Summary
Fans have been asking for aStar Trek: Picardspinoff featuring their favorite legacyStar Trekcharacters sincePicardended in 2023. Shortly after the series' final episode, showrunner Terry Matalas proposed aStar Trekspinoff featuring Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and her crew.
The potential show,Star Trek: Legacy, would pick up from wherePicardseason 3 ended: with Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) meeting Q (John de Lancie). ThoughPicardseason 3 was definitely the last season of the show, the finale still set up an amazing storyline for a spinoff, almost as if the showrunners and writers were expecting that there would be one. With Seven recently promoted to Captain and Jack meeting Q, the possibilities are endless.
Over the past year, several classicStar Trekactors, in addition to Ryan, Speleers, and de Lancie, have expressed interest inStar Trek: Legacy, including: Michelle Hurd (Raffi), LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge), and Jonathan Frakes (William Riker). Trekverse showrunners Terry Matalas and Alex Kurtzman have also said they really wantLegacyto happen, but both have admitted they don’t have the influence with the studio to make it a reality.
But Trekkies have a long legacy of pressuring studios to get shows made, soLegacycould still happen. If it does, these are a few characters the show should definitely bring back.
Naomi Wildman
InStar Trek: Voyager,Seven of Nine developed an unlikely friendship with the only child aboard the ship:Naomi Wildman. The half-human, half-Ktarian girl was born while Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Seven and Naomi bonded during a classicStar Trekalternate personality episode in which Seven took on the personality of a child assimilated by the Borg. Though their relationship initially took on a teacher/student dynamic, Naomi and Seven grew extremely close and eventually considered each other family.
A series with Seven literally at the helm is the perfect opportunity to check in with her younger sister figure. Given the timeline ofPicard’sthird season, Naomi would be about 29 or 30 years old. She could easily be an Ensign or Lieutenant who joins Seven’s crew inLegacy. Alternatively, Seven could run into Naomi in another context during a mission.
At one point,Picardshowrunners considered including Naomi in the show as a Fenris Ranger, but the idea was scrapped. It could easily be revived forLegacy, though.
B’Elanna Torres
ThoughLieutenant B’Elanna Torres’name was mentioned inStar Trek: Prodigy,she hasn’t made an appearance in the Trekverse sinceVoyagerended. Her husband, Tom Paris, made an appearance inLower Decks, but didn’t mention his wife. So, fans haven’t gotten an update on the human/Klingon character in quite some time.
Context from outside the Trekverse explains this. Roxann Dawson, the actress who played Torres, discovered a love for directing on the set ofVoyagerand has pretty much stopped acting. She is, however,an accomplished director. If Dawson was willing to return to theStar Trekuniverse, she’d be a perfect fit forLegacy.
Torres and Sevendidn’t always get along wellduring their time on Voyager, but they respected each other and sought each other’s technical expertise often. The complex interplay between Seven and Torres was one of the best parts of the later seasons of Voyager. Seeing their relationship play out again, when they’re both older and much more experienced would be amazing. They’re both extremely strong women who don’t always play well with others, and it would be interesting to see them collide once more.
Benjamin Sisko
This one is probably a pipe dream, but fans can hope, right? Avery Brooks, who played Commander (and laterCaptain) Benjamin SiskoinDeep Space Nine, essentially retired from acting in the early 2000s, and he rarely makes public appearances. However, there is a chance Brooks would be interested in returning to the role. Cirroc Lofton, who played Sisko’s son Jake, developed a father/son relationship with Brooks while working onDS9,and they’ve remained friends for decades. Lofton has said he thinksBrooks would be willing to reprisehis role if given the opportunity. And fans definitely want to see him again.
Working Sisko into aLegacystoryline might be challenging, though. The last time fans saw Sisko, he was in the wormhole with the Bajoran Prophets being Space Jesus. However, he did promise both Kasidy, who was pregnant with his child, and Jake that he would be back frequently to be part of the family.
The Dominiondid play a major role in the last season ofPicard, so a trip to the wormhole wouldn’t be out of the question inLegacy. This could provide fans with the opportunity to see if Sisko kept his promise to Kasidy and Jake, and perhaps set up some wacky wormhole fun.
Thomas Riker
Though fans have seen William Riker quite a bit in modern Trek, they haven’t gotten to see his transporter double,Thomas Riker, since he was imprisoned for stealing the Defiant during his stint with the Maquis. InLower Decks, T. Riker was listed as one of the former Starfleet officers who needed to be apprehended and taken to Earth when the Nova One,piloted by Nick Lacarno, was attacking ships throughout the quadrant. So, apparently, T. Riker was no longer imprisoned in the Lazon II labor camp in 2381.Lower Decksdidn’t clarify whether he was released or had escaped.
By 2401, when the story inLegacywould presumably start, T. Riker could be anywhere in the universe. Captain Seven’s crew could encounter him during another deceptive mission, like the one he pulled off as part of the Maquis. Or,Legacycould set up an incredible callback to the first episode ofVoyager. If T. Riker is somehow back in prison during the events ofLegacy, Seven could recruit him for a mission, much like Captain Kathryn Janeway recruited Tom Paris from prison for Voyager’s first mission.
Sela
Denise Crosby’s departure from the first season ofThe Next Generationis one of the biggest examples ofStar Trek’searlyissues with its female characters. Crosby infamously quit after she asked for more character development for Tasha Yar, and the showrunners refused. Thankfully, Crosby returned to the series a few times — once as an alternate version of Yar, and four times as Sela, the half-Romulan-half-human daughter of the alternate version of Yar. Crosby herself came up with the idea for Sela and pitched it to the showrunners. They loved it, and they came up with a fewTNGstorylines for the character.
Given the Romulan connections inPicard, it’s strange that the writers never brought Sela back.Legacycould provide that opportunity, and apparently, it’s already been discussed.Popversereported that Crobsy told fans at Tampa Bay Comic Convention that she’d already spoken to Matalas and “…he would love to do a storyline with Sela.” Fans would love to see it too.
ThoughStar Trek: Legacyhasn’t been greenlit, the fans, the actors, and the showrunners are all behind the project. Hopefully, it happens at some point, but it’s not likely to get approved untilStrange New Worldsends its run andStarfleet Academyis well underway.
