CBS is preparing to launch Star Trek: Picard, a new series focused on Jean-Luc Picard, Patrick Stewart’s iconic starship captain from the classic TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Set to premiere in late 2019, Star Trek: Picard will unfold 20 years after the events of the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis and follow the continuing adventures of the former captain of the USS Enterprise.
Here’s everything we know so far about Star Trek: Picard, the first season of which will premiere on the CBS All Access streaming service in January 2020.
Season 2 greenlit
The second season of Star Trek: Picard has already been given the green light, Deadline reported ahead of the series debut. Just like the first season, it will feature 10 episodes.
Launch date
Star Trek: Picard will debut on CBS All Access on January 23, 2020. The show’s title and logo were revealed during a network presentation for advertisers May 15, 2019.
The trailers
CBS revealed the first, ever-so-brief trailer for the series in May. The preview shows the former Starfleet hero at his family’s vineyard, and hints at an ominous reason for his exit from Starfleet.
Picard‘s second trailer dropped during Comic-Con International 2019, and if you thought that the USS Enterprise-D’s beloved captain was the only Star Trek character returning for the show, think again. Not only does the trailer feature Voyager‘s Seven of Nine and a Borg cube, but Data, played once again by Brent Spiner, makes a surprise appearance in the trailer’s closing moments.
Data isn’t the only Star Trek: The Next Generation alumnus coming to Picard, either. At the Picard Comic-Con panel, showrunner Michael Chabon confirmed that Jonathan Frakes, who played William Riker, Picard’s second-in-command, and Marina Sirtis, better known as ship counselor Deanna Troi, will also appear on the series.
The trailer also hints at Picard‘s storyline, which will be much more serialized than the good captain’s The Next Generation adventures. In Picard, Jean-Luc has retired to his family vineyard, but still longs for the stars. He gets his chance to return to space (alongside what looks like a new crew) when a young, mysterious woman arrives at the Picard homestead looking for his help. We don’t know the woman’s secret, but it must be a big one: Plenty of people are trying to kill her.
Finally, the third trailer arrived at New York Comic-Con, and features both plenty of action and also the long-awaited return of Riker and Troi.
A man and his dog
Patrick Stewart debuted a new promotional image for Star Trek: Picard in July 2019, tweeting out a shot of himself as Jean-Luc Picard, alongside a dog, as he looks out over the family vineyard he retired to after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis.
Picard.#StarTrekPicard #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/1hw4SJDXEk
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) July 10, 2019
Season 1
The first season of Star Trek: Picard is expected to consist of 10 episodes, with Hanelle Culpepper directing the first three episodes, and veteran Star Trek actor and filmmaker Frakes (above) directing a couple as well.
The supporting cast
The series will also feature Santiago Cabrera as a skilled thief and pilot who assists Picard, as well as Michelle Hurd (below) as a former Starfleet intelligence officer who has a complicated past with Jean-Luc. Allison Pill will also play a member of Picard’s crew named Dr. Jurati, who is gung-ho about Picard’s new mission.
Behind the camera
Development of the series has been tasked to Star Trek: Discovery co-creator and executive producer Alex Kurtzman, who is joined by many of the other members of the Discovery creative team on the project. In July 2019, renowned author Michael Chabon was announced as the series’ showrunner.
Chabon, a lifelong Star Trek fan who worked with Kurtzman on some of the early concept pitches for the series, is an award-winning author and screenwriter who will also serve as an executive producer on the show.
“Star Trek has been an important part of my way of thinking about the world, the future, human nature, storytelling, and myself since I was 10 years old,” said Chabon of shepherding the series. “I come to work every day in a state of joy and awe at having been entrusted with the character and the world of Jean-Luc Picard, with this vibrant strand of the rich, intricate, and complex tapestry that is Trek.”
Also serving as executive producers on the Picard series are Star Trek: Discovery executive producer James Duff, former Discovery executive producer Akiva Goldsman, and Star Trek: Voyager and Discovery writer Kirsten Beyer, as well as Roddenberry Entertainment President Eugene Roddenberry, the son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. The Picard series is reportedly one of several in-development Star Trek projects for CBS, which is making the sci-fi property one of the foundations of its CBS All Access streaming service.
The return of Jean-Luc
Star Trek: Picard will feature Patrick Stewart reprising the role he played for seven seasons on the long-running Star Trek: The Next Generation television series and in multiple Star Trek movies. The series will continue his story, exploring Picard’s life after the events of The Next Generation and the films.
Stewart’s return to the role of Jean-Luc Picard was first announced in August, and the veteran actor — who is also well-known for portraying telepathic mutant Charles Xavier in the X-Men movies — said he was “excited and invigorated” to revisit the character.
It is an unexpected but delightful surprise to find myself excited and invigorated to be returning to Jean-Luc Picard and to explore new dimensions within him. Read my full statement in the photo. #StarTrek @cbsallaccess Photo: @shervinfoto pic.twitter.com/8Ynuj3RBNm
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) August 4, 2018
An accomplished actor on stage and screen, Stewart has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emmy Awards over the years for his performances, including a critically praised portrayal of King Henry II in 2003’s The Lion in Winter and his portrayal of Captain Ahab in the 1998 television miniseries Moby Dick.
Updated on October 5, 2019: Added news that a second season of Star Trek: Picard has received a green light.
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