“If I had a magic button… I’d push that button today”: One Marvel Show May Have Smashed Star Trek: Discovery Director’s Dream of a Picard Sequel Series

The world of Star Trek has gifted us with unlimited access to intergalactic adventures, with every chapter taking us to a new frontier of space exploration among the stars. Packed with delightful missions, strange worlds, unpredictable species, and interstellar travel, the franchise has driven the audienceʼs imagination with brand-new possibilities for a potential-filled universe occupied by stories and experiences that can only be found hidden within the wildest imaginations of a mad scientist.

For Trekkies, only having access to unlimited potential means nothing if one cannot chart the farthest reaches of the universe that they were tasked with exploring. Star Trek: Legacy promised one such potentially fulfilling experience but the light was snuffed out sooner than one could even come up with a way of saving the show, despite the studioʼs complete reluctance to green light it.

Alex Kurtzman Plans an Escape Route From USS Discovery

Since 2017, the Star Trek universe has rained chaos and mayhem over the franchise’s fans by establishing an entirely new chapter of Star Trek lore rather than the one we’ve been familiar with for the past half-century. Throughout the 5 seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, absurd storylines drilled so many irreversible plot holes into the series that USS Discovery sank faster than even the ill-fated Titanic.

However, showrunner Alex Kurtzman had other plans in mind beyond Discovery – one that ensured that his career wouldn’t sink along with the NCC-1701 starship. Soon after, his plans concerning a sequel to Picard, namely Star Trek: Legacy came into work and Picard showrunner Terry Matalas quickly jumped on board to helm the project.

Sadly, the reality of Hollywood studio systems, contractual commitments of actors, directors, and producers, their behind-the-scenes politics, and the bureaucratic red tape that keeps it all in line said otherwise. The fate of Star Trek: Legacy is now as fickle as USS Discoveryʼs commitment to a single Captain per season.

Marvel Lays Waste to Alex Kurtzmanʼs Star Trek: Legacy

If anybody is familiar with the game of franchises, it is well known that Patrick Stewartʼs introduction as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The New Generation was bound to be followed up by a quaint new spin-off series titled Picard.

Launched in 2020, after three wonderful seasons of the critically acclaimed show, it was primed and ready to be succeeded by a new generation of stars in Star Trek: Legacy – one that would aptly honor the legacy of Jean-Luc Picard by exploring the adventures of his son, Jack Crusher.

But before Alex Kurtzman and Terry Matalas could put their plan in motion, Paramount+ withdrew their investment from the series. Despite the hype and the chatter of fans surrounding Star Trek: Legacy, Kurtzman revealed in an interview with Den of Geek that the show would not become a reality anytime soon:

If I had a magic button, a magic ‘greenlight button,’ for Star Trek: Legacy, and it was all on me, I’d push that button today. Right now, it’s beyond my paygrade.

With months toiling away into years, the interest around Legacy dwindled just as much as its chance of ever getting made for television. The franchise suffered another blow after Terry Matalas jumped ship to Marvel Studios for the opportunity to helm a new Disney+ project based on Vision.

With Marvel taking up years of contractually binding commitment, Matalas’ future looks set at the house of superheroes. As time passes, the potential of Star Trek: Legacy dwindles further down the list of potential projects that could be green-lit in the near future.

Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Discovery are available for streaming on Paramount+.