This week’s Star Trek: Picard set up big stakes for what will be the very last episode of the series—and you can’t have big stakes without some big threats and big blows for our heroes. But it turns out episode nine’s biggest blow may not matter so much in the grand scheme of things, if Picard showrunner Terry Matalas gets his way.
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Speaking to Collider in the wake of this week’s surprise decision to see Todd Stashwick’s standout hero Captain Shaw sacrifice it all to save Picard and his friends from the Borg-Changeling alliance taking over Starfleet, Matalas discussed the inevitable end that Shaw faced after being introduced in this final season. Just as he had previously railed against Picard by revealing he survived the horrendous Battle of Wolf 359, Shaw was always destined to go out not making it through a similar encounter with the Borg—except this time, it made him a hero in his own story instead of saved by a twist of fate.
“It’s his worst nightmare, but one he faces heroically, and he gets to be the one who sends them on the escape pod. They are the lucky ones this time. You know, the story was always about the brave lieutenant who sent them off,” Matalas told Collider. “He gets to be the one who does that, and I think he’d probably have it no other way. And in his last moments, he gets to show Seven of Nine the respect that he always knew she was due. That was always his story.”
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Matalas also confirmed that although Shaw perished this week, he does actually appear in some capacity in next week’s season finale—and that might have something to do with how Stashwick could still jump aboard the much-ballyhooed demand from fans and creatives alike for a supposed Star Trek: Legacy spinoff.
“There is currently no Star Trek: Legacy in development at Paramount+.” Matalas continued. “But from the very beginning of this season, there has always been a plan for [Captain Shaw] to be part of the spin-off, and it is absolutely amazing how. And should we be so lucky to ever have a discussion, it would be very cool, and Todd Stashwick would absolutely be a part of it.”
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So now it seems all Trek fans who grew to love the irascible, and now former, captain of the U.S.S. Titan will have to wait and see if we’ll be seeing more of him beyond next week.
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