With Star Trek: Picard season 3’s finale, showrunner Terry Matalas made Star Trek history in more ways than one. Picard season 3 saw the original Star Trek: The Next Generation crew reunite for one final adventure aboard the newly rebuilt USS Enterprise-D. What began as a mission to rescue Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) quickly turned into a battle to save the galaxy from a Borg/Changeling takeover. Along the way, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) sought out his old crew members and friends, getting the band back together.
Terry Matalas joined Star Trek: Picard season 2 as a co-showrunner and served as the only showrunner for Picard’s third and final season. Matalas not only helped craft an incredibly compelling, nostalgia-filled season, but he also became the second person in Star Trek history to write and direct a Star Trek episode. The only other episode written and directed by the same person was Star Trek: The Original Series season 3, episode 13, “Elaan of Troyius,” written and directed by John Meredyth Lucas. Lucas worked on 11 total episodes of TOS, as either a writer, producer, and/or director.
How Star Trek: Picard Showrunner Terry Matalas Made Star Trek History
Matalas wrote and directed Picard’s season 3 finale, “The Last Generation.”
Star Trek: Picard season 3 became a resounding success, receiving mostly positive reviews and performing better than any previous season of the show. As showrunner, Terry Matalas wrote or helped write several episodes of Picard season 3, including the premiere, “The Next Generation,” the Jonathan Frakes-directed “No Win Scenario,” and the Star Trek: Picard season 3’s finale, “The Last Generation.” With “The Last Generation,” Matalas became the second person in Star Trek history to write and direct an episode. As a lifelong Star Trek fan, Matalas had the knowledge to write a Star Trek story, and the directing background to direct the episode as well.
While many people had a hand in the success of Star Trek: Picard season 3, Terry Matalas’s love for the Star Trek franchise and Star Trek: The Next Generation, in particular, shines through. Many of the show’s actors have praised Matalas, and he worked with all of the main TNG cast members to craft their character’s storylines. With the obvious work he put into Picard season 3, it’s not surprising that Matalas would want to both write and direct the finale. After a lackluster send-off in Star Trek: Nemesis, Picard season 3 provided Picard and his crew with a perfect farewell that harkened back to TNG’s excellent series finale.
Why Star Trek Writer-Directors Are So Rare
It takes a very specific kind of person to write and direct an episode of Star Trek.
While it might be more common for someone to serve as a writer and director for a small, independent production, writing and directing require two completely different skill sets. From film school onward, writers and directors follow different career paths and make different connections within the entertainment industry. The showrunner of a television show has more creative freedom and ultimately oversees many elements of production, but even they don’t sit in the director’s chair all that often. When taking the complicated Star Trek timeline into consideration, doing both the writing and the directing becomes even more difficult.
While a director could step in with little knowledge of Star Trek and work with the script as written, a writer needs to have a working knowledge of the franchise to craft a good Star Trek episode. John Meredyth Lucas had worked on Star Trek: The Original Series and served as a producer for the show’s second season before he took on the task of writing and directing an episode. Terry Matalas, too, had years of experience in the television industry and working on Star Trek productions before becoming a showrunner. Regardless, Star Trek: Picard season 3 worked wonderfully, thanks to Terry Matalas and his stellar cast and crew.