‘Star Trek’ streaming series centers on Picard
PASADENA, Calif. — Leaning into what works, CBS All Access is prepping several new “Star Trek” series, but the one sure to generate the most excitement among longtime fans centers on Capt. JeanLuc Picard (Patrick Stewart) from “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Production begins in 2½ months in Los Angeles with the Picard series expected to debut on the streaming service in late 2019.
Executive producer Alex Kurtzman said the series, the first “Star Trek” set beyond the events of the “Next Generation” movies, will have something to do with the destruction of Romulus, the Romulan home world, but he wouldn’t go into other plot specifics.
“What has happened to [Picard in the past 20 years]? Have there been occurrences that forced him to reckon with choices that he’s
made in his life?” Mr. Kurtzman said after a CBS All Access press conference during the Television Critics Association winter 2019 press tour. “How do you hold onto being the person everybody loved when the circumstances around you may have changed so radically? Those are the big questions we’re answering.”
Mr. Stewart is an executive producer on the series and has been part of the writers’ room developing stories for the series.
“As we’re breaking story we’re asking ourselves, how do we live [up] to the spirit and character and tone but also make it something very, very different,” Mr. Kurtzman said. “Patrick was very clear with us from the beginning he didn’t want to repeat what had been done — and by the way it’s been 20 years, so he couldn’t possibly be that same person anymore.”
Beyond avoiding repetition, Mr. Stewart gave the writing staff the freedom to explore the character from a new perspective, Mr. Kurtzman said.
“I will always know in my gut if this is something he would or wouldn’t do,” Mr. Kurtzman recalled Mr. Stewart saying.
“That’s a conversation we have as we’re building scene to scene, we’re starting to internalize his thinking about Picard,” Mr. Kurtzman added. “We feel confident we’re making choices he is happy with because ultimately he’s a producer on the show, too, and he gets as much of a say.”
When designing the look of the universe further in the future than “Star Trek” has ever gone, Mr. Kurtzman said the goal is for the series to feel grounded.
“One of the things people loved so much about ‘Next Gen’ is it is a very emotional, thoughtful, grounded piece of entertainment. The easy thing to do is come up with crazy floating skyscrapers and all of the cliches of science fiction,” he said. “We’ve tried to avoid that across the board. In the production design, the look of it, the feel of it, it’s always about the small, interpersonal details you can still connect to now even though it’s taking place so far in the future.”
Writers on the Picard show include “Mysteries of Pittsburgh” author Michael Chabon. Mr. Kurtzman described Mr. Chabon, a 1984 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh’s creative writing program, as a “crazy ‘Star Trek’ fan who knows everything there is to know and happens to be one of the best novelists of all time.
“I talk to him several times a day, and his voice has been really critical,” Mr. Kurtzman said. “He’s so brilliant. He’s so thoughtful. He understands the core of what ‘Trek’ is and what Picard is and what ‘Next Generation’ is specifically.”
Other “Star Trek” series in the works include “Lower Decks,” an animated comedy, and a drama about Starfleet’s secretive Section 31, a “Star Trek: Discovery” spinoff starring Michelle Yeoh.
“In season one of ‘Discovery’ Michelle came to me and said, ‘Let’s do a spinoff of this character,’” Mr. Kurtzman shared. “I took a minute, because it’s such a brilliant idea, but [’Discovery’] hadn’t aired yet so nobody knew if it was going to be a success or not. The minute it became a success, we started that conversation.”
Mr. Kurtzman dismissed the notion that there may be too much “Star Trek” in CBS All Access’ future.
“It’s incredibly important to all of us that each show is unique, that it doesn’t feel like you’re getting the same thing from each show,” he said. “Each one has to be unique and yet still be ‘Star Trek.’ It has to look visually different.”
He said “Star Trek” producers worked with CBS All Access executives to lay out a grid of when the assorted shows will premiere “so you’re not overwhelmed by 20,000 at once.
“It may sound like you’re getting all of them at once, because there’s a lot in development right now. But you have to keep in mind it takes two years to build each one,” he said, noting one series will air, then there will be a short break before another “Star Trek” begins unspooling. “Then, you’re getting a nice flow.”