This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.
In the third season of Star Trek: Picard, we were introduced to Liam Shaw, the leader of the USS Titan played by 12 Monkeys alum Todd Stashwick. Shaw’s irascible demeanor and disdain of all the shenanigans that Picard and Riker wanted to do with his ship quickly made him a fan favorite. His last scene was a memorable one, but showrunner Terry Matalas just released an alternate version.
Over on Twitter X, Matalas shared Shaw’s alternate death scene, which you can watch below:
Shaw’s alternate death scene. @ToddStashwick @JeriLRyan pic.twitter.com/gzSo6tt6f4
— Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) August 4, 2023
The big difference occurs when audio is on, and Shaw says to Seven of Nine with his dying breath, “Don’t touch my stuff,” as he bequeaths the ship to her. It’s a note of levity in an otherwise sad scene (Shaw also finally calls Seven, Seven!), so it’s understandable why this never made the final version.
The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard is now streaming on Paramount+. And while fans (and the cast) have voiced their desire to see a spinoff show focused on Seven of Nine as the new captain of the next USS Enterprise, there’s still no news yet whether that will happen. For Shaw fans out there who were sad to see the captain go, Matalas has also raised the hope that there’s a way he could return to the Star Trek universe.
“We knew from minute one there is a way for Shaw to return in the most wonderful way,” he said in a roundtable discussion in April 2023 after the finale aired. It is Star Trek, after all, and he wouldn’t be the first character to return from the dead.
