One character from The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine won’t return for Star Trek: Picard.
Star Trek: Picard is ending after three seasons and is going out with a bang as they’re bringing back as many Star Trek characters from The Next Generation as possible to send Jean-Luc Picard and Patrick Stewart off with style. The only problem is that one character won’t be returning.
Speaking on the INGLORIOUS TREKSPERTS podcast, Picard showrunner Terry Matalas pined over the fact that one character from The Next Generation and Picard won’t be returning to the franchise, despite their legacy as a starring player.
That would be Chief Miles O’Brien, played by Colm Meaney. Matalas was upset about not getting Meaney back on the show but did express his love for him, saying;
"We don’t get to Miles O’Brien. I’d love to get to Miles O’Brien!"
Meaney’s O’Brien was a bit character on The Next Generation, getting more and more plot lines throughout the series’ first few seasons, but when Deep Space Nine launched Meaney became a starring character on that show and quickly became a fan favorite.
Matalas wants fans to know that someone does show up that we don’t expect.
One name is coming back for Picard that we don’t expect apparently
Despite not getting our beloved Chief back, Matalas is very clear that one name is coming back and the way he’s hyping it up, leads us to believe that it’s someone major and someone we didn’t expect back at all.
"There are some people from ‘Star Trek’ who come back in this season who aren’t the ‘Next Gen’ [primary] cast. I mean there’s one character who is in ‘Next Gen’ who I was like… I really want THIS character to come back.And when they did [agree to return], that was weirdly more thrilling than everything else in totality."
He went on to really hype the idea of that one character returning as well as staying in a Post-Picard era to tell more stories of our beloved Trek icons.
"There are people though — I could say one name to you right now that comes back, and [you’d be] like, ‘Oh my god, I want to know what happens!’You’re going to find out. So I would love nothing more than to stay in the 2401 year to tell more ‘Star Trek’ stories in this universe… so that’s all I will say.”"