Watch William Shatner And Other Star Trek Stars Talk About Patrick Stewart’s Return As Picard

On Sunday the world of Star Trek was stunned with the surprise Star Trek Las Vegas announcement that Sir Patrick Stewart has returned to the franchise to reprise his role as Jean-Luc Picard for a new TV series. At the same event, some Star Trek celebrities talked about the news, so we have video of that along with some more media reactions and analysis.

Shatner, Takei, Cruz, Latif and Rapp talk Patrick Stewart’s return

TV Guide was able to speak to original Star Trek stars William Shatner and George Takei about it, along with some of the stars of Star Trek: Discovery.

Stewart’s return is big news

The news about the new Picard show coming to CBS All Access has been some of the biggest news in Star Trek for years. The story was picked up across the board, from local news like the Sioux City Journal to the biggest mainstream outlets like the New York Times and Germany’s Bild.

Bigger than recent big Star Wars news

To put it in perspective, you can compare Google Trends search data for the past two weeks. The previous weekend included the big Star Wars news that the late Carrie Fisher will appear in Episode IX, using unused footage from Episodes VII and VIII.

Media starts analyzing

After the first wave of announcement news, some in the mainstream media have started doing analysis pieces. Most are celebratory but there are some cases of contrary think pieces, with some possibly dubious logic. Here are some samples from across the spectrum.

Washington Post: Why we need Jean-Luc Picard in 2018

Esquire: Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard Is Back When TV Needs Him Most

Salon: “Star Trek” seeks out new life for Jean-Luc Picard: Why he’s the captain we need now more than ever

IGN: Patrick Stewart Returning as Captain Picard is the best thing to happen to Star Trek in decades

Syfy (UK): 3 directions the new Picard Star Trek Series Could Realistically Boldly Go

NBC Think: New ‘Star Trek’ reboot starring Patrick Stewart is CBS’ latest All Access offering. But who’s the audience?


Keep up with all the news on the new Patrick Stewart series and more new Star Trek shows in development, here at TrekMovie.com.

 

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Make it so! Bring back the rest of the TNG cast, especially Q!

It would be pretty cool to see Q back

Or not.

I want to see Q again, too.

I think Q was a great foil for Picard and some my favorite moments from the show involved the interactions of those two characters.

I’d love to see Patrick Stewart and John DeLancie have one last go round together. Heck, having Picard join the Q Continuum (maybe to bring some rationality and wisdom to the Q) would be a good final sendoff for him.

@TonyD — I hated Q as a concept. He was Trelane run amok. Too much of a good thing as it were. But even as I say that, there were episodes with Q I liked quite a lot. I feel the thing that hurt Q for me was the feeling that if they couldn’t figure out something to do, they’d just involve Q.

That said, I’d be interested in an episode with Q, as long as they didn’t go off the deep end with it. Frankly, ending Picard’s run in the Q Continuum would be just about as bad as ending Kirk’s in the Nexus. Then it becomes about the Q, and not about Picard so much.

There were definitely some lousy “Q” episodes (Q-Pid comes to mind) but the character really worked well when he focused a light on humans becoming aware of their foibles and ultimately rising above them and solving problems on their own, without his help. There were a few episodes like that (Tapestry, Q-Who if I’m remembering my titles correctly).

As for my idle though of Picard going into the Q Continuum, I’m one of those cranky people who absolutely hates to see his heroes die and I’ve been subjected to a lot of that lately (both in real life and the movies). I much prefer my heroes’ endings be more ambiguous, their stories and adventures continuing on, even if I’m not there to see them. I’d much rather watch them ride off triumphantly into the sunset than have them fall off a cliff or a bridge or get themselves blown up. I don’t want or need to see a Picard death scene in some hackneyed attempt to bring some form of closure to his character. But that’s just my opinion.

I could only be on board with a Q story IF it were done light heartedly if not as our right comedy. Q did work best when he was more of a comic foil irritating Picard. I will say that the best Q episode was Tapestry. Although it did bring up a contradictory aspect of what human society was in the Trek world when you think about it.

@TonyD — and to that point, I’d just as soon not see them die, or ‘exit stage right’ at all. All Good Things was an excellent ending, which if Picard never saw another installment of the franchise, I’d have been content. That’s the goal for this series I’d say …

No Q. Please no Q.

This should not be TNG redux. It should push the story of Picard forward.

I don’t care all that much if Q returns or not, but I’d like to see Picard married to Beverly.

“possibly dubious logic” is being extremely charitable. That last link is utter divisive garbage.

