CBS All Access’s untitled Star Trek Jean-Luc Picard spinoff series is moving forward swiftly, and it’s now been revealed that it’ll arrive in 2019! Late into 2019, but still – 2019!
CCO of CBS, David Nevins, rolled up at the 46th Annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference this week, where The Wrap got confirmation that we won’t be waiting until 2020 to see Captain Picard back in the Star Trek saddle.
“In 2019, it’s not one ‘Star Trek,’ it’s two ‘Star Treks.’ ‘Discovery’ at the beginning of the year, and Picard will start at the end of the year,” Nevins confirmed.
Just a quick update, but exciting (at least for us) nonetheless.
More as we get it.
Star Trek: new Picard-centric series behind the scenes
A pic from the newly-launched writers room from star Patrick Stewart revealed recently that work on the new series was well underway.
Stewart, who made the official announcement of the Star Trek: The Next Generation follow-up series back in August, tweeted a photo of the former-and-soon-to-return Picard actor’s proverbial ready room, joined by a creative coalition consisting of Kirsten Beyer (Star Trek: Discovery), Michael Chabon (Spider-Man 2), Akiva Goldsman (Star Trek: Discovery), Diandra Pendleton-Thompson (Awakening Love) and James Duff (Major Crimes). Indeed, Stewart’s accompanying caption, “The journey has begun,” is enough to stoke excitement amongst even the most lapsed of Trekkies.
Star Trek: new Picard-centric series story
The untitled Star Trek Picard series will manifest as the franchise’s first visit to the Star Trek: The Next Generation time period since the 2002 movie, Star Trek: Nemesis, which was the last time Stewart played the iconic captain of U.S.S. Enterprises D and E. The upcoming series will chronicle a storyline set during Picard’s golden years, which were famously teased in an alternate-timeline setting in the 1994 Star Trek: The Next Generation series finale, “All Good Things,” living a peacefully idyllic existence working his family’s famous vineyards in France.
Of course, it is unknown if Picard’s fate as an elderly grape-picker will occur on the series and plot details about what might bring the Starfleet legend out of retirement are also not yet known. However, one of the table occupants in Patrick Stewart’s tweeted photo, Michael Chabon, recently teased that the setting of the series will be the year 2399 (using an image of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain from 1975-1977’s Space: 1999 in a tongue-in-cheek way). Consequently, the backdrop of an impending new epoch, going from the 24th to 25th century specifically, should figure prominently in said plot.
The good folks over at Trek Movie had a chance to catch up with producers Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin after their recent NYCC panel appearance, garnering a few interesting details.
Firstly, they both confirmed that filming is due to start in April, 2019, which doesn’t seem that far away at all. The pair also revealed that this Picard-centric project is not set to be a limited series! There are multiple seasons of this new show apparently in the offing, which is terrific news.
Star Trek: new Picard-centric series air date
We’ll see the first episodes appear at the end of 2019!