Ever since it was announced this summer, it seems that the powers that be can’t help but tease us about the upcoming ‘Star Trek’ spinoff centered on Captain Picard. Because of course, they’re going to. The return of Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard is about the biggest news the ‘Trek’ community could have been given this year, and it was inevitably that interest would be high from the word “go.”
Despite all those teases, though, we’ve learned remarkably little about the show. The recurring theme, though, has been that the show will be “different” from what fans might expect, often coupled with the suggestion that Picard may not even be in Starfleet at this point in his life. Now we’re getting our first real sense of what “different” means here, at least with regard to Discovery‘ and other contemporary ‘Trek’ productions, thanks to Alex Kurtzman. Kurtzman, who has been involved with the franchise since co-writing the J.J. Abrams-helmed reboot in 2009 and is the current showrunner on ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ (a position that has seen more turnover than Spinal Tap’s drum kit), recently broached the subject with Entertainment Weekly, telling them:
“It’s an extremely different rhythm than ‘Discovery’. ‘Discovery’ is a bullet. Picard is a very contemplative show. It will find a balance between the speed of ‘Discovery’ and the nature of what ‘Next Gen’ was, but I believe it will have its own rhythm. Without revealing too much about it, people have so many questions about Picard and what happened to him, and the idea we get to take time to answer those questions in the wake of the many, many things he’s had to deal with in ‘Next Gen’ is really exciting. “More grounded” is not the right way to put it, because season two of ‘Discovery’ is also grounded. It will feel more… real-world? If that’s the right way to put it.”
Additionally, Kurtzman revealed that work on the show is moving quickly, with the writers having broken “about eight episodes.” The show does not yet have an official title, nor have there been any casting announcements save for Stewart himself. While no premiere date has been announced, we recently learned that CBS hopes to launch the show on their All Access streaming platform by the end of 2019.
Be sure to check back with ScienceFiction.com for more ‘Star Trek’ news – including the latest on the second season of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ and other upcoming shows and movies – as it becomes available!
