Terry Matalas reveals what his Star Trek: Picard spinoff would be called

Star Trek is all about sequels and spinoffs right now.

Star Trek: Picard is coming to an end sooner rather than later, with just a handful of episodes remaining after the most recent one to air, “The Bounty”. The show should close out Patrick Stewart’s time as Jean-Luc Picard, as well as saying goodbye to the rest of the core cast of The Next Generation, all of whom returned to the franchise in some form or another in Picard. The only major name to not return, yet, is Denise Crosby.

Crosby of course played security officer Natasha “Tasha” Yar and later half-Human and half-Romulan Sela. While Picard has done a lot to embrace the “yesterday” of the franchise, one of the big pushes in this season is the next generation of The Next Generation. The series has highlighted the children of Picard and Beverly Crusher, William Riker and Deanna Troi, and Geordi La Forge.

Not to mention the “child” of Data in seasons one and two. With all of this admiration for the future, many have started suggesting a spinoff featuring the core crew of the USS Titan from the recent season of Picard, as well as their captain, Captain Shaw.

This is an idea that Picard showrunner Terry Matalas is very behind, even suggesting a name for the spinoff show, which he would call Star Trek: Legacy.

The nostalgia angle will only work for so long

If Disney has proven anything as of late, it’s that you can’t build a franchise off of nostalgia. Picard has struggled for years to find its base and a show like Legacy, which would feature so many children of star players in the Trek universe, just seems exhausting.

At a certain point, the franchise has to move away from the Picards and Datas of the franchise and actually create new stories with new characters and very few ties to anything existing. It’s why the Next Generation excelled after The Original Series. It was its own thing.

Each subsequent series through Enterprise existed in its own bubble while maintaining contact with the larger universe. Doing a show centered around less popular characters, based on more popular characters, just seems like an idea rife to fall apart.