Star Trek: The Next Generation star Levar Burton believes that it makes sense to follow through with the rumored Star Trek: Legacy, a sequel series to Star Trek: Picard. Star Trek: Legacy, a title coined by showrunner Terry Matalas, would follow the events of Picard season 3, and would focus on Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Commander Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd), and Ensign Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), on the newly rechristened USS Enterprise-G.
Speaking with TV Line to promote his hosting duties on the new CW game show, Trivial Pursuit, Burton was asked about the possibility of returning to the Star Trek universe after he and his Star Trek: The Next Generation co-stars Gate McFadden, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, and Brent Spiner joined Patrick Stewart for the third and final season of Picard. Specifically, Burton was asked to respond to Stewart's statement that the TNG cast would like to return to the franchise. Here's what he had to say:
I think [Patrick] was reflecting, genuinely, the sentiment – then AND now, at least for us, the cast – and the audience, two years on, seem to be just as interested in the idea of Legacy as when Picard was just airing. I’m not close to the brain trust over there, but I see that they are all in on Starfleet Academy . And in this age of cutting back and retrenching in the entertainment space, I imagine they’re going to focus on that until they feel like they might be able to focus on something else. And I would think that given the opportunity and the resources, that they would want to do this. It makes so much sense… It makes so much sense.
What Levar Burton's Response Means To The Star Trek Franchise
It Would Bring Audiences More Of What They Want
Star Trek: Picard meant the return of storytelling in the "present day" Star Trek, the timeframe that takes place in the era of TNG, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, as well as the TNG films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek: Nemesis. Everything produced after that was, for the lack of a better term, "period pieces," at least in the world of Star Trek.
Star Trek: Enterprise took place one hundred years before the Kirk era of Star Trek: The Orginal Series, the reboot films brought the franchise back to the TOS era (albeit in the Kelvin Timeline), Star Trek: Discovery begins around ten years before the events of TOS, and Strange New Worlds is a sequel to Discovery. While Trekkers were happy to be getting more Trek in their lives, what these projects didn't do was let them know what was happening in the "current" world of Star Trek. Picard finally did that.
While Trekkers were happy to be getting more Trek in their lives, what these projects didn't do was let them know what was happening in the "current" world of Star Trek.
The first two seasons of Picard were met with mixed results, but season 3 was an enormous hit with critics and audiences alike, scoring a 97% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, and much of the praise it received was a direct result of the reunited TNG cast. It proved that audiences wanted to catch up with what was happening not only with the TNG crew, but with the "present day" Trek as well. Star Trek: Legacy would allow them to continue to do that.
Star Trek: Legacy Is Likely A Long Shot
Paramount is currently prepping for the Starfleet Academy series (which takes place in the 32nd century), as well as its upcoming Star Trek: Section 31 film (which reportedly takes place after season 2 of Discovery, ten years before TOS), so it would seem that they are pretty busy with Trek-related projects these days. Even if they wait until Starfleet Academy settles in a bit, Picard season 3, and specifically the finale, seemed to be the TNG send-off that they never got. It looks as though the powers-that-be might unfortunately be done with the TNG crew for good, despite Burton's wishes.
