I get the discomfort about speculation.

It definitely sounds like there’s been ‘stuff’ behind the scenes already. Not TNG Chaos on the Bridge or Disco season one and two level, but definitely frictions.

(The actor who plays Genesis recently let slip when asked about Jonathan Frakes, that he’d been originally scheduled to direct her character’s second season feature episode but there had been “fighting going on” and Frakes was pushed back to directing a later episode!)

If the backdoor pilot episode in Disco season four didn’t work the way they’d hoped, it would be unfortunate if the characters and their actors have paid the price for the ‘notes’ from the senior executives.

However, as we saw with Number One in ‘The Cage’ if the the television franchise head thinks it’s worthwhile to bring back a character or an actor, one or both will happen eventually.