Although Star Trek: Picard season 3 is billed as a final farewell to Star Trek: The Next Generation, it will actually be the third time Star Trek has said goodbye to TNG. Star Trek: Picard season 3 reunites Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) with the entire crew of the USS Enterprise-D and E (although Brent Spiner is playing Lore, not Data) for one more mission to save the galaxy. However, Star Trek has already bid farewell to TNG twice before.

Star Trek: The Next Generation has to be considered the most popular incarnation of the franchise, perhaps surpassing The Original Series. TNG went beyond TOS and massively expanded the Star Trek universe. TNG's success spawned two spinoff series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, and a prequel series, Star Trek: Enterprise. Even as TNG made the leap to the big screen and took over the Star Trek movie franchise, it provided the foundation for the entire 24th-century era of Star Trek that is being continued today by Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Picard. Had Star Trek: Nemesis been a box office hit, a fifth and final film would have been another goodbye to TNG to add to this list.

Related: Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Ending Explained (In Detail)

3 Star Trek: The Next Generation's Series Finale - "All Good Things"

All Good Things Poker

Star Trek: The Next Generation's first goodbye was the series finale, "All Good Things...", which capped off the 7 successful and wildly popular seasons of TNG in syndication. TNG's series finale isn't just a magnificent episode, it ranks among the best TV finales of all time, and it was an ideal reflection of The Next Generation's Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series - a first for the Star Trek franchise. As bittersweet as it was to bid farewell to the USS Enterprise-D crew's weekly voyages, it was also an exciting time as TNG was about to become a series of movies, starting with 1994's Star Trek Generations.

Even as Star Trek: The Next Generation warped into the event horizon, the Trek TV franchise was healthier than ever with Deep Space Nine going strong and Star Trek: Voyager poised to premiere as the flagship of the UPN Network in January 1995. As for "All Good Things...", it stands as one of the finest TNG episodes ever made, with a perfect final scene of Captain Picard playing poker with his crew, promising "five card stud, nothing wild, and the sky's the limit."

2 Star Trek: Enterprise's Finale Was A Farewell To The TNG Era

Riker Troi Enterprise Bridge

The maligned finale of Star Trek: Enterprise was rejected by fans for essentially highjacking the episode and turning it into an hour of Star Trek: The Next Generation, right down to the title, "These Are The Voyages..." mimicking TNG's finale, "All Good Things..." The main character of Enterprise's finale was Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes), who starred in the episode along with Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) and a voice cameo by Data (Brent Spiner). "These Are The Voyages..." was actually set during the TNG season 7 episode, "The Pegasus," with Riker consulting holograms of the NX-01 Enterprise crew as he wrestled with a moral dilemma.

By the time Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled in season 4, ratings had dwindled, and the UPN Network was going to merge with the WB Network to form The CW. Enterprise's ending also marked the conclusion of the Star Trek franchise produced by Rick Berman since TNG launched in 1987, as no more Star Trek TV series or movies would be produced for the next few years until J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot in 2009 and the launch of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. Enterprise's finale was turned into a farewell to the entire TNG era of Star Trek, but it backfired when Enterprise's fans (and the cast) soundly rejected the finale.

Related: All The Good Things In Star Trek: Enterprise's Finale

1 Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Is Billed As A Final Goodbye To TNG

Zoom in on a poster for Picard season 3 featuring Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, Jeri Ryan, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden and Jonathan Frakes in heroic poses

Patrick Stewart announced his comeback as Jean-Luc Picard in 2018, and Star Trek: Picard season 1 premiered in 2020 as a very different, serialized take on Picard's life post-TNG. Star Trek: Picard purposely eschewed similarities to The Next Generation as Jean-Luc was surrounded by an all-new motley crew, plus a dream team-up with Star Trek: Voyager's Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), with only Data, Riker, and Troi appearing. Star Trek: Picard season 2 brought back more TNG icons like Q (John de Lancie), Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), and the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching), setting the stage for the final chapter.

Star Trek: Picard season 3's reunion of the entire TNG main cast is now, likely, the final farewell to these beloved characters. Although the actors apparently enjoyed themselves so much working together again that it's possible Picard season 3 may not be the end, after all. Should another movie, a spinoff, or a fourth season of Star Trek: Picard materialize, it may be yet another goodbye to Star Trek: The Next Generation.

More: Star Trek Doesn't Have A Flagship Show (& Why That's Good)

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 premieres Thursday, February 16, on Paramount+.