Star Trek: Picard’s showrunner, Terry Matalas, isn’t employed by Star Trek.
Star Trek: Picard has found a way to give fans some excitement, and that’s by soaking the entire season in nostalgia, and nostalgia-adjacent themes and characters. It’s worked, fans are loving the show, and it’s arguably the best season of the show ever. It worked for Star Wars until it didn’t, so it’s not surprising that the decision was made for Picard.
And the man who made that decision is Terry Matalas. Matalas has gone out of his way to try and give fans a proper ending to not only Picard but the Next Generation, with he and most of the cast feeling that Star Trek: Nemesis was a poor way to end everyone’s run on the franchise.
So Picard’s third season is here to sort of undo that bad taste in everyone’s mouth. With season three being beloved by the fans over on Rotten Tomatoes (89%), you’d think this is a sign to keep Matalas around, but apparently not.
Star Trek, for now, isn’t looking to bring Terry Matalas back
Regardless of the reason why, it seems odd to say this but Star Trek currently has no plans for Matalas. The franchise is apparently looking to go in another direction for now, and that’s not hyperbole, despite a strong season of shows, and a fanbase clearly engaged in the product, Matalas is not employed with Star Trek at the moment.
Speaking as part of the Inglorious Treksperts GalaxyCon panel recently (via TrekMovie.com), Matalas confirmed he’s currently employed, or at the very least, not employed by Star Trek;
"I don’t work for Star Trek right now."
With how hard he and his fellow Picard crew members are pushing for the idea of Star Trek: Legacy, it seems as if the show isn’t expected to happen at the moment and that Matalas isn’t someone the franchise values enough to sign to a new deal. At least right now.
That could always change but with budgets being slashed at Paramount+ in an attempt to reign in spending and fewer shows getting greenlit, it wouldn’t be surprising for Matalas to not return anytime soon.