Jean-Luc Picard is Coming Back

[Eternal_Freedom]

Source.

Announced in the last day or so. Sir Patrick is reprising the role in a new series from CBS. Apparently it will be orchestrated by Alex Kurtzman (meh) but Stewart will be in as an Executive Producer, which gives me a little more confidence at this point.

Of course, this is literally all we know so far, but still exciting news

[The Romulan Republic]

Stewart is a good actor, but I don't know if he brings much as a producer for Trek.

Still, cool. My favorite captain. Don't screw it up, Trek.

[Elheru Aran]

Did he ever direct any TNG episodes? I can't recall and I don't have the time to go look it up right now...

[Napoleon the Clown]

Per IMDb, Patrick Stewart directed the following episodes:
- Preemptive Strike (1994)
- Phantasms (1993)
- A Fistful of Datas (1992)
- Hero Worship (1992)
- In Theory (1991)

I am absolutely not familiar enough with the show to say anything about the quality of the episodes.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Maybe he didn't direct a huge number of episodes, but with him as a producer he should hopefully be able to avoid the whole grimdark elements that Abrams and Discovery wanted to introduce. He does after all know the character better than all but the most obsessive of nerds.

[Crazedwraith]

Stewart's Twitter statement about it

It does sound like he'd like the avoid the grim dark and go more hopeful.

[FaxModem1]

I, for one, am rather excited about this. Unless they're planning on making it some sort of "Fall of King Arthur" story, in which we see Picard get utterly destroyed as a man due to his time having passed. I get enough of that from the Star Wars sequels, thank you very much.

[Tribble]

I, for one, am rather excited about this. Unless they're planning on making it some sort of "Fall of King Arthur" story, in which we see Picard get utterly destroyed as a man due to his time having passed. I get enough of that from the Star Wars sequels, thank you very much.

Maybe we'll get Logan in Space?

[bilateralrope]

Stewart's Twitter statement about it

It does sound like he'd like the avoid the grim dark and go more hopeful.

Sounds like he's been told more about the series than what is public knowledge. Hopefully nobody was stupid enough to try and lie to him about their plans.

[Batman]

WOULD be kinda interesting to see his reaction if they did though

[Gandalf]

I, for one, am rather excited about this. Unless they're planning on making it some sort of "Fall of King Arthur" story, in which we see Picard get utterly destroyed as a man due to his time having passed. I get enough of that from the Star Wars sequels, thank you very much.

To me, that sounds like a really awesome story. It could be interesting if they explored Picard's developing Irumodic Syndrome, in an expanded (and hopefully deeper) version of Sarek's storyline from TNG.

[FaxModem1]

I, for one, am rather excited about this. Unless they're planning on making it some sort of "Fall of King Arthur" story, in which we see Picard get utterly destroyed as a man due to his time having passed. I get enough of that from the Star Wars sequels, thank you very much.

To me, that sounds like a really awesome story. It could be interesting if they explored Picard's developing Irumodic Syndrome, in an expanded (and hopefully deeper) version of Sarek's storyline from TNG.

If done well, maybe. I just see it not being executed well and being another example of 'Not your Daddy's Star Trek'.

Maybe if Picard had it and we watched Dr. Crusher developing a cure so that she could have her husband back or something while Picard explores his life and his problems keeping the past separate from the present so we catch up with his career post-Nemesis.

But I think it would be more likely just seeing him have to be ranting and raving at some extras in Starfleet Medical uniforms for a few hours and having the drama revolve around his senility.

[bilateralrope]

WOULD be kinda interesting to see his reaction if they did though

It might be. But when it goes public, that will pretty much kill Trek for a lot of people.

[Batman]

Never said it would be a good thing for Trek. But part of me kinda wants to see his reaction

[NeoGoomba]

Maybe we'll get Logan in Space?

Oh man. Swap Picard for Logan and Q for Professor X and have them road trip around the galaxy.

[tezunegari]

I am really hyped that they continue the Story of the Prime Timeline.

But as Sir Patrick Stewart said in his announcement: "There are no scripts yet."

I'll wait until the first trailer drops and try not to engage in fan theorizing of what might be.
Of course I'll fail at the later... It'll happen. But I'll try to minimize it.

And as this was just announced the release of Picard Trek will be at the earliest in 2022.

I can't wait to see the new design of technology... and how close/different it will be to Discovery.

[Sea Skimmer]

Stewart is a good actor, but I don't know if he brings much as a producer for Trek.

