Patrick Stewart Returning As Jean-Luc Picard

By Reggie's Take on August 5, 2018

Saturday at Star Trek Las Vegas a surprise appearance by Alex Kurtzman who serves as showrunner on the CBS All Access’ Discovery, brought with him Patrick Stewart who announced, “Jean-Luc Picard is back.”

About two months ago CBS Studio’s announced they were looking to develop new shows that would be set in the “Star Trek” universe. It was at this time that CBS announce they had signed Alex Kurtzman to a five-year deal putting him in charge of expanding the Star Trek franchise for CBS television.

Kurtzman, who was a last-minute addition to the Saturday schedule at Star Trek Las Vegas, came out on stage and quickly noted that there has been a lot of speculation about the future of Trek. Kurtzamn wanted to use ‘Star Trek Las Vegas’ to announce, “what the next Star Trek series is going to be.”

Kurtzman then brought out on stage Sir Patrick Stewart where the capacity crowd immediately erupted. Stewart talked about being recruited to come back to Star Trek, with a story of an offer extended months ago, which he had planned to reject. At almost nine and a half minutes after coming out on stage, Patrick Stewart surprised everyone with these words.

“Jean-Luc Picard is back”

The new Star Trek series featuring the return of “Jean-Luc Picard” does not have a date yet as to when it will air. Stewart made it clear that the series, which does not yet have an announced title, is still early in pre-production and that no scripts have yet been written. Stewart said, “We’re still talking story,”

Stewart revealed that some things have changed for Jean-Luc Picard:

“He may not, and I stress may not, be a captain anymore. He may not be the Jean-Luc that you recognize and know so well. It may be a very different individual. Someone who has been changed by his experiences. Twenty years will have past, which is more or less exactly the time between the very last movie – Nemesis – and today.”

Patrick Stewart also released this statement about returning to the role of Jean-Luc Picard and Star Trek.

“I will always be very proud to have been a part of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but when we wrapped that final movie in the spring of 2002, I truly felt my time with Star Trek had run its natural course. It is, therefore, 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. Seeking out new life for him, when I thought that life was over. During these past years, it has been humbling to hear many stories about how The Next Generation brought people comfort, saw them through difficult periods in their lives or how the example of Jean-Luc inspired so many to follow in his footsteps, pursuing science, exploration and leadership. I feel I’m ready to return to him for the same reason — to research and experience what comforting and reforming light he might shine on these often very dark times. I look forward to working with our brilliant creative team as we endeavor to bring a fresh, unexpected and pertinent story to life once more.”

Reggie’s Take:
If your a fan of ‘Star Trek The Next Generation’ as I am then you should know that this new show about “Picard” will not be a reboot of the show it self. It will be about Picard and where he’s at twenty years after we last saw him.

Does this mean we won’t see other TNG cast members make an appearance? I would find it hard to believe that at least some if not a majority of the TNG cast wouldn’t make a small appearance in some fashion. I would love to see Jonathan Frakes as Riker, Captain of the ‘Titan’ and show that Geordi was able to unlock Data’s program in B4 from the end of Nemesis, but that’s just me.

I’m excited by this news and look forward at getting a peek into what happened to the Captain of the Enterprise. The story ideas are limitless in a lot of ways. I just hope that some fans don’t let their imaginations get to far a head of themselves and expect to see a certain look to the show and then when it doesn’t quite match up have major issues.

You can check out Sir Patrick Stewart making his announcement at Star Trek Las Vegas in the video below. From Jaime Bastidas You Tube account. Patrick Stewart makes the big announcement at the nine minute and twenty second mark.