The failure of Star Trek: Nemesis abruptly ended the Star Trek: The Next Generation movie franchise, but there were plans for a fifth and final film featuring Picard's Enterprise before Nemesis flopped. The overall Star Trek franchise was not in good shape at the turn of the century. Star Trek Voyager limped to the finish line of a seven season run in 2001, a show that was out of gas creatively and endured middling ratings in its final years. Star Trek: Enterprise would debut later that year, a prequel series that never found its footing or its audience and was unceremoniously canceled after its fourth season.
Star Trek: The Next Generation had been the most popular iteration of the franchise ever on television, but even the TNG crew were beginning to wear out their welcome. Star Trek: Insurrection hit movie screens in 1998, coming up short of the box office and critical success of the previous TNG film, Star Trek: First Contact. Paramount realized the film franchise was on a bad trajectory and decided to bring in new creative blood to develop the next movie. Director Stuart Baird and screenwriter John Logan were brought in to make 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis, which was an even bigger failure than Insurrection, putting the Star Trek movie franchise into hibernation until 2009's J.J. Abrams-directed reboot. However, had Nemesis fared better, plans were underway for a proper TNG movie finale.
Nemesis' Failure Killed A Fifth & Final TNG Movie
Star Trek: Nemesis endured a fraught production. The film's story - conceived by Logan and Lieutenant Commander Data actor Brent Spiner - was a retread of earlier, better Star Trek episodes and movies, particularly Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. Director Stuart Baird was almost completely unfamiliar with Star Trek and had little regard for the franchise's legacy, which angered cast members like LeVar Burton and Marina Sirtis. Paramount must have realized early on what sort of movie they had on their hands, as the film's promotional material referred to Nemesis as the TNG crew's final journey. It holds the dubious distinction of being the only Star Trek film not to debut at number one at the American box office, bested by the Jennifer Lopez romcom Maid In Manhattan.
Before Nemesis crashed and burned, Patrick Stewart revealed that Logan and Spiner were working on a story for a fifth and final TNG movie. Very few story details from that project have emerged, only that it would have been a more definitive finale for the TNG crew and would have incorporated characters from non-TNG series. However, it was simply not meant to be, as Star Trek was entering arguably the darkest chapter in its seven-decade run.
DS9 & Voyager Also Lost Because Nemesis Failed
As the TNG cast flourished on the big screen in the mid-90s, there were portions of the Star Trek audience that hoped the casts of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager might eventually enjoy similar film success. This was never a sure thing, as DS9 and Voyager never approached the popularity of TNG and featured fairly definitive endings. That said, integrating characters from those shows into the TNG movie franchise seemed like a no-brainer. Voyager's Kathryn Janeway made a cameo in Nemesis, and Logan and Spiner allegedly had plans to include more legacy characters in their canceled followup.
Luckily, many of those hopes are coming to fruition in the modern Star Trek series. Voyager's Janeway and Chakotay have returned in the animated Star Trek: Prodigy, while Seven of Nine has become a cornerstone of Star Trek: Picard. Picard showrunner Terry Matalas has hinted that Voyager and Deep Space Nine legacy characters will appear in Picard season 3, and could potentially feature in followup spinoffs. The failure of Star Trek: Nemesis felt like the definitive end for the franchise's '90s heyday, but it turns out it just delayed things by about two decades.