Star Trek: Picard team discusses why the show is ending with season 3

All good things must come to an end. In the case of Star Trek: Picard, the end will be here sooner than you think. The show premiered in 2020 on CBS All Access before the platform became Paramount+, and will end with the third season, premiering on February 16, 2023. The show stars Patrick Stewart, who reprises his role as Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The previous seasons have followed Jean-Luc’s journey in his older age, with several actors returning to the franchise for the show.

During the Television Critics Association’s (TCA) winter press tour, the Picard team discussed the decision to end this soon into its run. Showrunner and executive producer Terry Matalas told reporters that one of the north stars they followed was giving Picard and his team a proper send-off, something his Next Generation version never got. “What better way to end the journey than to look back at the beginning, and bring some Next Gen friends? The storyline has a strong sense of conclusion,” Matalas continued. Season three features the return of Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, and LeVar Burton.

Stewart told reporters during the TCA panel that he’d potentially continue Picard only if the show could maintain the same quality. “There’s still enormous narrative potential for what we’ve been doing, and doors are left open.” He added that he wanted to ensure Picard didn’t look like a three-season-long Next Gen reunion because “that would simply be stepping back.”

“What excited me about working on the show was, and it was Alex [Kurtzman] who said this, I had lived 35 years since I put on the Captain’s uniform,” the actor noted. “There’s no doubt in that time, the world has changed. I have changed too. I wanted the series to show the impact of those years that have passed, how much one might change, and whether fears become greater or less. Right now, with the condition of the world, my fears are high. So I wanted that to be incorporated. Terry and [co-creator] Alex Kurtzman did it brilliantly.”

As for whether the show will actually continue in some form beyond season three? Kurtzman, who has worked on the Star Trek franchise for over a decade, revealed they discussed a three-year plan with Stewart when they first discussed him reprising the role. “That being said, anything is possible.”

Star Trek: Picard’s third season begins February 16 on Paramount+, with the series finale set to air on April 20.