‘Star Trek: Picard’ Finale End Credits Scene Teases Possible Spinoff

If you expected the series finale of Star Trek: Picard to wrap things up neatly with a bow? Well, you were sort of right. The story of the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew came to a satisfying close, as well as the story being told over the course of this third season of Picard on Paramount+. But in a surprise end credits scene, it turns out there might be more tales to tell.

Specifically, the end credits scene seems to set up a potential spinoff of Star Trek: Picard, continuing the adventures of some of the characters we followed throughout Season 3 (and some we followed through seasons 1 and 2 as well). However, a representative for Paramount+ confirmed to Decider that the post-credits tease is just that: a tease, and no Picard spinoff news is coming this week.

But if you missed the episode, you might be wondering exactly how that Picard end credits scene went down, as well as what it means for the heavily fan (and showrunner Terry Matalas) supported Star Trek: Legacy spinoff idea. Let’s get into it!

Spoilers past this point for Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 10 “The Last Generation”.

In the episode, after beating the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) once and for all, a year later the Federation is rebuilding in order to continue protecting the galaxy. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) are taking their son Jack (Ed Speleers) to his first day as an official member of Starfleet, when they surprise Picard with the reveal of the refurbished USS Titan, now called… USS Enterprise, naturally.

Though Picard and Crusher are just dropping their son off at work, we do get a glimpse of this new crew, including Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Number One Raffi (Michelle Hurd), Sidney La Forge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut), and a few other members of the former crew of the Titan, now Enterprise. Jack gets his own spot on board as Special Counsel to the Captain, taking his place in the third seat on the bridge to Seven of Nine’s left.

The episode ends not with this crew, though, but with the former Next Generation crew reminiscing, drinking, and playing cards. That’s a wrap — for now — on Picard, Crusher, Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Data (Brent Spiner), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), Worf (Michael Dorn) and Geordi La Forge (Levar Burton), bringing the story of Next Generation officially to a close after more than 30 years.

But wait, there’s more! In case you didn’t stick around through the long, spiraling shot of the crew’s poker game as the credits played, you might have missed the Star Trek: Picard end credits sequence, something that teases there’s a whole lot more to come.

In it, we cut to the Enterprise circling an enormous, red sun. Then we’re in Jack’s quarters, where he’s approached by a mysterious figure. That man? None other than the all-powerful, extradimensional being known as Q (John De Lancie). Jack is surprised, not least of which because Q is supposed to be dead (he died in Picard Season 2), though you can’t keep a god-like being down. Jack is also surprised because Q was supposed to be done with testing humanity, again after Picard Season 2. But Q clarifies that he was just done testing Picard… Jack’s test has only just begun. The final shot is of Jack, who smiles slightly, clearly excited by the prospect of his own big adventures down the road.

Beyond retconning the main events of Star Trek: Picard Season 2 — the Borg introduced there weren’t the real Borg, and Q dying was clearly a trick of some sort — this end credits scene neatly sets up a potential spinoff of Star Trek: Picard that would position the show as a true continuation of Star Trek: The Next Generation. To be clear, there have been multiple spinoffs in the universe, including Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, both of which took place in the same time period as Next Generation. And Nickelodeon’s Star Trek: Prodigy, which is canonical despite being animated, takes place in a similar time period to Star Trek: Picard, which picks up three decades later. But one character, and narrative thrust that defined Next Generation was Q.

As mentioned above, Q was always testing Picard. In fact, the first episode and the finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation were both concerned with Q’s ongoing test of humanity through the character of Jean-Luc Picard. It seems pretty clear that Terry Matalas, who wrote and directed the Picard finale and has been the main proponent of a spinoff he calls Star Trek: Legacy (a ball the fanbase has been more than happy to run with) is setting up a potential sequel series with the same Q-based story kick-off, except with Picard’s son.

Will Matalas get a chance to follow up on this? Possibly. Paramount+ has been careful to announce spinoffs in the Star Trek Universe, though with both Picard and Star Trek: Discovery ending, there’s more room to play in the galaxy. And other than Prodigy and Star Trek: Lower Decks, which is also animated and takes place in the post-Next Gen era, the live action shows are in other places entirely. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is set pre-The Original Series, meaning several hundred years earlier. Based on some plot details it’s fair to speculate the recently announced Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series is set in the same era as Discovery, meaning several hundred years after Next Gen. And the Star Trek: Section 31 movie announced earlier this week is set in a time period TBA. Short version? This era is wide open to play in, if Paramount+ wants to pursue the series.

When Decider spoke to Speleers about joining a possible spinoff, he said, “100%. Like, genuinely, I would. This role, it meant so much to me at the time, both going into work physically every day, but also just emotionally. I would love to play Jack Crusher for a very long time.”

Other cast members have expressed the same enthusiasm, and it’s already clear Matalas is on board if Paramount will have him. Given the critical acclaim Picard‘s third season has had? Make it so.