Star Trek: Picard's finale proves why Legacy spin-off deserves a shot

Throughout the final season, Matalas had also sown the seeds for a possible 25th century spin-off, continuing the story of the USS Titan-A crew with brand new adventures and appearances from legacy cast members.

With the showrunner delving into exciting potential story ideas and character appearances at GalaxyCon, RadioTimes.com takes a look at why the spin-off Star Trek: Legacy sequel deserves a shot.

How Star Trek: Picard season 3 ending sets up Legacy spin-off

The third season beautifully wraps up a 35-year arc, with the thrilling showdown of the Enterprise-D crew's rescue mission fulfilling the classic two-part event 'The Best of Both Worlds', as Picard finally returns to the collective and successfully rescues son Jack from his assimilation of the Borg Queen (Alice Krige).

With Jack free of her grip, he is no longer the central beacon transmitting messages to Starfleet's younger ranks/the next generation of Borg, allowing La Forge and the crew to destroy the cube and in turn, the original hive. With their destruction severing the connection, the Starfleet officers are finally free from their control.

Thanks to a fleetwide transport solution purging them of the Borg infection (as developed by the new head of Starfleet medical branch, Admiral Crusher), the young officers rejoined their ships. The following one-year time jump explicitly teases the spin-off with a fantastic passing of the torch from the last generation to the next.

At the same time, Matalas also fulfils his promise of giving the Next Gen legacy characters a proper send-off (akin to TOS crew in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country), with the show admirably closing their chapter with a more-than-fitting curtain call - a game of poker harking back to their weekly Tuesday evenings. And Picard even joins in!

Star Trek: Legacy spin-off blueprints are already there

If the immense popularity of Discovery spin-off Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is anything to go by, there’s certainly an appetite for episodic bold new adventures with both new and legacy characters.

The excellent season 3 finale ends on a real high, flashing forward a year to set up a tantalising Legacy spin-off with Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine captaining the USS Titan-A (now renamed USS Enterprise NCC -1701-G in honour of Picard and the TNG crew).

Also on board for the ride are Michelle Hurd’s Raffi as first officer, Ed Speleers’s Jack Crusher as special counsellor to the captain, and Geordi’s daughter Sydney “Crash” La Forge at the helm.

Introducing the TNG crew’s offspring - Jack, Sydney and Alandra (with Riker and Troi’s daughter Kestra waiting in the wings) - cleverly bridges the gap between generations - whilst opening the door for new scenarios, especially with Jack and Sydney’s undeniable chemistry and strong character arcs.

Set in the 25th century, Matalas has teased that the theoretical series could see the crew on a galactic exploration while delving into the last generation and the next, checking in on old favourites such as the Deep Space Nine crew and Voyager’s The Doctor, along with the Klingon Empire.

“I still can’t believe Starfleet saw fit to give a thief, a pirate and a spy their own ship,” Raffi jokes in one of the closing moments, but this set-up spotlighting The Next Generation’s literal next generation makes for a truly exciting prospect - particularly following the final shock tease of a trial by Q (John de Lancie).

Why Seven of Nine's story should continue in Star Trek: Legacy

Jeri Ryan’s powerful Seven of Nine arc has certainly been one of the major highlights across Star Trek: Picard, delving into her unique experience (and struggles) as both a Borg and a human in Starfleet. This shared experience of surviving assimilation into the Borg collective with Picard certainly proved key in both second and third Borg-centric seasons.

Seven of Nine’s personal journey spotlights her reconciling with her past and deservedly finding her own place within Starfleet and the Federation in an emotional and satisfying arc.

With the fan favourite character now finally poised to captain the USS Titan-A due to the moving recommendation of Captain Shaw (Todd Stashwick) – and granted by close Voyager friend Tuvok (Tim Russ) – this marks a brand new beginning to her story.

And with the younger generation now free of their Borg ‘infection’, but probably still shaken from their shared trauma, who better to guide them and lead the way than Seven of Nine?

With Raffi close by her side, and the next generation onboard, there are plenty more tales to tell and adventures to explore. Hopefully Matalas can also finally dedicate the time to fully explore Seven and Raffi’s complex relationship, whilst opening the door for even more Star Trek Voyager legacy characters ties.

“Engage, make it so, take us out, what will be your first official act of command?" Raffi asks, and the following teasing cliffhanger certainly leaves us desperate to discover her captain catchphrase!

Star Trek: Picard cast are fully behind Legacy spin-off

With the third and final Picard season coming to a close with such a brilliant concept of passing the baton between generations, a number of the core cast have also publicly backed the showrunner’s idea for the new spin-off Legacy show.

LeVar Burton recently endorsed the potential spin-off as he appeared on chat show The View (with host and fellow TNG alum Whoopi Goldberg).

“What the writers have done is they have really set it up well.” Burton commented. “You have got the next generation of The Next Generation. The La Forge sisters, one’s an engineer, the other’s a pilot. We’ve got Jack Crusher, Seven of Nine. It makes a whole lot of sense.”

In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Jeri Ryan also confirmed that she would 100% be on board with the spin-off, “Story-wise, absolutely. Would I love to continue working with these people and this character? Absolutely! Playing with these actors is just amazing, and this character is just a gift.”

Following the recent cancellation of Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently the only live-action series in production, so Star Trek: Legacy would be an exciting offering prime to bolster the Trek shows on Paramount Plus.

Star Trek: Picard season 3 airs on Paramount Plus in the US, and on Amazon Prime Video in the UK – try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days.

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