Picard's Todd Stashwick Wants A Captain Shaw Spin-Off With DS9 And Voyager Characters (And Admiral Jellico) [Exclusive]
One of the great pleasures of the new season of "Star Trek: Picard" has been the introduction of Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick), the hard-nosed commander of the U.S.S. Titan-A. While many of the previous captains on "Star Trek" have been approachable or at least diplomatic, Captain Shaw is an unapologetic jerkwad. Previously an engineer, Shaw prefers order and adheres to rules, refusing to bend them — even a little bit — for visiting dignitaries like Picard (Patrick Stewart). He inherited the Titan from Captain Riker (Jonathan Frakes), who left his vast collection of jazz records on the ship's computer. In what might amount to an act of terrorism, Captain Shaw deleted all of the Titan's jazz. He also disrespects his first officer, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), and happily calls Starfleet security when Seven, Riker, and Picard hijack his ship. He is brusque and even rude. He is an awesome character.
Shaw might handily be compared to Captain Jellico (Ronny Cox), a hard-nosed commander who was given control of the Enterprise-D while Picard was on a counterterrorist mission. Jellico was equally brusque, demanding that formality and a chain of command be respected more than warmth and approachability. Jellico only appeared in a two-part episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and recently reappeared as an admiral on "Star Trek: Prodigy."
Someone who sees the parallels to Jellico is Stashwick himself. In a new interview with /Film's own Vanessa Armstrong, she and Stashwick talk about the possibility of a Captain Shaw spin-off series after the current season of "Picard" comes to a close. Of course, Stashwick already has a few ideas.
The Titan crew
Armstrong asked Stashwick what kind of crew he would like to work with on a potential Captain Shaw series. Stashwick was already fond of the "Picard" cast members that play his current crew, but he would also expand to include other familiar faces ... including Admiral Jellico. He said:
"Well, I love all of my bridge. I love them. They're wonderful humans and I think they're really compelling characters that we could learn a lot more from and see a lot more from. What I think would be really fun, because of the era that we're in, is to see episodes with characters from 'Deep Space Nine' and episodes with characters from 'Voyager.'"
The bridge crew of the Titan already includes the Vulcan Lt. T'Veen (Stephanie Czajkowski. In several scenes, we see the Bajoran Lt. Matthew Arliss Mura (Joseph Lee), the Haliian Ensign Kova Rin Esmar, played by Jin Maley, and the human Lt. Sidney La Forge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut), daughter of Geordi La Forge. In sickbay, there is the curt Dr. Ohk (Tiffany Shepis), and, as mentioned, his first officer is Seven of Nine from "Voyager."
The timeline of "Picard" put its events in the early 25th century, about 30 years after "Voyager" and 35 after "Deep Space Nine." Many of the characters from those shows clearly survived, and some have even appeared on recent "Trek" shows: Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), Chakotay (Robert Beltran), and everyone's favorite, Jellico, all appear on the animated "Prodigy," and several characters from both "DS9" and "Voyager" have appeared on "Star Trek: Lower Decks." There's no reason why, say, Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) or Fleet Admiral Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) couldn't also appear on a Shaw show. Call it "Star Trek: Titan."
Jellico can and Jellico do
Stashwick also acknowledged that, over the course of his season of "Picard," his character does indeed soften. He doesn't necessarily like Seven of Nine, but he does grow to respect her. He moves from using her old human name, Annika Hansen, and begins referring to her as Seven, as she prefers. He's a hardass who learns a little bit more about teamwork through a series of extreme scenarios. It's good character work. Stashwick admits it would be interesting to watch Jellico, likely still a hardass himself, lock horns with a more open-minded Shaw. He said:
"We would have to get Ronny Cox back at some point where he comes on to get all Jellico; he's probably an admiral at this point. And then the evolved version of Shaw would have to connect with him. That would be a lot of fun."
It's been fascinating to watch the newer "Star Trek" shows grow into something more traditional and interesting since the debut of CBS All Access, later Paramount+, in 2017. "Star Trek: Discovery" hasn't been terribly good, but it managed to spin off into "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," a retro, episodic show that features some very good writing. Likewise, "Picard," which was terrible for its first two seasons, is now providing potential fodder for a starship-based space opera in the old "Trek" mold. "Lower Decks" started strong, and "Prodigy" has been finding its footing. It's taken six years, but the majority of "Star Trek" is good again. A possible "Star Trek: Titan" could only potentially up the percentage.