Written by a blogger. Blogger’s need people to read their stuff and what better way to get eyes on your stuff? It was pointless drivel lacking any real insight.

NBC is just being the jelly ex…..

People have been talking about that article on Reddit. The consensus there is about what you give it so I won’t even bother.

Not only that, I’m not sure a claim can be made that Michael Burnham actually HAS been the focus of her own show yet. I don’t think “Discovery” has been as progressive in actuality as the intentions behind it have been.

Either way, if someone is using that progressivism as a reason why bringing Patrick Stewart back as Picard is potentially a negative, that’s someone I have no interest in ever reading another word from.

Regarding the “progressiveness” of SDT… The previous producers seemed to care more about that than they were at making a quality show. This just shows it is much better to think quality first, and let whatever “progressiveness” you wish to engender be more subtext than anything.

Exactly, ML. Spot on.

I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive in any way, and I want Star Trek to ALWAYS be diversity-minded and progressive in nature, since it always has been. It’s just that Discovery’s first season was no damn good and failed to live up to its potential.

The problem I have with Discovery and it’s diversity is they think it’s all about the ethnicity/gender/sexuality of their actors. But Trek was always much more than that. It dealt with stories tackling racism, homophobia, xenophobia and so on. Discovery needs to start doping that if it is to wave the progressive flag. Surface level diversity isn’t enough. It only amounts to tokenism.

Which annoys me the most about articles like the one from NBC is, that they portray DIS as an example of female equality. This is nonsense. In this regard DIS is really not more progessive than most other current series. There were 6 main characters last season and only 2 of them were women. And it looks like next season there will be 7 main characters and still only 2 of them are female. DIS getting praise for female equality is totally undeserved.

We don’t know much about the new Picard series, so right now everything is possible. Maybe it will be more progressive than DIS. Maybe a wonder will happen and we will get a Star Trek series in which half or more of the main cast is female. At this point criticising the new series is undeserved.

Yeah, worth pointing out that Voyager, as much as it is maligned, had an arguably more progressive cast given that it had a female lead, three female main characters (four if you count Kes) two latin actors, one Asian-American actor and a black actor.

Interesting that you say that, El Chup, because watching Voyager I never once felt they were trying go out of their way to be extra diverse. (With the exception of the female Captain which it was announced they wanted and I thought it was about time) It just felt like a normal Star Trek show. Discovery, on the other hand… The casting felt forced. That there was more to it than just “normal Star Trek cast”. (That feeling manifested AFTER watching about 1/4 of the episodes, not when the cast was announced) Not really sure how else to describe it.

I’d expect nothing less from the small minded network that canned the original show in the first place.

@TonyD — It’s unlikely today’s Comcast/NBC bears any resemblance to RCA’s NBC of 50 years ago to even make this statement remotely applicable …

The sins of the father and all that :) Also can’t say I care much for their programming.

Curious Cadet,

Re: any resemblance to RCA’s NBC of 50 years ago

I’d say the tolerated male dominated executive misogyny surviving these transitions seems to bear quite a lot of semblance?

If you mean the NBC link I agree. The idea that previous Treks are a step backwards is ludicrous. Let’s see, we’ve had multi-ethnic and female officers in positions of authority since the sixties. A black lead. A female lead. Stories that dealt with racism, xenophobia and LGBT issues (the former ever since the sixties. But Discovery is a major step forward apparently because it has a couple of LGBT characters and a black female lead, even though the characters are portrayed as all Americans and even though the show has so far failed to have an episode that actually dealt with any of these topics.

It’s obvious people only judge on the surface level. Black woman = good. White man =equal bad, and to hell with the past of the franchise or whether or not when that white man was the lead they were telling truly progressive stories in a much less progressive society.

I really hate this revisionism of Trek’s history.

LOL, look how big that spike in searches went up the second the world heard Picard was back. This is probably the biggest Star Trek news since Enterprise went off the air. This was such a smart move for CBS because this is going to get them buzz like never before. People love Picard and he’s bringing us a post Nemesis show on top of it that so many have wanted forever. And now it will open the door to future post Nemesis shows, especially if this is a big hit. Don’t screw it up Kurtzman, you have a huge potential hit on your hands!

I really can’t wait to hear who will join the cast next. Frakes is an automatic shoo in!

Frankly, Star Trek news have been looking nothing but positive since the fat lady has sung (Disclaimer: this is a proverb, not hate speech ;-)

I’m assuming you’re talking about the Discovery show runners being fired? If so I agree IMO that was good news because I don’t think they really understood Star Trek although it does look like they were making changes for the better. It doesn’t necessarily mean the show will be any better though but yes I agree in general things do seem to be looking up now.

