Terry Matalas Reveals He Gifted Kevin Feige One of Worf’s Swords From ‘Star Trek: Picard’

Terry Matalas and Kevin Feige have always had a bit of ‘Star Trek‘ running through their working relationship. The Marvel Studios president is a well-known Trekkie, and Matalas’s ‘VisionQuest’ landed on Disney+ this week, giving the partnership its biggest spotlight yet.

It all began with ‘Star Trek: Picard’. Feige told Inverse that after watching Season 3 he was floored and wanted to know who was behind it, saying he decided to “find the person who made this.” That curiosity led directly to Matalas running Marvel’s Vision series.

Now Matalas has revealed a very on-brand detail about their friendship: he says he gifted Feige one of Worf’s swords from ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 3. It’s a fitting present, since that season is the one that put Matalas on Marvel’s radar in the first place.

The weapon has its own backstory. Matalas has said the sword on Worf’s back is a kur’leth, designed by Dan Curry, the man who created the Bat’leth. Curry first designed the Bat’leth prop for the ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ episode ‘Reunion’.

The idea itself grew out of a conversation with Michael Dorn. Matalas has said he saw an older Worf as a samurai with a Klingon sword on his back, and that it was Dorn who connected the character to Pai Mei from ‘Kill Bill’. At a press tour panel, Matalas joked that the weapon was gigantic and anime-sized, even as Worf leaned toward pacifism.

A Worf sword is also a gift that suits its recipient. Feige is an avowed Trekkie who appeared with Matalas on a two-hour episode of the ‘Star Trek’ podcast ‘Inglorious Treksperts’, according to Variety. He has also presented the ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ cast with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Astra Awards.

Matalas, for his part, has said the two bonded over their shared love of ‘Star Trek’ and became friends that way. He also told IndieWire that he made sure Feige knew he was just as big a Marvel fan and was desperate to be part of it.

‘VisionQuest’ debuted its first two episodes on Disney+ on Oct. 14, with the remaining six releasing weekly through Nov. 11. Matalas serves as showrunner and a director, and the cast includes Paul Bettany, James Spader, Ruaridh Mollica and Emily Hampshire. Todd Stashwick, who played Captain Shaw on ‘Picard’, is also on board.

The ‘Star Trek’ influence runs deeper than the cast. Matalas has compared Vision’s journey to Spock’s in ‘Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home’, with the android struggling to reconnect with memories he has no emotional attachment to. He told IGN at New York Comic Con that Marvel gave his team near-total freedom, with Feige’s one fixed requirement being that Vision reunites with his son.

Early reception has been mixed. One review called the series a mixed bag that leans heavily on references to the wider MCU but lacks the character depth of ‘WandaVision’.

Matalas’s ‘Picard’ work, meanwhile, drew far warmer praise. Season 3 premiered Feb. 16, 2023, and reunited the former Enterprise command crew, including Worf, for one last adventure. Matalas earned a WGA nomination for the series finale, and the show won the Astra Award for Best Writing.

Matalas has also spoken about the ‘Star Trek: Legacy’ spinoff that never got made. He has said he wrote about 30 pages on spec, and that its first season would have centered on Klingons and Captain Worf. He has also said he would happily say yes if Paramount+ ever asked him to succeed Alex Kurtzman as ‘Star Trek’ executive producer.

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