Being a producer at least lets him protect his own character, that's pretty important. I think as long as this is designed as a limited run show it will be good.

[Crazedwraith]

And as this was just announced the release of Picard Trek will be at the earliest in 2022.

Show development takes four years?

[tezunegari]

And as this was just announced the release of Picard Trek will be at the earliest in 2022.

Show development takes four years?

Rule of thumb is 3-5 years from decision to release.

They have come up with the plot line and write the scripts for the episodes and refine them, find the right actors, design and build the sets, create the CGI assets for the green screen stuff (or at least dust of the already existing ones and make them High-Res compatible).

I'd expect filming to start sometime late-2019 or early 2020 at the earliest.

[FireNexus]

And as this was just announced the release of Picard Trek will be at the earliest in 2022.

Show development takes four years?

Rule of thumb is 3-5 years from decision to release.

They have come up with the plot line and write the scripts for the episodes and refine them, find the right actors, design and build the sets, create the CGI assets for the green screen stuff (or at least dust of the already existing ones and make them High-Res compatible).

I'd expect filming to start sometime late-2019 or early 2020 at the earliest.

What? Star Trek: Discovery (a directly comparable series since it’s basically the same production team) was announced November 2015 and premiered September 2017. It would have probably been released sooner except the show runner bailed after the start of production.

If you have stars and crews lined up, and dedicated EPs for a project that is sure to make back any investment, it can happen quickly. Your 2022 date is likely insanely far out even if Patrick Stewart wasn’t an actuarially risky person to be the primary star for a 2022 release. Since he is, no series starring him would ever be greenlit in such a timetable. It would probably be cancelled if principle photography isn’t begun by March, tbh.

[tezunegari]

Show development takes four years?

Rule of thumb is 3-5 years from decision to release.

They have come up with the plot line and write the scripts for the episodes and refine them, find the right actors, design and build the sets, create the CGI assets for the green screen stuff (or at least dust of the already existing ones and make them High-Res compatible).

I'd expect filming to start sometime late-2019 or early 2020 at the earliest.

What? Star Trek: Discovery (a directly comparable series since it’s basically the same production team) was announced November 2015 and premiered September 2017. It would have probably been released sooner except the show runner bailed after the start of production.

If you have stars and crews lined up, and dedicated EPs for a project that is sure to make back any investment, it can happen quickly. Your 2022 date is likely insanely far out even if Patrick Stewart wasn’t an actuarially risky person to be the primary star for a 2022 release. Since he is, no series starring him would ever be greenlit in such a timetable. It would probably be cancelled if principle photography isn’t begun by March, tbh.

As I said it is only a rule of thumb.

But announcing a show and starting to work on it are not necessarily the same.

The first rumors of CBS developing a new Star Trek series were in early 2015, around March I think, about half a year before they announced it.
And already in mid-2014 were rumors floating around about Netflix being interested in making a Star Trek show.

In the current case I think they wanted the early PR of THE Sir Patrick Stewart announcing it after the rather unsuccessful result Discovery had for CBS All Access.

[Elheru Aran]

With Patrick Stewart being... 78 years old... yeah they're not going to take too much time to make any new series with him.

To be honest they probably have a large stock of archival CGI on hand; at the very least, they will have model templates for most all the prime-Trek craft, and the only thing that will need doing is upgrading it to high-def, which admittedly will take some doing. At least Trek CGI always seemed to be held to a higher standard than say B5. So effects for the show aren't going to be an issue, particularly if it's going to be mostly bottle episodes with Picard tootling about the galaxy catching up with people and/or sitting around archaeological sites or whatever he's doing in his dotage. This will also make picking up actors easier-- they can just go down the list of old Trek actors, give them a call and be all 'hey wanna do something with Patrick, come in one day and run a few lines'.

The real sticking point is going to be writing. Good writing takes time. At least they can probably animate whatever digital effects they need to ahead of time.

[Tribble]

Maybe we'll get Logan in Space?

Oh man. Swap Picard for Logan and Q for Professor X and have them road trip around the galaxy.

They could tie in the X-Men series with mutants being precursors/ inspirations for the Augments, and Prof X being one of Picard's ancestors

We can have Riker fill in for Logan, with Picard pretty much acting the same. With both of zooming around in space while Starfleet after them for some reason.

[Tribble]

Riker: "Its got archeology here, and... it's got archeology". *sob*

[Formless]

The real sticking point is going to be writing. Good writing takes time. At least they can probably animate whatever digital effects they need to ahead of time.

