Summary
- Terry Matalas has shifted focus from Star Trek to the MCU for a high-profile project, leaving fans disappointed.
- Despite past success with Star Trek, Matalas is unlikely to return to the franchise in the near future.
- Matalas’ pitch-perfect work on Star Trek: Picard did not lead to a follow-up series, as he moved on to the MCU.
Terry Matalas, the Star Trek showrunner responsible for helming the much-lauded final season of Star Trek: Picard, has conspicuously had no further association with the franchise since Picard wrapped. This is despite calls for another Matalas-led project from both fans and the man himself.
Terry Matalas has a surprisingly long history with Star Trek, so this lack of forward momentum is a bit of a shock to many, particularly after the success of Picard. It has some wondering whether the talented showrunner might be done with the franchise entirely, moving on to very different projects.
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Is Matelas Swapping Star Trek for the MCU?
Terry Matalas delivered a pitch-perfect The Next Generation swansong with the final season of Picard. Many fans expected another project to follow soon after, but instead, his name now seems to have zero association with the franchise.
Despite initial whispers of Matalas developing a follow-up series to Picard, he has instead been pushing ahead with high-profile projects outside of Star Trek and outside of Paramount. Most notably, he appears to have jumped ship to the MCU. In his first outing with the entertainment juggernaut, Matalas will serve as showrunner for Marvel’s upcoming Vision Quest series, rumored to commence filming soon, as well as working as a writer and director on the show, similar to his role on Picard season 3.
MCU projects are rarely light undertakings for creatives, and can sometimes see them tied to the franchise for years at a time. This is sad news for fans of his work on Star Trek because it seems that, at least for the foreseeable future, Terry Matalas is indeed done with the franchise. But there is a silver lining — Matalas has a career-long history of weaving in and out of Star Trek. In fact, in many ways he owes his career in television to the beloved science-fiction property.
It All Started with Star Trek
Terry Matalas began his career as a production associate on the last two seasons of Star Trek: Voyager. He carried these duties over to Star Trek: Enterprise for all four seasons of its run, as well as writing stories for two episodes of the show’s third season. Following the cancelation of Enterprise in 2005, Star Trek disappeared from TV screens for over a decade. During this time, Matalas moved onto other projects, including the much-lauded 12 Monkeys TV series.
Returning to Star Trek’s “NuTrek”
Star Trek would eventually return to the small screen in 2017 with Star Trek: Discovery, and Matalas would return to Star Trek just a few years later. He joined the second season of Picard as co-showrunner alongside Alex Kurtzman, later to be promoted to sole showrunner for the show’s third and final season. Matalas’ work on season three of Star Trek: Picard, which also included writing and directing duties, was met with near-universal acclaim. It was only natural that he would have designs on continuing his work on the iconic science fiction franchise.
Star Trek: Legacy
Without spoiling too much of the ending of Picard season three, Matalas leaves things primed for a continuing story focusing on a number of prominent Star Trek: Picard characters — namely Jack Crusher (Ed Speelers), Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd), and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). A fan campaign to greenlight a new show focused on these continuing voyages began, which Matalas himself got behind. He even suggested the title for this series: Star Trek: Legacy.
The Ball Gets Rolling on Star Trek: Legacy…Then Abruptly Stops
Despite the momentum from the final season of Picard and an undeniable fan interest in Legacy, there hasn’t really been any progress in getting the show off the ground. Matalas confirmed as much in an interview with TrekMovie conducted as Picard cleaned up at the Saturn Awards. Speaking about whether there were any official conversations with Paramount about Legacy, Matalas said:
There’s not. They have Star Trek that they are making and they only have so much money and streaming space. There’s currently not, but we’re looking forward to whatever the Star Trek universe brings… and never say never.
Star Trek: Legacy remains conspicuous by its absence from Paramount’s announced slate of future Star Trek projects. There could be any number of reasons for this. It could be as simple as Paramount wanting to focus on Strange New Worlds, which has an upcoming third season and has been confirmed for a fourth, before greenlighting another Star Trek series with a traditional episodic format. Or maybe it’s because Legacy would be Terry Matalas’ baby, and not Alex Kurtzman’s.
A Battle for Creative Control of Star Trek?
The name Terry Matalas may not be as familiar to Star Trek fans — particularly newer fans — as the name Alex Kurtzman. The franchise has been under Kurtzman’s creative stewardship ever since its television revival with Star Trek: Discovery. It has been anything but plain sailing for Kurtzman during his tenure, however. His “NuTrek” projects sometimes seem to get as much criticism from certain circles of fans as they do praise from others.
When Matalas came onboard as co-showrunner of Picard season two before taking total creative control of the third season, this appeared to some from the outside looking in as potentially being a sort of creative coup. If Matalas ousting Kurtzman as the creative head of Picard season three was the first overture of some sort of power struggle between the two. But then, it seems this battle was over before it began. Kurtzman’s position as the captain of this generation of Star Trek appears very secure. Despite his successes with Picard, Matalas’ Legacy series remains but a twinkle in his eye while Paramount has pushed ahead with Kurtzman-led projects like the divisive Section 31 movie and the upcoming Starfleet Academy series.
Is Terry’s Time with Star Trek Truly Over?
Terry Matalas seems to have a real love for Star Trek and a deep understanding of its lore and mythology. His work on Picard resonated with critics and fans alike. If the stars align, fans may yet see him take the helm of another Trek project sometime in the future. But fans shouldn’t hold their breath.
Matelas is a talented creative very much in demand. He is more than busy enough with projects outside of Star Trek, but his name and career will always be strongly associated with the franchise, and there is certainly a contingent of Star Trek fans eager for his return.
Star Trek
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Star Trek: The Motion Picture