of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard in their statements. For starters, there’s Patrick Stewart himself, who said in January:
There’s still tremendous storytelling potential in what we’re doing and the doors to that remain open.
In April, he underscored his interest in an interview with Variety:
One of the greatest joys I’ve had has been watching us all find out how their characters have changed over time. […] That would be the one factor that might lure me back to do a new season or other episodessimply because it was so interesting.
Star Trek producer and franchise captain Alex Kurtzman stated several times: “Everything is possible.”
How do these statements fit together?
Season 4 is unlikely, but a reunion with Picard isn’t
At this point, however, a fourth season of Star Trek: Picard seems to be out of the question. It is more likely that we will see Picard again and in new Star Trek projects.
Season 3 prepared one of them. In the series finale, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is named captain of the Enterprise-G (formerly Titan) and is joined by Picard’s son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), and Picard’s former first officer, Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd). This looks like textbook preparation for a spin-off. And he could bring Picard back. In any case, Patrick Stewart would not be averse to seeing his serial son again, as he explained to Variety.
Star Trek: Legacy could come after Picard Season 3
If we want to give this project a name, it’s Star Trek: Legacy. That title goes back to Terry Matalas himself, who described the idea to TrekMovie in February as a series where the TNG characters can interact with a whole new generation, with Matalas explicitly including “Characters from Deep Space Nine and Starship Voyager” mentioned.
Star Trek: Legacy has not yet received the green light from Paramount and is not currently in development. According to Matalas, with Strange New Worlds, Starfleet Academy and the film Section 31, there are so many live-action projects in the works that there is hardly any room left for Legacy.
In the same interview with Cinemablend, however, he put the pessimism into perspective:
I believe there is a desire for it. I would say, the fans should be as loud as possible and tell the world that they [Star Trek: Legacy] want to see. And maybe one day we’ll be able to do it.
So we can summarize: Star Trek Picard ended with season 3 and that’s basically a good thing. The end is successful and a fine farewell. Instead, we could see parts of the TNG crew back in Legacy, which would be preferable to a forced season 4. But these are all mind games, since legacy is not not developed.