I'm sure it will be fine... so long as the writers completely ignore i09's take:

The New Star Trek Show Is a Chance to Last Jedi the Hell Out of Captain Picard

Star Trek Las Vegas 2018 confirmed a huge piece of news for the Trek universe last weekend: the rumors were true, and Sir Patrick Stewart would be returning to television to reprise his role as an older, wiser Jean-Luc Picard in a new Star Trek series. We know little else about the series beyond that, but I really hope it does for Picard what Star Wars: The Last Jedi did for Luke Skywalker.

That sort of hoping might rankle longtime Trek fans. In fact, many of them have spent the last few days desperately hoping for the direct opposite of Star Trek: The Last Jedi. They’ve read Stewart’s own statement that the new show’s Picard would be a “man who has been changed by his experiences” and shuddered at the mere thought of a disillusioned, weary Picard roaming around an isolated family vineyard swigging freshly-squeezed Targ milk. They’d already had to go through one traumatic fictional upheaval, why wish that on another old hero? Why can’t Picard just be the Picard we saw in TNG and the movies?

Because that would be kind of boring, for starters.

As someone who loved the deconstructionist bent of The Last Jedi, and especially the way it brought Luke’s journey to an end, I’d love the new Picard series to do something similar. Not directly literal of course—Jean-Luc doesn’t have to pass on at the end of it, the way Luke quietly dissipates into the Force in The Last Jedi. But in terms of having heroes who so wholly represent the greatest ideals of their respective franchises go through a trauma that leaves them challenged and conflicted, a conflict that lets them grow and develop as deeper characters, while reminding us of the grand ideals they represent? Hell yes.

Especially because this new Star Trek show has another fascinating opportunity it can’t waste: it’s set 20 years after Nemesis (so 2399, fact fans), which means it’s the farthest into the future of the main timeline a Star Trek TV show has gone, our first “canonical” imagining of the Star Trek galaxy previously only touched on in novels and Star Trek Online. But it also means it’s set about 20 years after one of the most cataclysmic events that we know of in the Star Trek timeline: the Dominion War.

What Picard and the rest of the TNG crew went through during the war is relatively unknown—some of the non-canon Trek novels covered the Enterprise-E’s role in the war, and the closest we have otherwise are Insurrection and Nemesis, movies that are set in the final year of the conflict but also, understandably, had their own threats to deal with. We don’t get the time to see how these characters are changed by a conflict that rocks Starfleet and the Federation to the core—that shakes the moral foundations that a captain like Picard not only holds dear, but in the eyes of many Trek fans, is practically the living embodiment of them.

Twenty years is a decent chunk of time after the end of the Dominion War for Jean-Luc to be removed from the initial chaos of the conflict (if we’re keeping our Last Jedi comparisons rolling, Luke only spent up to six-ish years in exile after his Academy’s destruction) to reflect if the Federation that exists in 2399 is still the idealist utopia it was before one of the bloodiest wars in its history—and if he himself can still live up to that ideal.

Because really, unless the reason this new Picard is different is because he’s a completely different man altogether, isn’t that sort of moral questioning something the Jean-Luc Picard we know and love would go through in the wake of an event as earth-shattering as a full-scale interstellar war?

It’s not like Star Trek hasn’t put him through the moral wringer in the past—challenging the ideals the Federation holds dear is what the franchise does at its best. Part of what makes Picard one of Star Trek’s most adored characters is that no matter the situation, his moral core never wavers. And it’s not like Trek hasn’t used war to really bring his moral conflict to the fore before, either—First Contact’s most defining moment comes when Jean-Luc teeters on the edge of letting his urge to get vengeance on the Borg overwhelm him, the moment we get to see him so close to falling from that moral center.

A new show has a chance to bring that moral debate to the forefront again—give us a Picard that, so deeply shaken, perhaps did falter for a while, only to have to go through finding himself again, whether it’s through introspection or seeing hope in a new generation of Starfleet heroes after him, as Luke did with Rey. There could be nothing more affirming of Trek’s long-held ideals than seeing their greatest champion stray from the path, be horrified by that, and inevitably return to it. And wouldn’t that be a much more interesting journey to experience than Captain Picard doing the same old thing he was doing decades ago, with nothing changing but the impossibly rare wrinkle on Patrick Stewart’s astonishingly timeless visage?

But yeah, we can probably skip the fresh Targ milk swigging. That might be a bit too much.

I mean, what with people's reaction to Discovery, this might just be the worst idea I have heard in a long long time. The writers of DS9 are gone, and I don't think Trek's current crop can do what they were capable of.