Patrick Stewart Returns As Picard In New ‘Star Trek’ Series For CBS All Access
The legendary Sir Patrick Stewart will be returning the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in a brand new ‘Star Trek’ series for CBS All Access it has been announced!
As we mentioned a few weeks ago, CBS has been toying with the idea of multiple ‘Star Trek’ series across various timelines, one of which would potentially star Patrick Stewart. Now they have managed to… make it so… Stewart actually made the initial announcement himself during a surprise appearance at the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention this weekend.
The new show will be a continuation of Picard’s story as he moves into the next chapter of his life. We presume that doesn’t just mean a tale of Picard relaxing at his French chateau drinking wine. Alex Kurtzman, the man who is now at the helm of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ and Trek on tv in general, will be producing and guiding the series.
Sir Patrick tweeted out the following about his return to the character:
I will always be very proud to have been part of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but when we wrapped that final movie in the spring of 2002, I truly felt my time with Star Trek had run its natural course. It is, therefore, an unexpected and delightful surprise to find myself excited and invigorated to be returning to Jean-Luc Picard and to explore new dimensions within him. Seeking out new life from him when I thought that life was over.
During these past years, it has been humbling to hear stories about how The Next Generation brought people comfort, saw them through difficult periods in their lives or how the example of Jean-Luc inspired so many to follow in his footsteps, pursuing science, exploration and leadership. I feel I’m ready to return to him for the same reason – to research and experience what comforting and reforming light he might shine on these often very dark times. I look forward to working with our brilliant creative team as we endeavour to bring a fresh, unexpected and pertinent story to life once more.
Patrick
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
“With overwhelming joy, it’s a privilege to welcome Sir Patrick Stewart back to the Star Trek fold,” adds Kurtzman. “For over 20 years, fans have hoped for the return of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and that day is finally here. We can’t wait to forge new ground, surprise people, and honour generations both new and old.”
Joining Kurtzman on the creative team for the new show will be James Duff, who recently became an executive producer on ‘Star Trek: Discovery’. He is known as the creator of the TV shows such as ‘The Closer’ and ‘Major Crimes’, but does have some previous Trek credentials having written on ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’.
The currently untitled ‘Star Trek’ series will be on CBS All Access in the US. As it’s only just been announced, there’s no news on a UK broadcaster yet, although you have to assume Netflix UK will go after it. We’ll let you know when we hear more.
2 comments
So it’s not just going to be a small, fan-pleasing role as a Starfleet Academy instructor in a show primarily about teenagers? He’s actually going to star in a show focusing on Picard? Yay! I hadn’t dared to get my hopes up, given the actor’s age and the resultant “existence failure” risks for a real TNG continuation.
I’m sure most of the other main TNG actors would be happy to return for small roles on such a show, so the writers can explain what their characters are doing later on in life. (Other than Brent Spiner, for abvious reasons – though even he could do something like CGI Leah in “Rogue One” and the Uncanny Valley effect wouldn’t even be a problem in this case.) I mean, most of them have been involved with other Star Trek stuff in the last decade (e.g. the online game or even low-budget fan-made projects like “Star Trek Continues”) and are otherwise mostly just doing lots of voice acting these days. And Wil Wheaton would be positively delighted if it turned out that Wesley grew up into some sort of evil character, especially given the basically magic “Chosen One” future they had predicted on the original show.. Hell, the writers could easily bring back characters from DS9 and Voyager, too, since those were set in the same era.
Maybe Picard will be in charge of an archeological dig site and uncover some vanished/matrix-uploaded/cryo-frozen ancient mystery civilization or something like that (I dimly remember archeology was a hobby / interest of him). Would be a shame to see him forced to deal with politics and bureaucracy all the time after being promoted to Admiral, like Kirk was in the movies much to his regret. Unless his assignment in old age was to be the administrator of some sort of large beachhead expedition to a different galaxy / parallel universe, like Dr. Weir’s role on “Stargate Atlatis”.
Heh, I’ve just had a thought: I would absolutely adore it if, even just for a limited miniseries, the writers came up with a reason why there’s an expedition staffed exclusively by people 50 years and older, and thus most of the original actors from the 90s Star Trek shows could reprise their roles. Both as a “Take That!” to the youth-obsessed reboot movies and the general tendency of sci-fi / fantasy genre TV shows not to hire older actors for starring roles (especially not female ones), except maybe for the hero’s soon-to-be-narratively-sacrificed mentor. And as a reference to the very real radiation problems of space travel that mean astronauts above childbearing age and too old to worry about dying from cancer in 20 years actually would be a more ethical choice for longer missions, like manned exploration of Mars.
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