Legacy’ Happens, These Characters Should Come Back

Key Takeaways

• “Star Trek: Picard” spinoff “Legacy” could feature Captain Seven, Jack Crusher, Q, setting up exciting possibilities.
• Trekverse actors support “Legacy,” including Michelle Hurd, LeVar Burton, and Jonathan Frakes, hoping it gets approved.
• “Legacy” could involve Naomi Wildman, B’Elanna Torres, Benjamin Sisko, Thomas Riker, and Sela.

Fans have been asking for a Star Trek: Picard spinoff featuring their favorite legacy Star Trek characters since Picard ended in 2023. Shortly after the series’ final episode, showrunner Terry Matalas proposed a Star Trek spinoff featuring Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and her crew.

The potential show, Star Trek: Legacy, would pick up from where Picard season 3 ended: with Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) meeting Q (John de Lancie). Though Picard season 3 was definitely the last season of the show, the finale still set up an amazing storyline for a spinoff, almost as if the showrunners and writers were expecting that there would be one. With Seven recently promoted to Captain and Jack meeting Q, the possibilities are endless.

Over the past year, several classic Star Trek actors, in addition to Ryan, Speleers, and de Lancie, have expressed interest in Star Trek: Legacy, including: Michelle Hurd (Raffi), LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge), and Jonathan Frakes (William Riker). Trekverse showrunners Terry Matalas and Alex Kurtzman have also said they really want Legacy to happen, but both have admitted they don’t have the influence with the studio to make it a reality.

But Trekkies have a long legacy of pressuring studios to get shows made, so Legacy could still happen. If it does, these are a few characters the show should definitely bring back.

Naomi Wildman

In Star Trek: Voyager, Seven of Nine developed an unlikely friendship with the only child aboard the ship: Naomi Wildman. The half-human, half-Ktarian girl was born while Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Seven and Naomi bonded during a classic Star Trek alternate personality episode in which Seven took on the personality of a child assimilated by the Borg. Though their relationship initially took on a teacher/student dynamic, Naomi and Seven grew extremely close and eventually considered each other family.

A series with Seven literally at the helm is the perfect opportunity to check in with her younger sister figure. Given the timeline of Picard’s third season, Naomi would be about 29 or 30 years old. She could easily be an Ensign or Lieutenant who joins Seven’s crew in Legacy. Alternatively, Seven could run into Naomi in another context during a mission.

At one point, Picard showrunners considered including Naomi in the show as a Fenris Ranger, but the idea was scrapped. It could easily be revived for Legacy, though.

B’Elanna Torres

Though Lieutenant B’Elanna Torres’ name was mentioned in Star Trek: Prodigy, she hasn’t made an appearance in the Trekverse since Voyager ended. Her husband, Tom Paris, made an appearance in Lower Decks, but didn’t mention his wife. So, fans haven’t gotten an update on the human/Klingon character in quite some time.

Context from outside the Trekverse explains this. Roxann Dawson, the actress who played Torres, discovered a love for directing on the set of Voyager and has pretty much stopped acting. She is, however, an accomplished director. If Dawson was willing to return to the Star Trek universe, she’d be a perfect fit for Legacy.

Torres and Seven didn’t always get along well during their time on Voyager, but they respected each other and sought each other’s technical expertise often. The complex interplay between Seven and Torres was one of the best parts of the later seasons of Voyager. Seeing their relationship play out again, when they’re both older and much more experienced would be amazing. They’re both extremely strong women who don’t always play well with others, and it would be interesting to see them collide once more.

Benjamin Sisko

This one is probably a pipe dream, but fans can hope, right? Avery Brooks, who played Commander (and later Captain) Benjamin Sisko in Deep Space Nine, essentially retired from acting in the early 2000s, and he rarely makes public appearances. However, there is a chance Brooks would be interested in returning to the role. Cirroc Lofton, who played Sisko’s son Jake, developed a father/son relationship with Brooks while working on DS9, and they’ve remained friends for decades. Lofton has said he thinks Brooks would be willing to reprise his role if given the opportunity. And fans definitely want to see him again.

Working Sisko into a Legacy storyline might be challenging, though. The last time fans saw Sisko, he was in the wormhole with the Bajoran Prophets being Space Jesus. However, he did promise both Kasidy, who was pregnant with his child, and Jake that he would be back frequently to be part of the family.

The Dominion did play a major role in the last season of Picard, so a trip to the wormhole wouldn’t be out of the question in Legacy. This could provide fans with the opportunity to see if Sisko kept his promise to Kasidy and Jake, and perhaps set up some wacky wormhole fun.

Thomas Riker

Though fans have seen William Riker quite a bit in modern Trek, they haven’t gotten to see his transporter double, Thomas Riker, since he was imprisoned for stealing the Defiant during his stint with the Maquis. In Lower Decks, T. Riker was listed as one of the former Starfleet officers who needed to be apprehended and taken to Earth when the Nova One, piloted by Nick Lacarno, was attacking ships throughout the quadrant. So, apparently, T. Riker was no longer imprisoned in the Lazon II labor camp in 2381. Lower Decks didn’t clarify whether he was released or had escaped.

By 2401, when the story in Legacy would presumably start, T. Riker could be anywhere in the universe. Captain Seven’s crew could encounter him during another deceptive mission, like the one he pulled off as part of the Maquis. Or, Legacy could set up an incredible callback to the first episode of Voyager. If T. Riker is somehow back in prison during the events of Legacy, Seven could recruit him for a mission, much like Captain Kathryn Janeway recruited Tom Paris from prison for Voyager’s first mission.

Sela

Denise Crosby’s departure from the first season of The Next Generation is one of the biggest examples of Star Trek’s early issues with its female characters. Crosby infamously quit after she asked for more character development for Tasha Yar, and the showrunners refused. Thankfully, Crosby returned to the series a few times — once as an alternate version of Yar, and four times as Sela, the half-Romulan-half-human daughter of the alternate version of Yar. Crosby herself came up with the idea for Sela and pitched it to the showrunners. They loved it, and they came up with a few TNG storylines for the character.

Given the Romulan connections in Picard, it’s strange that the writers never brought Sela back. Legacy could provide that opportunity, and apparently, it’s already been discussed. Popverse reported that Crobsy told fans at Tampa Bay Comic Convention that she’d already spoken to Matalas and “…he would love to do a storyline with Sela.” Fans would love to see it too.

Though Star Trek: Legacy hasn’t been greenlit, the fans, the actors, and the showrunners are all behind the project. Hopefully, it happens at some point, but it’s not likely to get approved until Strange New Worlds ends its run and Starfleet Academy is well underway.