During the Star Trek Universe panel that took place on Saturday, July 23, 2022, in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Sir Patrick Stewart, star of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard, said that he would be willing to return to the role of Jean-Luc Picard for another big-screen feature film starring the TNG cast. Although no such movie has currently been announced, Trekkies can look forward to seeing the legendary actor reprise his role as Picard at least one more time in the upcoming third season of Picard on Paramount+, alongside his fellow TNG co-stars.

When Stewart was cast in the role of Captain Picard for the TNG reboot of creator Gene Roddenberry’s beloved Star Trek: The Original Series, many fans expressed their concern about the franchise's choice to replace the beloved TOS captain. Should an actor of British origin really be portrayed as the ultimate authority on an American science fiction series? Could a leader without hair prove to be as effective of a captain of the starship Enterprise as an American cowboy-like captain, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner)? If this sounds outlandish to a 21st-century sensibility, Star Trek crew members recount the questions asked by network executives and others in the days leading up to TNG's premiere in History Vault's The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek.

Jean-Luc Picard's Long Road

In the years since Stewart first portrayed Picard on TNG, he has enchanted multiple generations of Trekkies. The character is considered by many to be the franchise’s ultimate authority when it comes to morality. In addition to appearing in every episode of TNG, which aired from 1987 through 1994, Stewart also headlined four movies featuring the TNG cast: 1994’s Star Trek: Generations, 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact, 1998’s Star Trek: Insurrection, and 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis.

More recently, Stewart reprised the role for all three seasons of Picard, the first of which was released on CBS All Access in 2020 and the second of which was released on Paramount+ earlier in 2022, both of which are currently available for streaming on Paramount+. The upcoming third and final season of Picard, which will reunite TNG bridge crew members LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge), Michael Dorn (Worf), Jonathan Frakes (William T. Riker, who previous appeared in the first season), Gates McFadden (Doctor Beverly Crusher), and Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi, who also appeared in Picard season one).

Currently, no plans for another TNG movie have been announced. However, in July 2021, it was reported that WandaVision’s Matt Shakman would be directing an upcoming Star Trek movie. However, it is possible that this project will feature the crew led by Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk, who appears in the alternate “Kevlin Timeline” that was introduced by the 2009 movie Star Trek.