I’m just happy the Klingons may just look like Klingons again. Any other week, that alone would’ve had me jumping for joy lol. But to get news Picard and the 24th century is returning is like God giving me a Ferrari.

No Frakes isn’t, aside from maybe as a guest actor. I think it is pretty clear this is not going to be TNG all over again but Picard with a new cast. I expect infrequent appearances from Riker & Co.

As for major hit, frankly I don’t care. Picard isn’t enough if the scripts are rubbish. I’m not celebrating until I see the show and it presents me with smart storytelling, not the kind of rubbish Discovery has so far served up in the script dept.

I’m only pointing out I expect to see Riker lol.

And we had this discussion before El Chup. I have said I expect an all new cast and for it NOT to be a TNG redux. I wouldn’t want that anymore than others. But that doesn’t mean we won’t see any of the characters obviously. I just mean they won’t all be back serving on the Enteprise E together like Nemesis happened a year ago. I expect whoever we see will be in a different place since it has been 20 years. My guess is Picard will have a strong role but it won’t just be about him but the new characters with him, which it should be. And I have no issues if it turns into a Star Wars thing where he is there to just pass the baton to new characters.

And you can still get excited about just having another show. Guys, this is all suppose to be FUN, remember? If we’re all just going to be cynical and assume it will fail then its not exactly a big motivator as fans to think about any future projects.

But I understand your point. Since you clearly have a lot of problems with Discovery and the same people are running this show you think it could be as bad. Of course you’re completely right, it could be. I just personally have faith they will go a different direction entirely than what Discovery did with the new show. Or at least the hope is they learned their lesson on opening a new show.

Of course I’m not as cynical about Discovery as others. Yes I clearly have my issues with it too, no doubt, but I still see the potential the show has. I had no problem saying the first season disappointed me overall as well but I ALSO point out basically every first season of Trek has disappointed me to some degree, some worse than DIS. And yet, I ended up liking them all in the end so why I’m staying positive I guess. If I can end up loving Enterprise then this show has a shot lol.

While I’m sure some see me as a ‘hater’ with Discovery, the reality is I don’t have any more or less issues with it than I had with most Trek shows. TM simply wasn’t around then for me to rant. The only major difference from the other shows is I don’t like how out of place it looks with the period its suppose to be in but I have already droned on enough about that.

Yes, you’re right in terms of my caution. I know you are overjoyed about this but doesn’t mean I have to be and that is for the reasons you say, same production team. Given you rain on the parade of enough Discovery fans in terms of your own disappointment you’ll appreciate I am just being hesitant this time.

I am delighted Sir Patrick is returning. But I was overjoyed we had a new show set in the prime timeline when Discovery was announced, and the crushing disappointment I felt after that, especially so short a time after having to endure Into Darkness, and their decisions to concentrate on mining TOS rather than telling good stories means I am not yet inspired about the new show, especially with the dubious “talents” of Goldsman and Kurtzman behind it.

I prefer to wait and see this time around. I am not going to blindly champion something just because it has Picard in it and is set after Nemesis. It’d rather have no Trek than bad Trek further dumbing down the franchise, Stewart or otherwise, by exercising caution, at least I risk being pleasantly surprised rather than seriously disappointed. I don’t think that’s a bad way of approaching it. It’s like following a football team. If you go in expecting trophies there’s a greater risk of disappointment. But if you don’t expect anything and just take each game at a time you’re not going to feel as let down if your team doesn’t win anything.

No of course you don’t HAVE to be but it does come down do you want another show or not? Now if you don’t, OK, understandable. But if you DO then I think it’s always going to be a crap shoot no matter what. We know this, we had five spin offs that has made that clear lol. They all started pretty rocky but most (I will personally say all not counting Discovery) have all improved so while I’m still hard on Discovery I recognize shows do and can get better. And imagine how people felt about TNG and DS9 after their 15th episode in the first season. Both mightily changed greatly later on, especially TNG. So I have no problems saying what I hate but I also never assumed it can’t improve either and in fact EVERYTHING I have heard about season 2 has all been a positive for me and said so.

But as I said, it sounds like you just don’t trust the people in charge, so I get that and I can’t blame anyone who feel hesitant about it until it does get better. I know you don’t want to be let down if you get your hopes up. Me either. But either way we know its coming so I just prefer to have hope it will work out obviously. But if it sucks you know I will be here saying so lol.

Oh but I don’t like Spock and Pike taking over the show next season. That just feels like desperate fan service but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued either.

@tiger2 exactly my feelings, but I remind myself that sometimes the desperate hail mary wins the game. You never know.

