Star Trek: Picard’s final season is due out in 2023, and the pressure is on for co-showrunner Terry Matalas and the crew. Season 3 will bring back much of the cast of the beloved series The Next Generation, and tell a story that could put a cap on many of those characters' journeys in the universe. There’s also some obligation to try and offer fans surprises and unexpected events, and it seemed like Matalas nearly did so when he tried to incorporate a well-known Voyager character into the story.
Terry Matalas spent some time talking to All Access Star Trek about his work on Star Trek: Picard, and working on the final season. When speaking about incorporating ideas that may or may not make it into the final story, Matalas mentioned he spent three weeks trying to fit Voyager’s Naomi Wildman into a story, but ultimately had to let it go:
This is not a spoiler because it doesn’t happen–but Naomi Wildman. There was a moment where there’s a specific thing that’s happening, what if they had to turn to a grown-up Naomi Wildman and it was a very, very intense three weeks in the room because it was a great story. And had you had 13 episodes, you were going to do this one, and it was going to be great if you could produce it because it was rather expensive. And so that’s hard.
Naomi Wildman wasn’t a member of the bridge crew in Star Trek: Voyager, but fans likely remember the plucky Starfleet kid who frequently spent time around Neelix and Seven of Nine. It sounds like Picard wanted to bring back Naomi for a key part of the adventure, and given her time spent with Seven (who will join Starfleet in Season 3), it’s probable the story involved her. It’s not as groundbreaking as bringing back William Shatner for a guest role or anything, but definitely one of those unexpected cameos that would’ve had fans buzzing after her reprisal.
Unfortunately, the cameo didn’t happen, and the Star Trek: Picard team had to find another way to proceed. Terry Matalas explained that’s a common side effect of planning out a season, and how it’s hard to set anything in stone until they’ve mapped out the season’s story from beginning to end:
I think the key is: we know the moves, now what are some of the chapters that we desperately want to tell. Like there are little things. There’s a Next Gen character that I desperately wanted to bring back. But I did not want to do anything that wasn’t organic. So there’s so much discussion. You just can’t move forward on your first script until you know exactly how the series finale is going to end.
While it may be disappointing that a character like Naomi Wildman didn’t make the cut, it’s good to hear that Star Trek: Picard’s staff is still taking care in working in organic cameos. Unfortunately, there can only be so many actors featured in the final season, and while it’ll be cool to see Geordi La Forge and Beverly Crusher again, these returns came at the cost of losing cast members from the first two seasons. Ultimately though, it appears that they took great care in crafting a thoughtful final season, so here’s hoping it lives up to the hype of justifying Michael Dorn suiting up as Worf again.
Star Trek: Picard Seasons 1 and 2 are currently available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription. Season 3 is still far off, but there’s a good number of Trek shows still coming in 2022 that will easily justify the price of a subscription.
