Todd Stashwick calls Captain Shaw’s death “beautiful poetry”

When Star Trek: Picard season three started, Captain Liam Shaw (played by Todd Stashwick) wasn’t the most well-liked captain of a starship.

In fact, his arrogance and refusal to refer to Seven of Nine by her preferred name didn’t sit well with Star Trek fans. Add to that his verbal attack on Admiral Picard for the atrocities at Wolf 359, and he just didn’t win any awards for being a fan favorite.

As the season progressed, his sarcasm became more well-liked, even funny, and he eased up on Captain Riker and Admiral Picard a bit, even though he wasn’t too keen on their disregard for Starfleet rules and regulations. Unfortunately, by the time we’d actually grown to care for Captain Shaw, he dies in battle aboard the Titan in what can only be described as a heroic death. Stashwick himself, in an interview with Star Trek Explorer #9, says Shaw “went down nobly.”

Even though Captain Shaw perished, Todd Stashwick is open to a return to Star Trek

Shaw’s death scene gives Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) what Stashwick calls “a beautiful, heartfelt goodbye where he finally acknowledges Seven completely.” And the way in which Shaw’s death played out he considers “beautiful poetry” as, at Wolf 359, he was chosen by his superior officer to get off alive. When the battle is taking place aboard the Titan, he provides the cover so the rest of the team can make it off alive and continue the fight. So, essentially, his life as a Starfleet officer comes full circle.

Shaw returned in a brief hologram message where he acknowledges, even before Riker and Picard board Titan, that he believed in Seven and that she would make a good captain. As he lay dying in her arms, he told her that, not in so many words, but he called her by name and turned over control of the ship to her in a poignant moment.

Captain Shaw didn’t have anywhere near enough episodes which is why this character needs to return, perhaps as a hologram for Captain Seven of Nine should Star Trek: Legacy be greenlit. He could certainly be someone she can converse with when troubles arise. Or simply someone who won’t tell her what she needs to hear but what she has to hear. Shaw could be that one person who was much like Hologram Captain Janeway was aboard the Protostar in Star Trek: Prodigy. Someone to tell it like it is, train her to be a captain, and to be a listening ear when she’s doubting herself. That would be a show I’d want to see!