With Star Trek: Picard almost upon us, it is being reported that the Patrick Stewart-headlined Star Trek: The Next Generation follow-up series is being renewed for a second season, with CBS having secured record tax credits for Picard season two from the state of California.
As with the first season, the second is expected to run for 10 episodes and will see Stewart reprising his role as former Enterprise captain and Starfleet legend Jean-Luc Picard, although there’s no word yet as to which of his co-stars will be returning alongside him. Filming is expected to get underway in the Spring, for a late 2020/early 2021 premiere.
Meanwhile, with just over a month to go until we see Picard back on our screens, Patrick Stewart has been chatting to Vulture about how he was lured back into the role by producers Alex Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman, revealing that he was initially reluctant as “I had determined long ago that my time with Jean-Luc and Star Trek was over.”
“In less than two days, I had over 30 pages of copy, which I studied very carefully,” said Stewart. “One of the points I had made in the meeting was that the only possible way I could consider returning to that life would be if, for example – and this was only an example – we did something like Logan, the final X-Men movie I made with Hugh Jackman; then you would have my attention.
“[They] were very enthusiastic about creating a world that was very different from the one that we got used to. I met with them again and we talked and talked and I told them about my uncertainties and doubts and little by little I found that they were all being addressed and being addressed in such an interesting way that I was intrigued. This was not going to be Star Trek: The Next Generation: Part Two. That’s why I said yes.”
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Star Trek: Picard sees franchise veterans Patrick Stewart (Picard), Brent Spiner (Data), Jonathan Frakes (Riker), Marina Sirtis (Troi) and Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) joined in the cast by Santiago Cabera (Salvation), Michelle Hurd (Blindspot), Alison Pill (The Newsroom), Harry Treadaway (Mr. Mercedes), Isa Briones (Takers) and Evan Evagora (Fantasy Island). It is set to premiere on Thursday, January 23rd 2020.
Originally published December 16, 2019. Updated January 12, 2020.
