"It's satisfying": When Star Trek: Picard showrunner let his feelings known about the sci-fi show's conclusion with the third season 

The third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation not only provided a fitting conclusion to the series but also set the stage for the arrival of Star Trek: Picard. The man who was responsible for running these shows, i.e., Terry Matalas, spoke exclusively with Collider's Steve Weintraub ahead of the debut of Star Trek: Picard back in February 2023.

During the course of the interview, he spoke at length about his creative process and his experience of bringing the show to a full circle. Here's everything that we know.

What did Terry Matalas say about Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3?

Weintraub asked Matalas about the experience of making the finale of the Paramount+ show, in keeping with the fact that this was the last iteration of the show. Matalas answered:

"Yes. I can't really talk about it too much, but I will tell you that I think it's satisfying. I think when you get there and you realize, when you see the whole picture and the puzzle comes together, it feels like a satisfying conclusion to Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, it also is a passing of the torch of the last generation to the next generation, and there are some new characters you might want to see continue, and some new starships you might want to continue to see boldly go into the final frontier."

He was then asked if there were any references from the past editions of the show that Matalas wanted to include but couldn't owing to narrative reasons:

"No, no, not really. There are characters that I wish could appear, but might be appearing on other Star Trek shows. You don't want to over-saturate the universe. But for the most part, I couldn't believe I got away with what I got away with. Especially when you see the last four. There's more to come. But I think the most important part is hopefully – and I hope that you felt that – is that it feels organic."

He further added:

"You know, specifically (in) Episode 6, we go to some locations that are rich with Star Trek history. And so, there's a fine line between fanservice and just being in the universe in which 50 years of history exists. If you don't take a moment and reference it and have a little fun, what are you even doing? So it's hard, it’s a difficult thing, but we feel like we got to do almost everything we wanted to do."

Matalas spoke about the studio's intervention

Towards the end of the interview, Matalas was also questioned about the degree to which Paramount Television interfered with his creative process, and the showrunner explained:

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"I was very fortunate, particularly with this season, that they kind of let me do my own thing. That is not a common experience, but I had a lot of trust given to me – it was lovely – by everyone involved, and I could not be more appreciative of that. Again, it could be a complete failure. Fans could have been like, “What did he do? He just made this mess of a thing.”

Star Trek: The Next Generation is exclusively available on Paramount+.

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