Star Trek: Picard Season 4 — Will It Happen? Everything We Know

It's been two years since we bid farewell to Jean-Luc Picard and his Enterprise-D pals on "Star Trek: Picard"... but we're still hoping for another mission.

"Picard," which caught up with Patrick Stewart's iconic Starfleet captain decades after "Star Trek: The Next Generation," wrapped up a three-season run in April 2023 with a glorious final season that saw Jean-Luc team up once again with Riker, Worf, Data, Geordi, Dr. Crusher and Troi to save the universe from the Borg one last time. (We even got to see them play another game of poker!) It was such a satisfying goodbye, in fact, that we didn't want to say goodbye to these characters at all. So is there any chance "Star Trek: Picard" could return for a fourth season?

At first, it seemed like the door was closed, but we all know that anything is possible in the Star Trek universe. So let's take a closer look at what the cast and crew of "Picard" have said since the show ended about a possible continuation.

First, to refresh your memory: "Picard" signed off with a series finale that found Jean-Luc and his old friends aboard the classic Enterprise-D bridge — what a nostalgia trip! — trying to stop the Borg from launching a cataclysmic attack on humanity. (Oh, and Jean-Luc's newly discovered son Jack was enmeshed with the Borg, since Jean-Luc passed along his Locutus DNA to him.) Jean-Luc had to wire himself into the Borg collective once again to retrieve his son, and he and Jack managed to escape before the Borg cube was blown to bits.

While Jean-Luc and his "Next Generation" pals celebrated with a drink and a good old-fashioned game of poker — Jean-Luc cleaned up, of course — Jack earned his first Starfleet posting aboard the newly christened Enterprise-G, captained by Seven of Nine, with Raffi and Sidney La Forge (daughter of Geordi) among the crew. Oh, and Jack got a visit from Q, because Q can't resist toying with a Picard, apparently. (For more, check out our full finale recap here.)   

We may not get a Season 4 of "Star Trek: Picard," as such, but the finale certainly seemed to set up a story that's just getting started, centered on Seven, Raffi, Jack and Sidney on the new-look Enterprise. "Really, it was an ending to 'Picard,' which was a proper beginning," showrunner Terry Matalas told TVLine at the time. "It does feel like something new, with Captain Seven and her crew. It feels like a new mix. I don't know how much everyone would be involved, but it definitely feels like a mix and match of old legacy and new."

Matalas did caution that "there's nothing in development, currently. It's just a pie-in-the-sky sort of fan wish at the moment." But he noted that "everybody wants to come back. Even Patrick [Stewart] said he'd love to come check in on his son, and I think he used the phrase, 'provide some comedy.' And that's unique. You don't often get that, where everybody wants to come back."

That word "legacy" that Matalas used is a key one, too: The proposed new series has been dubbed "Star Trek: Legacy," although it's still just an idea, with no formal series order. Fans have been buzzing about "Legacy" since "Picard" ended, and just this past August, Matalas revealed that he's already written 30 pages of a "Legacy" pilot that has "to do with the Klingon Empire," he teased. 

Aside from the "Star Trek: Legacy" possibilities, there's a chance we could also see Jean-Luc and company return to the big screen for the first time since 2002's "Star Trek: Nemesis." At least if Patrick Stewart has anything to say about it. (And he damn well should.) 

"I think we could do a movie, a 'Picard'-based movie," Stewart told IndieWire in 2023. "Now not necessarily at all about Picard, but about all of us. And to take many of those wonderful elements, particularly from Season 3 of 'Picard' and take out of that what I think could be an extraordinary movie. I keep telling people and mentioning it, and so far, there's been no eager response, but it might well happen. And that would be, I think, a very appropriate way to say, 'And goodbye, folks.'" 

So if "Star Trek: Legacy" never comes together as a TV series for whatever reason, maybe Stewart will get his wish, and Jean-Luc and the Enterprise-D crew will get a fitting goodbye on the big screen.

To be clear, there's been no official word from Paramount+ about a fourth season of "Star Trek: Picard," a pilot for "Star Trek: Legacy" or a "Picard" wrap-up movie. But there is still plenty of Star Trek content out there these days for Trekkies to consume. "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," a prequel that follows the Enterprise and its captain Christopher Pike before James T. Kirk took the helm, aired its third season earlier this year and has two more seasons on the way, with a fifth and final season announced in June. 

Plus, a new series, "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy," is set to debut in January, with Oscar winner Holly Hunter playing the chancellor of the vaunted training ground for new Starfleet recruits and Paul Giamatti playing devious villain Nus Braka. "Starfleet Academy" will also welcome back familiar faces like "Star Trek: Voyager's" The Doctor and "Star Trek: Discovery's" Tilly and Jett Reno. Get a first look here. 

So there are options out there for all you Trekkies out there... even though we know nothing else can quite fill that "Next Generation"-sized hole in our hearts.

Are you holding out hope for "Star Trek: Legacy"? Would you rather see Jean-Luc and company on the big screen? Beam down to the comments to share your thoughts.