Q Actor John de Lancie Doubts Star Trek: Picard’s Legacy Spinoff: “I Don’t Think It Will Happen”
John de Lancie made a well-received comeback as Q in Star Trek: Picard season 3, but he shares his doubts about Picard’s Legacy spinoff happening.
John de Lancie, who plays the omnipotent Q, shares his doubts that Star Trek: Picard season 3’s proposed spinoff, Star Trek: Legacy, will happen. Q mysteriously died at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 2, but the all-powerful trickster made a triumphant surprise comeback in the end-credits scene of Star Trek: Picard season 3’s finale. Only this time, Q has turned his fascination from Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) to his son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers).
Appearing on TrekMovie’s All Access Star Trek podcast, John de Lancie addressed Q’s return at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 3, which the actor took as “the jump-off for the next show.” However, a year after Picard season 3 premiered, de Lancie takes a pragmatic approach to whether there will be a Star Trek: Legacy spinoff. Read his quote below:
Well, most post-credits scenes are [a setup for something else], so I took it as that. In reading it I went, ‘Oh well, there it is! There is the baton. There’s the jump-off for the next show.’ I don’t think at this point, it will happen. There was a fun period of time that it looked like it could happen. But then there was the writers’ strike, which took a lot of people’s attentions away. I don’t think that they expected that season 3 was going to be as good and as well-received. They had already decided on another show. They were already moving in another direction. But it was certainly a really valiant and well-appreciated finale to The Next Generation.
Star Trek: Legacy Is Just An Idea That May Not Happen
Star Trek on Paramount+ doesn’t have a Picard spinoff in development
As John de Lancie notes, there are many factors involved that have led to Star Trek: Picard season 3 not getting an immediate greenlight for a Legacy spinoff. The entire streaming industry is changing as studios are tightening their belts in terms of content development, and Paramount is in particular upheaval as the studio could soon be sold, with the Star Trek IP along with it. In 2023, Paramount+ canceled both Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Prodigy, which then went to Netflix, and committed to developing a new series, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, and Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh’s Star Trek: Section 31 movie.
There may be truth to John de Lancie’s assertion that Paramount+ didn’t expect the enormously positive reception Star Trek: Picard season 3 received, and the streamer had already decided on its next projects. de Lancie’s Star Trek: Picard co-star, Michelle Hurd, hopes that Star Trek: Legacy can still happen once Paramount+’s current plans are executed and if fans still want Legacy afterward. Star Trek: Picard season 3’s cast and creative team have all expressed their willingness to come back for Star Trek: Legacy if it happens, but there is also no guarantee that Terry Matalas, his writers, production team, or the actors will be available if Star Trek: Picard’s spinoff gets a green light.
