This story contains MILD SPOILERS for the sixth episode of the third season of Star Trek: PicardThe third and final season of Star Trek: Picard is bringing the Next Generation sequel series to a close in a big way. Patrick Stewart has been joined by many old friends from his Star Trek family, and the latest episode saw several returns including those of LeVar Burton and Brent Spiner. The former was obviously back as Geordi LaForge, though the latter is introduced as a new android who's been given Data's memories along with those of the others in his Soong-created family: Lore, B-4, and Lal.
In a subsequent interview with Variety, Burton and Spiner spoke about coming back for Star Trek: Picard. Because this is the final season of Picard, there are no guarantees we will ever see any of these characters again after this season's finale. But Stewart has teased that he'd still be up for returning as Jean-Luc Picard in a future project, so where does that leave the others? For Spiner, who has already said goodbye to Data "again and again," the actor doesn't want to jinx anything by saying too much, but he does note his desire to see a "ten-episode movie," as the third season of Picard has been referred to, coming out every single year.
"That remains to be seen. I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. If the fans are there for us and enjoy it and want to see more... You can quote me on this... I, for one, would like to see one of these ten-episode movies every single year as long as they can do it.”
Burton weighed in as well, claiming that he refuses to consider returning as Geordi at this point, as he'd never even expected to come back for Picard. Feeling grateful for his recent appearance on that show, Burton doesn't want to push his luck by hoping for more, instead feeling satisfied with what he has gotten to do.
"Look, this was an unexpected gift. I don’t want to begin to think about that possibility. Because it’s not wise, right? I’m trying to really enjoy this for what it is. There’s no expectation of anything happening beyond this, because this is the thing that I never thought would happen — and it’s happened. To expect or asked for or even contemplate anything more is just greedy."
LeVar Burton Is No Tom Brady
So, it remains to be seen if Geordi and Data are giving us their final goodbyes ever with Picard. If it is, that might be for the best, as Spiner went on to explain. He noted how he's already spoken with Burton about this before, and they realized that even though they're both open to keep going, it might be better to instead steer that starship off into the sunset. As Spiner said when asked if this was really the end:
"Potentially, not necessarily. LeVar and I’ve talked about the fact that if this lands in a way that we hope it lands, maybe it would be best to be the finale. And if there should be something more than this, well, as he said, that would just be another gift that we can’t really contemplate at the moment."
Meanwhile, Burton phrases that same point a little bit differently, referencing how NFL great Tom Brady has been ridiculed for retiring multiple times, seemingly never really meaning it. As Burton says:
"Nobody wants to be Tom Brady."
You can stream Star Trek: Picard on Paramount+.