In the 21st Century, the folks behind Star Trek have twice tried to recast the classic characters from The Original Series. However, as evidenced by Picard Season 3, the franchise stays faithful to The Next Generation cast and its era by not trying to recast any of them. This is the right call.
Recasting the original series' characters makes sense because the initial cast had a complete run. Also, only Walter Koenig, William Shatner and George Takei are left from The Original Series cast. The Kelvin Timeline films remixed the characters' stories, but the movies didn't give audiences enough time with them. Strange New Worlds features characters fans already know, just earlier in the timeline. In either case, recasting these characters makes sense because the original cast did get a complete story on TV and in film. Season 3 of Picard is designed to give that cast a proper send-off. It and Prodigy, the animated series on Nickelodeon, also include cast members from Voyager. All the second-wave Star Trek casts deserve to complete their characters' journeys just like Kirk, Spock and the gang did.
Star Trek: Picard Would've Never Worked If They Recast the Characters
Recasting The Original Series characters for the Kelvin Timeline films or Strange New Worlds only works because they build on the complete foundation the original actors laid. Arguably, changing the characters so drastically in the films hurt the franchise. Like with Picard, audiences spend full seasons with the Strange New Worlds crew. The series enriches those that came before instead of contradicting them. Yet, if the producers recast Jean-Luc Picard for a prequel series? They would have to dance around the canon, and the poor sap who chose to play young Picard would face his own "Kobayashi Maru."
Ironically, by staying faithful to the original cast of The Next Generation, producers made it easier for future storytellers to recast these roles eventually. Sure, audiences want more of a good thing, and Season 3 is Picard's final voyage. If the series continues to be the satisfying and emotionally rich send-off it's been, audiences will be much more agreeable to a recast in the future. The character is far more important than the actors, even when they are beloved legends like Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn or Marina Sirtis. If the characters are not given a proper ending, which Star Trek: Nemesis was not, audiences understand the only way to get more is via a reboot.
The Next Generation-era cast are almost all still working, so Paramount has an opportunity to finish their characters' stories. Picard is, of course, all about that for its cast. Prodigy also includes Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway and Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay. Tim Russ will appear in two Picard episodes as Tuvok. Honoring the cast that kept Star Trek alive into the 21st Century elevates the entire franchise. It becomes a true saga rather than a loose collection of similarly-themed series and films.
The Next Generation Era Can Still Move Star Trek Forward
When it became clear that The Original Series cast were close to the end of their characters' stories, The Next Generation was born. Even with the 25 seasons of television that followed, fans didn't want to let go of Uhura, Scotty or Bones. Recasting the characters was the only way that was going to happen. One day that will be true for Deep Space Nine, Voyager and other TNG-era series. However, modern pop culture is so fandom-focused that bringing back these casts for the new Star Trek series is how Paramount keeps Starfleet boldly going.
However, Picard proves the second-wave Star Trek characters have more stories to tell. With characters like Jack Crusher and Sidney La Forge, they can introduce the "next generation" of Star Trek while wrapping up the stories of the legacy characters for fans. It's a more successful version of what the studio tried to do with Star Trek: Generations, where Kirk was supposed to pass the baton to Picard metaphorically. Instead, he died and was left under a pile of rocks on a nowhere planet. (At least, until the Picard episode "The Bounty.") Worf, Janeway and other characters will be as immortal as Kirk and the rest. Yet, before Paramount can introduce new versions of them, they have to give fans a chance for proper goodbyes.
There will always be some pushback to recasting characters, especially those so closely tied to their actors. Some fans will never accept a Spock that isn't Leonard Nimoy. The same is true for Jean-Luc Picard and his class of Starfleet. However, more fans will keep an open mind if they have a complete, satisfying story for those beloved characters to fall back on.
Star Trek: Picard debuts new episodes Wednesdays on Paramount+.