Star Trek head honcho Alex Kurtzman has already said that Picard, the new CBS All Access series focusing on the life of former Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), would be “extremely different.” Now, thanks to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, we’re getting a sense of how different this series will be.
Apparently, the events of Picard will tie into J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek film. There, it was revealed that Leonard Nimoy’s Spock — the one from the main timeline — failed to save the Romulan homeworld from a Supernova, which caused a ripple effect that still impact’s Picard’s life to this day.
“Picard’s life was radically altered by the dissolution of the Romulan Empire,” Kurtzman explained when talking about what will set Picard apart from other Star Trek content. Picard will mark the first Star Trek story to take place after those events, which will see a significant change in the galaxy’s power dynamic. Particularly with Picard himself, who spent much of his career trying to build a peaceful alliance with the Romulans.
As far as the rest of Picard’s old crew, Kurtzman also said that “anything could happen” in terms them showing up in the new series.
Kurtzman will executive produce the new series alongside newly-appointed Discovery executive producer James Duff, former Discovery executive producer Akiva Goldsman (The Dark Tower), Michael Chabon (Spider-Man 2) and Star Trek: Voyager and Discovery writer Kirsten Beyer. Also executive producing are Heather Kadin of Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment President Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and Roddenberry Entertainment COO Trevor Roth.
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Beginning in 1987, Patrick Stewart led the Star Trek: The Next Generation series for seven seasons before transitioning to movies movies with Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) as well as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s pilot “Emissary.” He also portrays Dr. Charles Xavier (a.k.a. Professor X) in the X-Men franchise.
In June CBS Television Productions announced a new overall deal with Kurtzman, extending his agreement with the studio to five years. As part of the new production deal, Kurtzman will supervise the expansion of CBS’ Star Trek franchise for television, developing new series, mini-series and other content opportunities, including animation.
The new Picard-centric Star Trek series is expected to debut on CBS All Access sometime in late 2019.