I share in your opinion on Pike and Spock too, Tiger. If anything, it’s just going further my (albeit rather unpopular) theory that DSC is set in an alternate universe. However, I too am intrigued.

El Chup… I used to think I’d rather have bad Trek than no Trek but after watching Discovery I’ve changed my stance. I’d rather have no Trek than bad Trek. I was also excited for Discovery when I first heard it. The only thing tempering my excitement was the CBSAA aspect of it. I still think that sucks, btw. But, like you, instead of treating the new Picard show with excitement like I did with Discovery, I am now skeptical. I honestly think Kurtzman & Co deserve the scrutiny and will need to EARN any potential excitement or respect. The bar has been moved awfully low now. So it will actually be harder to disappoint. But I totally can see that happening, however.

Agreed, ML. But there is a comfort in walking in to these productions with no expectations whatsoever. I hope I’m pleasantly surprised and blown away by what’s in store, but if not, easy to cancel CBSAA and move on. There’s a ton of quality programming out there these days.

According to Google trends, the states that most prefer Star Trek over Star Wars are Arkansas and Mississippi. Of course, no scientist would make this conclusion based on that limited data set, but I got kicked out of science school for excessive keytar soloing.

As for the NBC Think Squad, maybe CBS will compensate for the incoming white cis maleness, by mixing in an extra heaping of dope wokeness. I’m thinking a sexy intersex/trans officer to beguile the old Frenchman? There are always possibilities. I don’t mean sexy in a retrograde way. I mean a progressive, emancipating, but subversive sexiness- things that make you go hmmm…

If they did it right, CBS could engender a powerful and fluid intersectionality that could dovetail nicely with the excellent work Discovery has done in the domain of representation.

“We must expand our moral imaginations.” -Barack Obama

“Future’s calling.” -Klaus Dinger

“One love.” -Bob Marley

“I program my home computer.” -Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk never fails to tug at my heartstrings

Amazing news!

I read Ani Bundel’s NBC Think article. I kinda get the the feeling that person has some deep seeded issues with the ridiculous subjective assumptions being showcased as absolute facts.

It’s such an exciting time to be a Star Trek fan. I was seven when TNG first aired I remember it vividly, I remember the feeling of awe that I had and I remember how Picard and that show really changed my life for the better. So even if there is just one session of a Picard centered show it is such a sweet treat! Live long and prosper Star Trek.

So happy to hear this news. Now bring back Shatner as Kirk

Certainly Picard wouldn’t leave Kirk on Veridian 3 without going back .
Yes bring back Shatner

It’s been over 20 years, that body has decayed ages ago lol.

Tiger2

Re: decayed

That body “died” in a universe rife with time travel from ancient and contemporary civilizations – and some in-between. It was even the mechanism by which that body got to that place to die in the first place. Citing the passage of time as some sort of impenetrable wall preventing Shatner’s return to his iconic role is ludicrous.

@Tom — SPOILER:
I was mildly annoyed at how they brought back Colin Firth in the 2nd KINGSMAN movie, which aside from a few issues, I very much enjoyed. But bring him back they did, even though they shouldn’t have been able to, and I didn’t really think twice about it and just enjoyed the fact he was back. Considering the technological leaps Hollywood routinely asks modern audiences to accept, I really don’t think it’s too far fetched for audiences that 400 years into the future, Kirk’s body managed to be preserved protected in a cool stone morgue if you will. And even if people think it’s ridiculous, who cares? People want Kirk to be alive, so they suspend their disbelief and just enjoy having Kirk back. Yes they will debate it until the end of time, just like all the other controversial plot elements of every film and episode — but again: Kirk’s back, so who cares?

Did you really like the Kingsman sequel? I been thinking to watch it but people seem to think it really sucked and was nothing like the first one. I didn’t love the first one either but I enjoyed it. I’m just convinced the second one is a pale comparison.

My wife and I agreed the second Kingsman was pretty lame, Tiger. It’s not the worst movie in the world, though – a good choice for a rainy Sunday.

Thanks! Yeah that’s what I keep hearing. Of course (as this site proves daily) people have wide views on things but it does sound like most were extremely let down by it. I’ll still probably give it a watch but I ruled out seeing in the theaters when so many people said it was a poor imitation to the original. I just read they are going to make a third one so hopefully its better.

@Curious Cadet
I agree on all counts. I understand there are many fans that do not think it is plausible to bring back Kirk. It may not be something that interests them. However I think with CBS looking at multiple Trek platforms, it would certainly appeal to many. There should be enough Trek now to please a lot of fans. For example the Academy idea doesn’t appeal to me but some of the others might, a Shatner return being one of them.

