Star Trek’s most revealing news this week was not a surprise commission, but a pair of conversations about what the franchise can still make possible. Terry Matalas described how his once-proposed Picard continuation would now need to evolve, while Roddenberry Entertainment and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory turned six decades of shared inspiration into a new interview series.
The News That Matters
Terry Matalas Rethinks the Route Beyond Picard
- Reported: 29 September 2026.
- Speaker: Terry Matalas, Star Trek: Picard season-three showrunner.
- Project status: No new Matalas-led Star Trek series has been ordered or announced.
- Current viewing: Star Trek: Picard remains available on Paramount+ in the US and UK.
Matalas said he would still welcome a return to Star Trek, but the Legacy idea discussed after Picard‘s third season would not simply be revived unchanged. In his view, too much time has passed for the same proposal; the useful core is a meeting between younger characters and an older generation rather than a fixed title or already assembled production.
He also argued that the franchise could look back to The Next Generation for a practical production model: more character-led drama on standing sets, made on a faster schedule, with costs spread across a longer run. He compared that approach with The Pitt, whose emphasis on sustained ensemble storytelling has become part of a wider industry conversation about ambitious television made without blockbuster-scale spending.
The distinction is crucial. These are ideas from an experienced former showrunner, not a Paramount commission, a greenlight or confirmation that Star Trek: Legacy is in development. Their value is in making the debate more concrete: if Star Trek’s next television era is expected to widen its audience while respecting established continuity, Matalas is proposing characters and writing as the bridge rather than spectacle alone.
Roddenberry Entertainment and JPL Create Those Who Look Up
- Announced: 5 October 2026 at 7:23 pm BST.
- Title: Those Who Look Up.
- Format: A linked interview series with four JPL participants and four members of Star Trek talent.
- Availability: A teaser has been released; the full public schedule is still to be announced.
Roddenberry Entertainment and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced Those Who Look Up as the centrepiece of a joint celebration marking Star Trek’s 60th anniversary and JPL’s 90th. The series will connect JPL and Caltech specialists with Star Trek actors in a chain of interviews, with each participant questioning the next until the final conversation closes the loop.
That structure suits the subject. Gene Roddenberry consulted JPL scientists and engineers while developing Star Trek, and the relationship moved in both directions as later scientists credited the franchise with helping shape their ambitions. The new series is not a scripted Star Trek production, but it is more substantial than a ceremonial anniversary greeting: it is planned programming about the feedback loop between real exploration and imagined futures.
For viewers, the practical limitation is timing. The announcement establishes the format and participants by group, but does not yet give a full release calendar. The teaser confirms that the project is real; the next useful update will be the named guest line-up and where each complete interview can be watched.
- Coverage window: News first reported or materially updated after 11:30 BST on 29 September and by 11:30 BST on 6 October 2026.
- Editorial scope: Verified Star Trek franchise developments only; rumours, recycled speculation and routine merchandise were excluded.
Movieversalfilm Takeaway
This was a week of direction rather than destination. Those Who Look Up is the concrete new production, linking Star Trek’s ideals to the scientists they helped inspire. Matalas’s comments are less tangible but still useful: they set out a credible, character-first route for future television while stopping well short of claiming that Paramount has chosen it. The next real leap will require an order, a release schedule or both.
Would you rather see Star Trek’s next television chapter follow Matalas’s character-led model, or explore a completely new crew and era?