Star Trek: Picard showrunner talks "blood, sweat, and tears" that went into recreating original Enterprise-D bridge

Star Trek: Picard season 3 sees the return of several legacy characters – namely LeVar Burton as La Forge, Michael Dorn as Worf, Jonathan Frakes as Riker, Gates McFadden as Crusher, Marina Sirtis as Troi, and Brent Spiner as the android Lore – and also a legacy set. In episode 9, we boarded the Enterprise-D once again, and the Picard team recreated the original bridge from Star Trek: Enterprise.

"Building that set, getting it finished in time, shooting it, and reuniting that cast on that set... there were a lot of tears shed – blood, sweat, and tears – to make all that happen, but it was worth it," showrunner Terry Matalas tells SFX Magazine in the new issue, featuring Picard on the cover.

"On the day of the Enterprise-D, that was an extraordinary feeling for all of them, to be back on that set. Because we built it exactly how it was, going back to the original blueprints, going back to the original designers – we brought Mike and Denise Okuda back. Even the grain of wood on the arch was hand-painted to match exactly as it was in the day.

"So there wasn't a detail missed. It was extraordinary for the actors to be back there in that space, and they immediately all went to their stations. It was kind of adorable. That is the only set from season 3 that has been saved, and I believe the Roddenberry archives have it."

Star Trek: Picard season 3 wraps up this week, with the finale streaming now on Paramount Plus in both the US and the UK.

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That's just a snippet of our interview, available in the latest issue of SFX Magazine, which features Star Trek: Picard on the cover and is available on newsstands this Thursday, April 20! For even more from SFX, sign up to the newsletter, sending all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.