I think the issue is what will they do with him once they bring him back? With Picard it’s just seeing a man and a continuation of his life twenty years later but he could still be in Starfleet, still as a Captain or promoted or even something else entirely like being married with kids now. They can go any direction they want.

Kirk doesn’t feel like he has any ties to anything anymore because he’s been dead for so long all his friends and the life he had before are also now gone. I mean it would’ve been nice to see Spock try and find a way to bring him back but that can’t happen now. He wasn’t even in Starfleet anymore and that was before he died. It’s still Star Trek, they can bring him back tomorrow but I have no clue what they could do with him once they did. To me he almost feels out of place now.

That said if they figured something out I would definitely watch it! And yeah no interest in the Academy show either.

I often thought that since all those ships went to Veridian to pick up the Ent-D crew, Picard would have told them all about the Kirk/Nexus thing and where he buried him, and it makes sense the Federation would exhume the body and bring it to Earth for a long-overdue ceremonial funeral for the legendary Kirk. I can’t see them just leaving the most-storied captain in Federation history covered by rocks on an insignificant planet…and Spock, still being around at that time most certainly would not have tolerated that.

Agreed. Lets fix this already. i don’t care how convoluted it is! I don’t care if it is Fan Service!! We are fans and we want SERVICE!!

Yeah… The concept of leaving one of the Federation’s most cherished heroes on some nondescript rock somewhere just didn’t feel right. I would HOPE that Picard reported it and some Starfleet folks came back to move Kirk to a more appropriate burial site. I wish it could have been confirmed with just a line of dialog in Picard’s final log entry.

(Mis-post, sorry).

The Discovery cast seems a bit nervous, rightfully so.
They’ve got some serious competition.

LOL, so true!

Despite finding the Next Generation show to be a disappointing follow-up to the original STAR TREK in many ways, I am certainly looking forward to this ‘elderly Picard’ show much more than the continuing voyages of the starship Discovery.

No matter how mediocre some of it’s episodes were, Stewart always added a bit of classy gravitas to the Next Gen proceedings.

While I’ve little enthusiasm for any rumoured ‘Teen Starfleet Academy’ or ‘Khan’ show that CBS may knock up for the sake of milking the source material further, I’m hopeful that this future Picard show will indeed give a different setting and feel to his ongoing storyline.

Personally, I’d like him to be shown to be remorseful for leaving Kirk stuck under a pile of rocks…but as long as he’s not surrounded by a sea of beige and gobbledygook this time around, I’m good. ;)

For all the folks out there wanting or not wanting Q to return I highly doubt that will happen! But I do love the character myself and I love John de Lancie! I do Hope that we might see some other TNG stars though.

I would love to just have Q themselves back. I don’t really need John de Lancie himself. Obviously he basically created the Q and his performance was great. But I say this ALL the time, if you found one great actor, guess what, you can find another one too.

For me, I love seeing old characters return (clearly) but I am just as fine seeing a new actor take on an old role OR just finding a better character. Star Trek is littered with great performers in every show and film, I have a feeling that will continue no matter what.

And I would love someone to actually just make another species as intriguing as Q is but that is a tall order considering they are omnipotent. But its not impossible either.

I recall reading about an original premise for Discovery which talked about an arc that covered multiple time periods but was connected to a connecting event or series of events. I wonder if they are going to give it a go now but across multiple shows.

Add me to list of those that would definitely wish to see the return of the excellent John de Lancie, if there are any ‘Q’ antics involved in this Stewart continuation. Hell, just have him making himself/itself as having equally aged, to tease Picard.

Meanwhile, in yet another ‘alternate universe’…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45123606

(I still prefer ‘Starfleet’ myself)

I mean, the news about Stewart reprising his iconic role as Picard even appeared in Arabic & Egyptian news outlets! The Arabic media rarely, if ever cover stories about Star Trek or science fiction in general.

The press is all about how we need Jean-Luc now more than ever. But then again “he might not be the Jean-Luc Picard you know” (i.e. they’ll be probably beating that “needs to be dark” dead horse)

Wouldn’t it be poetic if the theme of the series would be a meditation on how transcience and change are part of nature?

..the titles from all the above news articles would make you think discovery never happened or they are agreeing with the rest of us, it ain’t trek. I just hope disc’s people have nothing to do with Sir Patrick’s return as JLP. Perhaps it’s Nick Meyer’s proposed project. And I’m really not sure why people are going vulcan crazy over this announcement..we knew about it months ago