Star Trek fans may still be reeling after Picard Season 3 episode 10, but to add to the sci-fi series blues after the show’s recent finale, we now have some knowledge on cameos that never came to be.
During a roundtable interview with showrunner Terry Matalas (via Screenrant), it was revealed that the first draft of the Star Trek: Picard season 3 finale script included two Voyager cameos. Admiral Kathryn Janeway and Captain Harry Kim were both set to appear in the Star Trek series. However, fans ultimately missed out on the cameos due to budget cuts.
“There were characters I really wanted to see again. In the original finale script, it was a giant movie that we were building on a television time schedule,” Matalas explained.
“But there was a scene with Soji and Data that we could not afford to do and bring back another actor,” the showrunner continued, detailing the final episode. “There is a scene in which they found Ro Laren in the dungeons of the Intrepid with Tuvok, and that she had survived, we weren’t able to pull off. Harry Kim had appeared at one point.”
As mentioned above, what ultimately stopped Picard from bringing back these beloved Star Trek characters was money, especially when it came time to potentially sign Kate Mulgrew and Garrett Wang.
“These are all things that are all in the first script, and then your line producer says, ‘Are you out of your fucking mind? You can’t afford these things. You are not Avengers: Endgame.’ So they gotta go away. And so, those are regrets, but I’m very happy with what we were able to pull off.”
Fans can now watch Picard season 3 on the streaming service Paramount Plus. And although Harry Kim and Kathryn Janeway aren’t in that particular TV series, fans can watch them in Star Trek: Voyager on the platform as well.
For more intergalactic content, why not check out our Picard season 3 ending explained guide? Or you can look towards the future with our guides on everything we know about the Star Trek Legacy release date, and the upcoming Star Trek movie, Section 31.
For more, here are our lists of all the new movies coming out this year, and the best movies of all time.