Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas wanted to include Jake Sisko in the final season of the series.
After two divisive seasons, the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard was a welcome return to form for many fans. Not only did the show bring back the original cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but it also included appearances from other Star Trek characters from across the franchise. The Star Trek: Picard writers obviously couldn’t include everyone they wanted, but they did give serious thought to including Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton), son of Deep Space Nine’s Captain Benjamin Sisko.
Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas appeared on The 7th Rule podcast (h/t ScreenRant) hosted by Cirroc Lofton and Ryan T. Husk to discuss how they wanted Jake Sisko to fit into the story. “We had many Jake conversations in the season 3 writer’s room. And one of the ideas was… ‘Cause season 3’s a conspiracy, and people like Ro Laren and our heroes realizing that Changelings have infiltrated Starfleet… There’s a moment, actually, where Ro Laren says, “I even tried going to the press.” That was Jake Sisko,” Matalas explained.
Unfortunately, they just didn’t have the money to do it as the Jake Sisko story kept expanding the more they worked on it. “You would cut to Jake Sisko, this journalist, who’s starting to put together… whose specialty is Starfleet because of, obviously, his background, and that’s his focus,” Matalas said. “He’s realizing weird sh*t’s going on. Things are being reported but then dismissed. He’s covering Frontier Day, but there’s a lot of things about it that don’t make sense. And as he goes down the rabbit hole, he starts to figure out what’s up.” The Star Trek: Picard showrunner admitted that the Jake Sisko story started to become its own series and they realized they wouldn’t be able to include it. Matalas did pitch the concept as a podcast when all was said and done, but hopes that they’ll be able to bring Jake back someday.
The success of Picard‘s final season has led to fans campaigning for a continuation, dubbed Star Trek: Legacy. The potential series would be a perfect place for Jake Sisko to make his return to the franchise. While the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes has brought development to a halt, Paramount has several Star Trek projects in the works, including a third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, a Starfleet Academy series, and a Section 31 movie starring Michelle Yeoh.