Star Trek: Picard's Terry Matalas on the Series' Happy Ending and Continuing With the TNG Crew

[Warning! The following contains spoilers for "The Last Generation," the tenth episode of Star Trek: Picard Season 3 and series finale that premiered on April 20. Read at your own risk!]

It's one thing for a Hollywood writer-producer-director to live out a long-held dream of getting their creative hands on a franchise and a group of characters they've adored since their formative years. It's entirely another to receive near-universal acclaim for what they were able accomplish when playing with their beloved icons. 

But that's just what Terry Matalas, previously heralded for his work as the showrunner of the acclaimed TV adaptation of 12 Monkeys, has achieved with the culmination of the third season of Star Trek: Picard, which at long last reunited the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation to critical raves, audience adoration, awards buzz, and actors reinvigorated by roles they've played on and off for over 35 years. Matalas' embrace of Star Trek-style storytelling and its rich mythology — without overtly relying on too-easy Easter eggs or shameless nostalgia plays — has been a shot of adrenaline in the arm of the franchise, celebrating and extending the lifespan of the elements that kept it vital throughout the 1990s.

Still waiting for the personal and emotional impact of the season's reception to fully wash over him, Matalas joined TV Guide for a look at his experience, including the decision to forego killing off any of the TNG stalwarts in favor of a more meaningful impact, finding a subtle role for one of the cast members from the original Trek series that started it all, and the unexpected way the notion paid off to his dream vision.

I'm so interested in how and why you landed on ending the show where everybody has a heroic moment and there isn't some profound loss or noble sacrifice — other than Shaw, who I loved. There's not really a dark side to the finale, and I'm really curious why that was part of what you wanted to achieve.

Terry Matalas: Well, I don't know if I have it in me to kill my childhood heroes, and I don't know how great that ever really feels and how successful that ever really is. When I think back in the pantheon of heroes that die, there's only, I think, a few of them that successfully work. I think probably maybe Tony Stark is the only one that has successfully been told that way because it almost feels like it's been told that way from the beginning without it being such a gut punch that you're like, gosh, I really don't... I just didn't have it in me. I think maybe if Picard (Patrick Stewart) had not already died in Season 1, you could talk about it.

However, the story was about a father finally connecting with his son. It feels like if he connects with his son and then immediately dies after, it doesn't really feel that amazing. And again, the most satisfying ending for me is them around that poker table. And don't you want that to be the last memory of them, almost as if it was designed to be that way again, 30 years ago. So I just didn't have it in me. I'm sure someone else probably could have done it beautifully. It just wasn't me.

Tell me a little bit about shaping your ideas for the characters and the arcs you wanted them to go on with the actors, who certainly can claim some ownership on their characters. I know that, to a person, they've all sung your praises, so tell me about that collaboration, making sure everybody got their due throughout the series.

Matalas: Well, we certainly didn't want to do anything they didn't want to do. I mean, they're certainly the arbiters of their characters in every way. They've lived with their characters longer and thought more about their characters than I ever will and have discussed their characters at length with fans at conventions in ways that I don't even know about. So we had a whole lot of ideas and an arc that we wanted to tell, and we sat down and had meetings right away, and we were very lucky that everything lined up and it was very collaborative and everything was additive that this cast wanted to do.

Specifically for Brent Spiner, who is probably the most difficult character to bring back just because Data had already died twice. I knew Data had to play a part. It didn't feel like [a replacement] could be a satisfying addition to this cast or another form of a robot that wasn't quite Data. And although we did discuss it, and ultimately we came to this being the end of the Data journey, of [Star Trek creator Gene] Roddenberry's vision of Data, which was I think what was promised, but how do we get there? But that was working in step with Brent in every way, and so it's deeply satisfying to do it with them. And you don't always agree, which is kind of fun too, to get into these discussions with them and not agree and then come out on the other side of it and then look at what you accomplished together.

Star Trek: Picard's Todd Stashwick Discusses Liam Shaw's Bold Decision and His Star Trek Legacy

Patrick Stewart has been very open about his thinking that maybe one move was a wrong move, and then being completely blown away when he saw the finished product and saying, "I was wrong." That must be a fun bit of creative frisson, to say like, "No, no, no – trust me."

Matalas: It is. It's nice to be seen. It's also very hard when all you have is that piece of paper with barely dried ink on it, and you're like, "I'm telling you, when the music is in there and the visual effects are done, the moment won't feel the way that you feel it might feel. It's going to feel like this." It's often hard to articulate cutting patterns and subtleties that actors don't necessarily see.

Tell me about being a fan and getting to get so close with this cast, which you grew up watching on TV and revering, and to get to know them as people. Tell me what that experience is like for you.

Matalas: It's a great question. My high school buddy flew in from New Jersey and we watched [the TNG finale episode] "All Good Things…" together when we were in high school. And on the way out here we were talking about how real it is that now one of my best friends is John Frakes, who I text with and we're going to be working with, I'll work with forever on other projects and whatnot. And he is Will Riker, but he's also now Johnny. And I think one of the really amazing things about this business is at some point you can get to work with your heroes. And I'm just blessed in that way to have been given this opportunity by Alex Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman to be able to come in and do this final season. So beyond lucky.

