Star Trek: Picard production designer Dave Blass has spoken about the status of Star Trek: Legacy, comparing it to Star Trek: The Original Series‘ unmade Phase II project. Terry Matalas’ proposed Star Trek: Legacy remains hypothetical as Paramount focuses on both Star Trek: Section 31 and Starfleet Academy. While fans are petitioning for Legacy to become a real Star Trek TV show, the show is no further forward than it was when Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) launched the USS Enterprise-G on its first mission in the Picard finale.
Dave Blass spoke to Warp Factor Trek about his work on Star Trek: Picard in an interview with Dan Leckie. Inevitably, the subject of Star Trek: Legacy came up in the course of the discussion, and Dave Blass reflected on Terry Matalas’ “nice idea” for the Star Trek: Picard spinoff. Blass also compared the hypothetical Star Trek TV show to the abandoned Star Trek: Phase II project. Read Dave Blass’ quote below:
“It’s like Phase II of Star Trek: The Original Series. That actually got greenlit and was moving forward, but Legacy is just a nice idea.”
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Legacy’s Comparison With Star Trek: Phase 2 Is Cause For Concern
Star Trek: Phase 2 got greenlit, but it was never made.
Star Trek: Phase II was an attempt to resurrect the franchise after Star Trek: TOS was canceled after season 3. As Dave Blass points out in his interview with Warp Factor Trek, the project was greenlit and the project even made it as far as having sets built and costumes created. Star Trek: Phase II was pulled when the head of the network, Charles Bluhdorn decided that, due to a lack of interest from advertisers, it wouldn’t recoup the production costs. The pilot episode of Star Trek: Phase II was downgraded to a one-off TV movie, before being promoted to a full feature after the success of George Lucas’ Star Wars.
The behind-the-scenes story of Star Trek: Phase II draws an uncomfortable connection with Star Trek: Legacy. It proves that, even if Legacy was to be greenlit tomorrow, there’s no guarantee that it would make it to screens. The recent cost-cutting measures in Hollywood, where movies are shelved, or shows like Star Trek: Prodigy are canceled to be shopped to other streamers, does create the very real possibility that a similar fate could befall the Star Trek: Picard spinoff. It’s a stark reminder that a green light for Star Trek: Legacy would only be the first step on a very long road to screens.
Star Trek: Picard
After starring in Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons and various other Star Trek projects, Patrick Stewart is back as Jean-Luc Picard. Star Trek: Picard focuses on a retired Picard who is living on his family vineyard as he struggles to cope with the death of Data and the destruction of Romulus. But before too long, Picard is pulled back into the action. The series also brings back fan-favorite characters from the Star Trek franchise, such as Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Worf (Michael Dorn), and William Riker (Jonathan Frakes).
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek: The Original Series follows the exploits of the crew of the USS Enterprise. On a five-year mission to explore uncharted space, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) must trust his crew – Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Forest DeKelley), Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Sulu (George Takei) – with his life. Facing previously undiscovered life forms and civilizations and representing humanity among the stars on behalf of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, the Enterprise regularly comes up against impossible odds and diplomatic dilemmas.
