Out of all the new shows that Alex Kurtzman and CBS TV have planned for the Star Trek franchise, it's fair to say Star Trek: Picard is the one that has beamed up the most excitement. An impressive feat, considering there are still a lot of questions left to be answered, and some have wondered why the series was named directly after the great Starfleet captain.
Especially when Star Trek series have, by and large, have titled projects after space stations and vessels while focusing on ensembles of characters, even if one tends to get the spotlight more than others. Will Star Trek: Picard be a change of pace, in which the story is entirely driven from the perspective of Patrick Stewart's (former?) captain? Alex Kurtzman shot straight when asked about it, and implied that while this is the first Trek series named after a character, it doesn't mean the franchise's formula has been upended.
It’s a great and necessary question, and it’s something that has been baked into the DNA of Picard — yes, obviously Patrick, it’s Patrick — [but] we have an unbelievable cast. And you know, the thing that I loved about the Next Gen cast is that you really could have focused any episode on any of them. I would say the same about our cast now, that it’s such an incredibly brilliant group of actors [that are] given such amazing things to do. Without spoiling anything, I think that you will feel that.
Star Trek fans and CBS All Access subscribers will be showing up for Jean-Luc Picard, but it sounds like they'll stay for the amazing supporting characters, and will possibly grow just as fond of them as other beloved Star Trek characters. Such was the case with Star Trek: The Next Generation where, as Kurtzman told Deadline's Crew Call Podcast, several characters were strong enough to carry episodes of their own. If Star Trek: Picard was crafted with that intention in mind, that's very exciting.
The strategy for Star Trek: Picard sounds a lot like what Alex Kurtzman has been trying to do with the franchise for a while now. That means taking the old things that classic Star Trek fans love, but introducing new elements to keep things fresh and inventive for newer audiences to be entertained by.
Render onto Caesar what is Caesar’s, everybody from the older generation should be incorporated into the new generation, there should always be respect for both and yet it always has to forge new ground.
So through this new cast, which includes Alison Pill, Harry Treadaway, Isa Briones and others, something new is born. So far, the story is tied to Picard, but it has been revealed he's now out of Starfleet. Part of that plays into tough decisions he had to make as admiral, and another aspect seems to involve the destruction of Romulus. So the big question is, what is Picard up to, and are these new characters his "crew"?
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Audiences are bound to find out before too long, as CBS All Access is supposed to be premiering Star Trek: Picard before the end of 2019. Stick with CinemaBlend in the meantime for the latest news on the upcoming series, and for big news on other upcoming television shows.
