Last month saw the passing of Patrick Stewart, a titan of the stage and screen. One of the last creators to work with him was Terry Matalas, who oversaw the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard, the conclusion of Stewart’s long-awaited return to the character of Jean-Luc Picard. Now, Matalas has shared his memories of Stewart with Collider’s Michael Zimmerman at the finale event for Matalas’ new Marvel Cinematic Universe series, VisionQuest, in New York City.
While Stewart had returned as Picard for the first two seasons of his eponymous series, which marked his first return to Star Trek in the almost two decades since 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis, Season 3 featured a full reunion of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast. Stewart was joined by castmates LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, and Brent Spiner as they were thrust into a galactic crisis masterminded by their old nemesis, the Borg; they were forced to bring the original USS Enterprise-D out of mothballs (complete with a painstaking replica of the original bridge set) to save the day once more.
Matalas, a long-time Star Trek fan who began his Hollywood career as a production assistant on The Next Generation and became an associate producer on subsequent Trek series Voyagerand Enterprise, was thrilled to be part of that universe once more, and to be given a chance to send off one of the greatest characters in science fiction history. In doing so, he homaged the final scene of The Next Generation‘s acclaimed final episode, “All Good Things…,” which saw Picard finally invited to join the bridge crew’s regular poker game:
“I was honored to be a part of it. I was honored to be able to send that character off. For me, we left him where I wanted to last see him, with his friends at that poker table, who are, in real life, dear friends and family in all the ways. I’m so thrilled that we were able to do it.”
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Sci-Fi/Quizzes/Hero Match
PAUL ATREIDESCAPTAIN KIRKPRINCESS LEIAELLEN RIPLEYMAX ROCKATANSKY
Collider QuizWhich Sci-Fi Hero Are You8 Questions · 5 LegendsFive iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.On The Manifest
Paul Atreides
Captain Kirk
Princess Leia
Ellen Ripley
Max Rockatansky
Your Hero Has Been IdentifiedYour Sci-Fi Hero Is
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values,
and your particular way of facing the impossible.
DunePaul AtreidesArrakis · Dune, 2021The hero who knows exactly what becoming one will cost.
You carry a weight most people would crumble under: the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.Why This Is You
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens
you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but
can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero. He is someone who understands the cost of power and
chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
From The Collider File
Dune: Part Three closes Denis Villeneuve’s trilogy on December 18, 2026, adapting Dune
Messiah.
Messiah is the book that turns on its own hero, which is why Villeneuve waited to film it.
Sees It ComingCarries The WeightArrakis
Star TrekCaptain KirkUSS Enterprise · Star Trek, 1966The captain who refuses to accept that a no-win scenario exists.
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario, because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.Why This Is You
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve
earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical, it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with
purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
From The Collider File
Paul Wesley’s Kirk took the center chair in Strange New Worlds season 4, which
premiered July 23, 2026.
The producers have confirmed Kirk stays with the show through its final season.
No-Win ScenarioCrew FirstStarfleet
Star WarsPrincess LeiaThe Rebellion · A New Hope, 1977The one who holds the line when the line is all that’s left.
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith, not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.Why This Is You
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked
back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story. She is the moral center of the entire
rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
From The Collider File
Carrie Fisher was 19 when she shot A New Hope, and Leia’s first scene in the saga is a
refusal.
Lucasfilm ruled out recreating her digitally, so her last appearance was built from footage
she had already filmed.
Holds The LineThe CauseRebellion
AlienEllen RipleyThe Nostromo · Alien, 1979No speeches. Just the person still standing at the end.
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero. You just refuse to stop when it matters.Why This Is You
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time
comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech. She has a
plan and the nerve to see it through.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the
monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
From The Collider File
FX renewed Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth for a second season, pushing the franchise onto
the home planet.
Sigourney Weaver has said she is seriously weighing a return to Ripley after reading a new
script.
You have been through fire that would break most people, and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.Why This Is You
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to
tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute, but it’s earned in silence and
tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that
he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
From The Collider File
George Miller has a script for the next Mad Max, The Wasteland, but has said only that we
will see whether it gets made.
The 1979 original was shot for a few hundred thousand Australian dollars and became one of
the most profitable films ever made.
Outlasts ItEarned LoyaltyWasteland
Crew Match
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A Collider InteractiveCOLLIDERMore quizzes at collider.com
What Is ‘VisionQuest’ About?
Following up on the events of the Disney+ TV series WandaVision(and several other MCU projects), VisionQuest sees the reconstructed android Vision (Paul Bettany) attempting to piece his life back together with the help of several other artificial intelligences—including his “father,” the genocidal kill-bot Ultron (James Spader). He’s on the run from bounty hunter Paladin (Todd Stashwick) and rogue robot Jocasta (T’Nia Miller), while also seeking out Thomas Shepherd (Ruaridh Mollica), a superpowered teenager who may be his son.
