CBS has made it so! The channel was working on developing four new shows for their streaming service in the Star Trek universe in addition to the second season of Star Trek: Discovery. One would be another series featuring fan favorite, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, but many wondered if the excellent Sir Patrick Stewart. Now, one does not have to wonder anymore! At this year’s Star Trek convention, he announced that he would indeed be back.
Here’s the official announcement he put up on Twitter:
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
Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Alex Kurtzman will be on the Picard show team, as well as James Duff, Akiva Goldsman, Kirsten Beyer, and best-selling author and screenwriter Michael Chabon. There are currently no other cast members announced on the project, nor any plot details other than it will “tell the story of the next chapter in Picard’s life.”
According to Polygon, Stewart was not sure if he would return to the role, but had a change of heart after re-watching The Next Generation. But don’t expect that Picard to be the same as before.
“He may not be a Captain anymore. He may be someone who has been changed by his experiences,” Stewart said at the convention. “We have no scripts as yet. We’re just talking talking talking storylines. It will be something very different but it will come to you with the same passion.”
There’s no set date for this series, nor any promise that it will ever see the light of day. But having Stewart on the bill will certainly elevate it in the eyes of fans, and probably in the eyes of the network executives as well.
