Executive producer Michael Chabon has revealed in a now deleted Instagram post (via Comic Book) that filming has officially started for CBS All Access’ upcoming Jean-Luc Picard series with Sir Patrick Stewart set to reprise the iconic role. The first two episodes of the Star Trek spin-off series will be directed by Hanelle Culpepper.
The upcoming series is said to tell the next story of Picard’s life, taking place after Star Trek: Next Generation. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but Star Trek: Discovery creator Alex Kurtzman revealed in March that it will be “a very different show from Discovery.” He also mentioned that the series will be a “very thoughtful, psychological portrait in a lot of ways… Things have changed for [Picard] and changed him in some ways, and yet he is so deeply and fundamentally still Picard.”
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The cast also includes Santiago Cabrera (Big Little Lies), Michelle Hurd (Blindspot), Evan Evagora (Fantasy Island), Alison Pill (The Newsroom), Harry Treadaway (Mr. Mercedes, Penny Dreadful), and Isa Briones (American Crime Story: Versace).
Star Trek: Discovery co-creator and executive producer Alex Kurtzman will oversee development on the new show, which is not a Star Trek: The Next Generation reboot but rather a continuation of Picard’s story.
Kurtzman will executive produce the new series alongside newly-appointed Star Trek: Discovery executive producer James Duff, former Discovery executive producer Akiva Goldsman (The Dark Tower), Michael Chabon (Spider-Man 2) and Star Trek: Voyager and Discovery writer Kirsten Beyer. Also executive producing are Heather Kadin of Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment President Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and Roddenberry Entertainment COO Trevor Roth.
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Beginning in 1987, Patrick Stewart led the Star Trek: New Generation series for seven seasons before transitioning to movies movies with Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) as well as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s pilot “Emissary.” He also portrays Dr. Charles Xavier (a.k.a. Professor X) in the X-Men franchise.
The untitled Star Trek spinoff is scheduled to premiere at the end of 2019, exclusively on CBS All Access.
