Season two isn’t even here yet, but we already know when Star Trek: Picard will be ending. January brought the news that Sir Patrick Stewart’s grand return to the franchise will conclude with its third season. We’ve still got all the series’ sophomore run to go, but showrunner Terry Matalas has promised that Picard‘s third and final season will be stuffed with “legendary moments.”
While spilling secrets to SFX, Matalas — who took over showrunning duties from season one’s Michael Chabon — teased that season three will aim to tie the whole Star Trek mythos together by harking back to The Original Series and its spinoff movies.
“There are a few nods to the Kirk movies. I grew up with the original series and the Kirk movies. That’s my Star Trek. So you’ll see a few of those things kind of tie some Star Trek together,” Matalas said.
“My inner fanboy is kind of on fire with the stuff that I’ve been able to do,” Matalas continued, before admitting that it’s too early to talk too much about what’s to come after season two yet. However, he did assure us some “legendary moments” are on their way.
“There’s a lot of things that I can’t talk about yet that I’m just bursting at the seams to talk about. There’s been a lot of absolutely legendary moments that have happened in the last year with no press yet. There are starship designs and things for the next two seasons that I’m really excited about.”
As for how the character arc of Picard himself will be wrapped up, Matalas promised that he and EP Akiva Goldsman have “constructed a really fascinating and heartbreaking psychological exploration of Picard that no one is expecting.”
Seasons two and three shot back to back and production on the whole show is now almost complete after the cameras finally got rolling last fall, after a hefty delay due to the pandemic. A COVID outbreak on set also recently forced filming to halt for a time. The third run is expected to offer a further ten episodes and premiere in 2023.
As for what’s coming this year, fans can expect John de Lancie’s Q to return to cause havoc with both Jean-Luc’s life and the entire timeline. Not to mention Whoopi Goldberg’s comeback as Guinan. Star Trek: Picard season two launches March 3 on Paramount Plus.