Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, streaming, TV | Tagged: Diane Muldaur, Katherine Pulaski, paramount, Star Trek Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Terry Matalas

Star Trek: Picard Showrunner Matalas on Pulaski/TNG Nod: "Stay Tuned"

Star Trek: Picard Showrunner Terry Matalas responded with a "stay tuned" when asked about a nod to TNG's Season 2 chief medical officer.

Star Trek: Picard executive producer Terry Matalas wants to leave fans of the franchise as happy as a showrunner can be, but that doesn't mean he can't fit every single legacy character or bring every surviving character back into the series' third and final season. As Matalas previously addressed that we won't see Diana Muldaur return as The Next Generation's season two's chief medical officer Dr. Katherine Pulaski, but that doesn't mean the character has been forgotten after another inquiry. "You know what I want to see [Terry Matalas]? I want to see Dr. Pulaski get a proper nod, like an Easter egg, or a mention. Or he'll, even a cameo. I feel like that character got a lot of ill-directed crap thrown at her," the fan wrote.

Star Trek: Picard Showrunner's Nudge and Wink on Pulaski

Matalas offered, "Stay tuned." As far as Easter Eggs go, some of the biggest ones were featured in the episode "The Bounty," where a significant portion was spent at Section 31's Daystrom Station. The organization, which operates largely off the books from Starfleet, housed some of the franchise's most intriguing relics, including a predatory tribble, another Genesis device, the body of James T. Kirk, Data, and the body of the original Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) which we discover was stolen by the Changelings.

Most TNG fans know Mulduar's Pulaski temporarily replacing Gates McFadden's Dr. Beverly Crusher for season two as it was explained in canon she was "away at Starfleet Medical." The reality was that McFadden was fired from the series stemming a conflict with season two showrunner Maurice Hurley. Following Hurley's departure before season three, McFadden returned, Pulaski was written out, and the rest is history. Muldaur's history with the franchise appearing as two different characters in The Original Series Federation lieutenant commander Dr. Ann Mulhall in the season two episode "Return to Tomorrow" and the psychologist and blind telepath Dr. Miranda Jones in the season three episode "Is There in Truth No Beauty?"

Even if Pulaski doesn't come back, I wouldn't mind seeing Muldaur come back as one of her TOS characters or another original one in a cameo, given her existing history to the franchise. At this rate, I give her chances to return as much as I have for Avery Brooks as Sisko.  Star Trek: Picard streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

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