Best Star Trek Cameo Of The Year Wasn’t On Camera, Now We Know Why
Scheduling concerns kept Star Trek legend Walter Koenig’s appearance in Star Trek: Picard as only audio, but it still counts as the year’s best Trek cameo. In an interview on The 7th Rule: A Star Trek Podcast, Picard Season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas talked about the significance of the actor’s return to the franchise as well as the considerations that led to him not appearing on screen.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas says he hoped to get Walter Koenig’s cameo on camera, but the tight film schedule didn’t allow for it to happen.
The unexpected moment was a beautiful one for fans, both at home and on the production, that provided even greater historical context for the series.
Star Trek has long held a tradition of bringing cast members and characters from previous series back for cameos and other appearances and Walter Koenig’s Picard cameo continues this tradition. Of course, given the setting of the series in the 25th century, the actor could not return as Pavel Chekov, but instead played his Original Series character’s son Anton, who is now president of the United Federation of Planets.
The moment echoes a similar one in Star Trek IV when the crew of the Enterprise encounters a message from the 23rd-century UFP president warning ships to stay away from Earth.
Koenig had previously returned as Pavel in 1994’s Star Trek: Generations and, while the role passed on to Anton Yelchin, the actor’s untimely death has left a Chekov-shaped hole in Star Trek.
This time, however, Star Trek’s Walter Koenig now appears as the president two centuries later, warning of the compromise of Starfleet by the Borg. His message contains more hope than the one in that film, though, including a now famous line from Star Trek II, “There are always possibilities.”
The words are attributed in the film by Kirk to Spock, though they appear to actually be a misquote on screenwriter Nicholas Myer’s part of Spock’s line from “The Galileo Seven,” when the Vulcan says, “Mister Scott, there are always alternatives.”
Nonetheless, Star Trek: Picard was graced with the in-person presence of Walter Koenig as the venerable star joined Matalas at the home of actor Todd Stashwick to screen the final episode.
Still, the line is one of Star Trek’s most memorable and inspirational, and hearing the voice of Walter Koenig repeating it in the context of the bleak situation in the final episode of Picard‘s third season can’t help but provide a swell of hope to any Trek fan.
In his podcast interview, Matalas remarked on the significance of the moment, saying the homage help to make the series “feel like Star Trek.” The finale was an ambitious undertaking with an intense schedule that did not allow time to bring Walter Koenig in front of the camera, though Matalas does wish that had been possible.
Nonetheless, Star Trek: Picard was graced with the in-person presence of Walter Koenig as the venerable star joined Matalas at the home of actor Todd Stashwick to screen the final episode. The cameo is made even more significant by Anton Chekov’s reference to his father, a mention that brings Pavel Chekov’s memory into the 25th century and returns the character to Star Trek.
Koenig had previously returned as Pavel in 1994’s Star Trek: Generations and, while the role passed on to Anton Yelchin, the actor’s untimely death has left a Chekov-shaped hole in Star Trek.
All of this made Walter Koenig’s appearance that much sweeter for fans, cast, and crew alike. We dare say it’s one of the most significant returns of a cast member to the franchise in Star Trek history.
