The Star Trek: Picard Ending Patrick Stewart Really Wanted Never Happened
With "Star Trek: Picard" Season 3, the story of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard finally came to an end, finishing the saga that first began with "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in 1987. Patrick Stewart returned to the screen for one final bow as the beloved character, and the last moments of the season wound down with one final card game between Picard and the original crew members of the USS Enterprise, coming full circle with "The Next Generation." But while that ending was well received by many fans, it wasn't the one Stewart himself had hoped for.
In an article written for Time Magazine, Stewart laid out the ending he'd pitched to the writer of the series finale, showrunner Terry Matalas. The actor's vision for the character was one in which the Starfleet hero retired and stared off toward a sunset with true love by his side. "'What I'd like to see at the end of the show,' I told them, 'is a content Jean-Luc. Not anxious, not in a frenzy, not depressed. And I think this means that there is a wife in the picture.'"
The specifics of the scene would have involved Picard sitting beside his dog as dusk falls over his French vineyard, their backs turned to the camera. Offscreen, a woman's voice would have called him to supper. "Is it Beverly Crusher's voice? Laris's? Someone we don't know? It isn't made clear," Stewart wrote. "But Sunny [Ozell, Stewart's spouse] was set to record the lines."
Patrick Stewart envisioned a lover's ending for Picard
The idyllic ending envisioned by Patrick Stewart for Jean-Luc Picard on "Star Trek: Picard" never came to fruition, and Stewart was cryptic about it until recently. Instead, the ending that went to broadcast was the version written by showrunner Terry Matalas, in which Picard shares a toast and a final game of poker with his old friends. Stewart's version was never even filmed, and the star blames himself for not getting it done.
In his Time article, Stewart explained that the production schedule for "Picard" Season 3 was arduous, and that on the day he'd wanted to shoot his version of the ending, it would have pushed the work day to a brutal 16 hours. "'Look,' I said, 'the scene with the dog will take no time to shoot, but it will take hours to set up the lighting and the green screen and all that. We don't have those hours. So let's not shoot that scene today. I can come back at any time you like and take care of it. Just me and the dog.'"
According to Stewart, no one ever got back in touch with him to do that shot, and eventually someone told him the studio thought it was expensive and unnecessary. "Unnecessary?" Stewart wrote. "I thought it was crucial to the completion of Picard's arc. But so be it: the TV series ended with the toast, which is a warm, emotional send-off to my favorite Starfleet crew."
It appears Stewart wasn't totally on board with the ending fans ended up seeing, but for many, it was a touching tribute that tied a bow on Picard's story alongside his crew. "Either way," Stewart wrote, "now you know of my original intent."