Star Trek: The Next Generation. Picard and friends will be taking on the new villain Vadic, who is hunting down the former crew of the Enterprise-D for mysterious reasons.
Star Trek: Picard is under new management, as Twelve Monkeys producer Terry Matalas is taking over as sole showrunner after writing a few episodes in season 2. Matalas is a lifelong the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise. That experience should come in handy as he closes out Picard, as Enterprise ended with one of the most widely reviled episodes in the history of the franchise. If nothing else, he should have a pretty obvious guide for what not to do in a Star Trek series finale.
The Big Mistake Star Trek: Enterprise's Finale Made
Star Trek: Enterprise has the dubious distinction of being the only Star Trek series to be canceled since Star Trek: The Original Series. The show was never a ratings winner, and it was incredibly erratic creatively. Season 4 would be its last, and it went out of its way to service hardcore Star Trek fans, addressing such fan-favorite issues as the Eugenics War and the mystery of why the Klingons looked so different in TOS. The series finale "These Are The Voyages" was intended to be another love letter to Star Trek fandom, but it massively misfired.
"These Are The Voyages" is set in the era of TNG, specifically the season seven episode "The Pegasus," where Commander Riker is having a crisis of conscience. To deal with his dilemma, Riker decides to insert himself into the final mission of Captain Archer's Enterprise on the holodeck, meaning the actual Enterprise characters don't really appear in their series finale. What was meant to be a celebration of multiple eras of Star Trek came off as a slap in the face to Enterprise fans. Even the show's cast, particularly T'Pol actor Jolene Blalock, was vocal about how they felt the episode disrespected them and their audience. "These Are The Voyages" is routinely cited as one of the worst episodes of Star Trek and a black mark on Enterprise that can never be overcome.
How Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Can Be A Proper Sequel To TNG, DS9 & Voyager
Some in the Star Trek fandom grew understandably skittish when Terry Matalas confirmed Picard season 3 will be a continuation of not just TNG, but Star Trek: Voyager, fearing a repeat of Enterprise's overly ambitious blunder. However, there is likely little reason for concern. Picard is already something of a successful continuation of Voyager through its reintroduction of Seven of Nine. Similarly, the return of the Klingon warrior Worf is a natural avenue to bring in elements of DS9.
Perhaps most intriguing, Matalas has suggested that the fallout of Deep Space Nine's sprawling Dominion War will play a role in Picard season 3. Picard and the crew of the Enterprise sat out the Dominion War for the most part, so seeing the galactic consequences of that massive conflict from their perspective is a fascinating prospect. While Star Trek: Picard may be taking on the considerable legacies of two other beloved shows, it seems highly unlikely it will bungle its final story the same way Enterprise did.