There’s no point in doing the Next Generation farewell film, that’s what Star Trek: Picard was for

Star Trek: Picard was supposed to be the end for Patrick Stewart, but not so fast.

Star Trek: Picard was supposed to be it for the Next Generation crew. Patrick Stewart was supposed to hang up his com badge after the show and the TNG crew was supposed to ride off into the sunlight, allowing for newer characters to take their spot. Some with the same last name as those TNG characters we all once loved watching on a weekly basis.

But that wasn’t enough for some. It turns out, no matter how much one gets, it may never be enough, because Stewart is once again talking about returning to the role of Jean-Luc Picard. Speaking to Indiewire, as our own Rachel Carrington wrote about already, Stewart is open to doing more Trek.

Specifically, a farewell movie.

"I think we could do a movie, a ‘Picard’-based movie.’ Now not necessarily at all about Picard but about all of us. And to take many of those wonderful elements, particularly from Season 3 of ‘Picard’ and take out of that what I think could be an extraordinary movie. I keep telling people and mentioning it, and so far there’s been no eager response, but it might well happen. And that would be I think a very appropriate way to say, ‘And goodbye folks.’"

Star Trek: Picard was supposed to be a ten-hour goodbye movie

Star Trek has been leaning on nostalgia for too long, and doing another reunion of the Next Generation crew isn’t going to have the same impact. We already did the greatest hits. We already brought back the Enterprise-D. We already destroyed The Borg, again. What’s left?

And who’s to say that anyone, sadly enough, Stewart himself, will even be around for a film? With the exception of Wil Wheaton, there isn’t a cast member that’s younger than 65 who was part of the core group. Stewart is about to turn 83, Brent Spiner is 74, Gates McFadden is 74, Jonathan Frakes is about to be 71, Michael Dorn is 70, Marina Sirtis is 68, LeVar Burton is 66 and Denise Crosby is 65. And no longer part of the franchise.

Wheaton, for reference, is only 50.

Star Trek can’t keep going to the TNG era well. Eventually, it’s going to run dry, and then what? Picard was a rousing success, it said all the things you need a farewell vehicle to say. Why push your luck just for another turn in the chair? Learn to know when it’s time to bow out and make way for new stories to be told.

Star Trek needs to focus on newer shows like Starfleet Academy and the potential Legacy series, not going back in time for another dip in Lake Nostalgia.