You've seen the reaction that the fans have had to these moments that you created for them, and I'm curious about your reaction. Were there things made you particularly emotional or giddy? What was your visceral response to certain sequences you'd been dreaming about?

Matalas: Oh yeah, there is a particular moment in the finale where Troi is able to find the location of our heroes based on feeling her husband almost reaching out to her with love, essentially, and thinking of their lost son. And there's an image of the Enterprise overhead of Jack and Picard that I drew in the writer's room on a dry erase board about halfway through the season as a dream shot I wanted to do as a director. And I said, there's no way they're going to let me do the shot, but I'm going to try. And when it finally came out with the music and the score change and the thing, and then even singing and watching it in the IMAX later as people cheered, that makes me emotional that we pulled it off.

In a show that I would say you filled with what I would call more grace notes than Easter eggs—

Matalas: I appreciate that. Thank you very much for that.

Yeah, my personal favorite was the appearance of Walter Koenig, in voice form [as Pavel Chekov's son Anton, the president of the Federation]. That was such an inspired little touch and also kind of a callback to [TNG's first episode) "Encounter at Farpoint," where we got one of the originals blessing the new franchise. Tell me about the creative inspiration to do that, and then the actual pulling it all together and getting Walter to do that voiceover.

Matalas: Well, I really wanted to honor and have one of the original series actors in this, at least before we said goodbye. I really wanted to have him on camera, but again, time, money — we're making a television show. How we got him is a fascinating story: He's Todd Stashwick's neighbor, and Todd sees him all the time on walks and they hang out and he was like, "You're not going to believe this: I'm captain of a starship." And he was like, "The showrunner would love to have you on a show." And he's like, "I'm there!" And the rest is history. And it was pretty fun: the night of finale, we all sat on a couch together, Todd, me and Pavel Chekov and watched the finale with popcorn. I mean, it does not get better than that.

A year ago there was presumption that this was going to be a true last hurrah for the TNG actors. But this season was so much fun and it looked like everybody was having such a good time that there feels like there's so much gas left in the tank for this particular crew.

Matalas: That's up to the television gods, Paramount and Alex Kurtzman, but I would agree with you. I think that these actors have never been better. And Jeri Ryan — I mean, has she ever looked better in a captain's chair? I mean, that's a show I'd watch for the rest of my life, so I'm with you. I hope one day that we get that opportunity.

Star Trek's all about the future: tell me some in-a-perfect-world ideas that you have for yourself in the role of Star Trek's overall future. Your Star Trek: Legacy concept is out there. Tell me how involved, how hands-on you hope to be as this almost-60-year-old tapestry continues to add new elements.

Matalas: Well, again, at this point, it's just another fan dream. It's just this fan's dream to do it. It's the story of Captain Seven and her new crew, and it's the story of the next Next Generation. But intermixed with it is our old legacy crew. And it's Riker, it's Crusher, it's Worf, it's Geordi, it's Troi, even Picard could pop in. It's who else is out there in the 25th century? Is it Kira? Who else in the Voyager cast? What's going on with the Klingon Empire right now, and in their state in the Federation? It's exploring all the things we left off in the Berman-verse. That's my dream of it. But again, it's just a pipe dream at the moment, and it's kind of up to the fans. We'll see.

Is there a character in the Star Trek canon that you haven't gotten your hands on yet that you still are eager to work on? And I'll point out that, having encountered him recently, William Shatner is still in fine form.

Matalas: Look, James T. Kirk is... I grew up with Kirk, I grew up with Bones, I grew up with Spock. I don't know that there'll ever be a chance for me to tell the story about those three, but those are certainly in my heart. But I'm perfectly happy with the gang that I got to play with here!

Tell me about how and why and when you fell in love with Star Trek?

Matalas: I fell in love with Star Trek when I was a young boy on Sunday afternoons watching it with my father, the original series, and then going to see those original series movies when they were coming out, Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock. And those movies were really interesting, because while the series was very much about exploring strange new worlds, those movies became very much about family, and saving family. So that became a core of storytelling from me. If you've seen my previous shows, 12 Monkeys, that's always about that. So I think obviously that's burned in my DNA at some point. I think that's become a part of me.

Because that's become part of your DNA, you've gotten to give back to the franchise, give back to your fellow fans, give back to the actors who inspired you. Tell me about receiving it back: the gratitude, because this has been a true reaction to the show, has been a true celebration of your work and of the great legacy of these performers and the franchise itself. Tell me how all of that's been hitting you.

Matalas: Well, I don't know that I let it. I certainly find the pockets of fandom that don't let me [laughs], so I won't... Certainly, there's no ego exploding from this. That's definitely true. Star Trek fandom is a wide enough spectrum that you can certainly find its detractors. However, I've definitely heard an overwhelming amount of positivity that burst my heart with joy. [Doctor Who writer-producer] Russell T. Davies said a thing on Instagram about how much he loved it, and my God, that just fills my heart with joy. When you have someone like Russell T. Davies, whose work I've enjoyed forever, celebrating yours, it's indescribable. That's really neat. But I'm at a bit of a loss for words because I'm still processing it all. It is still so raw and fresh. But yeah, we'll see. Ask me again in a month.

The Star Trek: Picard series finale is now streaming on Paramount+.