Star Trek Guide

Star Trek boss hints at Picard's dark "choices" in new spin-off show

Star Trek: Picard is one of the most anticipated new shows of the year, though fans of Jean-Luc Picard should expect his character to go in a different direction.

That's according to producer Alex Kurtzman, who has hinted that Patrick Stewart's character may have made some dark choices.

"It was essential," he told Deadline's Crew Call podcast of the actor's input. "We spent a lot of time with Patrick, and you know what? He's incredibly brilliant just as a human, and very warm, and obviously he knows Jean-Luc Picard better than anybody.

"And you know, he was really the one who from the outset said, 'I don't want to do this unless we're breaking new ground. I don't want to just play the character I played, why come back to that? We did that already.'"

He continued: "So it's been a really wonderful give-and-take in our collaboration with Patrick where he very quickly came to trust that we were both going to do exactly what he said in taking Picard to a new place, but also — and he doesn't look at himself this way — we're reverent of him, you know?

"He's Patrick Stewart! When we're in a room with him, his opinion really matters to us, and his happiness really matters to us, and ultimately, we couldn't do this show the way we're doing it if he wasn't excited about it and excited to play it."

Kurtzman also teased the storyline we can expect from the secretive series, explaining: "I think we've found a story that honours everything that people love about the character, but in ways that are not what you expect — and yet, become more and more familiar as the show goes.

"And that's what's exciting. A lot has happened to Jean-Luc Picard in the intervening years. There's been a lot going on and he's had to deal with some new things, he's had to deal with some old things, and both of those things kind of come colliding together.

"He's made choices that he's not necessarily feeling great about — and yet I think the audience will understand exactly why he made them."

Picard recently dropped a first-look trailer that includes a voiceover by Stewart, before we get a shot of Picard himself.

Star Trek: Picard will air onCBS All Access in the US and Amazon Prime Videointernationally, including the UK.


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Source: www.digitalspy.com