New Details About CBS's Star Trek: Picard

Engage your excitement for Star Trek: Picard. The much-hyped but very secretive series on CBS All Access will follow one of Starfleet’s most beloved captains, Jean-Luc Picard, as he deals with a new and unfamiliar world. Given that the show is set after the disaster that destroyed Romulus (and sent Spock reeling off into a black hole to create a new timeline), we’re facing a new and exciting time in the galaxy that has never been depicted in a Star Trek series before.

Entertainment Weekly has dropped some teases about the new show prior to the Star Trek panel at Hall H. It’s enough to get us all even more excited for the coming series.

First off, they confirmed that Picard will be returning to space in the series, but he won’t be a part of Starfleet. “He will [go to space],” showrunner Alex Kurtzman says, “but not in a way that anyone expects.” So the show will not just be Picard being forced back into service; he’ll be on his own mission it seems. This shakes up the usual trope of disillusioned leader brought back into military service, which already is exciting.

“Because he’s no longer in Starfleet, he no longer carries the weight of that behind him,” Kurtzman also said. “In some ways, it’s easier to be [a great man] when you’re a captain. But it’s an entirely different thing when you don’t have an army behind you. When you want to get something done and fight an injustice, how do you do that when you’re really only one man?” It seems as though Picard will be fighting injustice, but now he won’t have Starfleet’s help. That leaves him on his own to do his own thing, which will no doubt be a difficult and yet deeply moral task.

The captain will be “haunted” according to the writers, but he’ll still be fundamentally Picard. He’ll still have his ingrained sense of right and wrong, but they’ll be testing him on his ability to do the right thing even if it is the hard thing. If Picard is dealing with the destruction of the Romulan homeworld, he’ll be dealing with his greatest enemies becoming refugees. I can see him struggling to balance his feelings towards the Romulans with helping them, and that will put him in an interesting place.

The article also reveals that the series will be more serialized rather than episodic, and while none of the current series regulars are playing Next Generation characters, there’s the chance for former crew members of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D to return. Jonathan Frakes does direct two episodes, but there is no word on if Riker himself appears in front of the camera.

The last tease? Patrick Stewart has never been better as Picard. If that doesn’t excite you, I don’t know what will.

Hopefully, we’ll get a first full trailer for Picard at SDCC on Saturday, giving us a better look at this series that’s bound to thrill Trek fans while embracing the future of the franchise.

(via Entertainment Weekly, image: CBS)

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