Patrick Stewart Reveals Alternate Star Trek: Picard Ending
After two intensely rocky seasons, Star Trek: Picard managed to deliver a third season that pleased just about everyone and even won over the show’s biggest haters. Part of fans’ enthusiasm for this Paramount show is that the series managed to stick the landing, bringing things back full circle with an ending where Picard plays poker with his crew (something we last saw him do in the TNG finale “All Good Things.” However, as Time reports, Patrick Stewart revealed in his memoir that the show almost had an alternate ending that would involve Picard receiving a mysterious female visitor.
Patrick Stewart personally pitched a different ending for Star Trek: Picard that would have focused on the Star Fleet captain’s domestic life.
According to Patrick Stewart, the series almost ended with a scene set during dusk in Picard’s vineyard. His character would be hanging with his dog (the triumphant return of the canine Riker!) and taking in the view when he’d hear an unidentified female voice calling his name and saying, “Supper’s ready!” At that, Star Trek icon Picard would tell his dog, “C’mon, boy,” and head inside, and in this alternate ending, that would have led us to the credits.
At this point, we can hear the Star Trek ‘shippers hard at work speculating who the woman is supposed to be. It could be Beverly Crusher, which would make sense because so much of Picard’s third season revolves around their interpersonal drama and whether they would get back together. It could also be Laris, the Romulan servant-cum-bodyguard that Picard seemed to have feelings for right up until he didn’t (hey, what were you expecting with a series as uneven as this one?).
However, one thing that complicates these Star Trek ‘shippers’ speculation is that it wouldn’t be Gates McFadden (who plays Beverly Crusher) or Orla Brady (who plays Laris) who recorded the line asking Picard to come inside for supper. Instead, it was going to be Sunny Ozell, best known as the real-life wife of Patrick Stewart. It would arguably have been very fitting to have Stewart’s wife call him inside because it’s kind of a meta moment where Stewart himself is called away from the Star Trek franchise and back to his own life.
Fortunately for Star Trek fans everywhere, this alternate ending was dropped quicker than you can say “allamaraine,” and we ended up with the crowd-pleasing ending of Picard once again settling down to play poker with Riker and the rest of his crew.
Unfortunately, this ending would have made Star Trek: Picard’s overall narrative much harder to follow and understand. After all, fans already have to swallow the idea that Picard more or less ditched Laris so that he could return to his “will they or won’t they” relationship with Beverly Crusher (albeit with the knowledge they now have a son together). If this alternate ending was filmed, fans would have to deal with the idea that after his many misadventures (including dying and returning to life), Picard ended up with a completely different woman that we know nothing about.
The closing scene of Star Trek: Picard may be the last time fans get to see Patrick Stewart as part of Starfleet, but it’s a satisfying way to exit the franchise gracefully.
Fortunately for Star Trek fans everywhere, this alternate ending was dropped quicker than you can say “allamaraine,” and we ended up with the crowd-pleasing ending of Picard once again settling down to play poker with Riker and the rest of his crew. The implication is that Picard and the crew are finally going to make more time to spend with one another and play a bigger role in each other’s lives. But if the producers had really ended the show with Picard shacking up with a heretofore unknown woman, it might have driven remaining fans away even faster than the second season did.
