There’s a lot of nostalgia for the 90s going around the Star Trek franchise right now, with Lower Decks paying homage to that era of the franchise and the upcoming Prodigy animated series bringing back Kate Mulgrew’s Captain Janeway. Most obviously, there’s also Picard, a continuation of Star Trek: The Next Generation. But could the movie series follow the trend of the TV shows and switch from rebooting 60s Trek to TNG?
That’s what Brent Spiner is expecting. The actor – who recently reprised his role as Data in Picard‘s first season – spoke to SyFy Wire to promote his new book and he admitted that he thinks it’s just a matter of time before Paramount gives the Next Generation cast the same treatment they gave Kirk and the rest of the original Enterprise crew and reboot them on the big screen.
“I’ve loved the recent movies,” Spiner said. “I think that sooner or later, they’re going to do a reboot, a motion picture version of Next Generation, and cast some young guys in our parts.”
When asked if he would have any ill will towards whoever replaced him as Data if such a project did go ahead, Spiner joked: “Well, of course, I do. But no, I look forward to seeing it. I think it would be cool if they spun our show off.”
Over the last couple of years, fans have been thinking that a TNG movie could happen, as James McAvoy has made it known that he’d like to play a young Jean-Luc Picard, the joke being that he’s already portrayed a younger Patrick Stewart in the X-Men films. If McAvoy is serious about this, you’d think Paramount would take him up on the offer, seeing as their plans for Star Trek 4 don’t seem to be going anywhere. But to date, it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing a Kelvin timeline version of Picard and his pals anytime soon.
In the meantime, expect more Star Trek: The Next Generation favorites – like Whoopi Goldberg – to return in Picard season 2, which finally just entered production this month after a lengthy COVID-19-related delay.