The star of Star Trek: Picard is offering up a glimpse of what we can expect in the second season of the series.
Writing for season two underway, will not go over the same ground as season one
As we reported yesterday, CBS has begun its “For Your Consideration” campaign in hopes of garnering Emmy nominations for Star Trek: Picard. As part of that effort, star – and executive producer – Sir Patrick Stewart spoke with industry-focused Gold Derby for their series of interviews with 2020 Emmy contenders. Stewart mostly discussed his work on the first season of Picard, but he did give a brief update on the status on how work is progressing for season two:
It is [coming together], yeah. Because of how we are living currently, there is no writers’ room, of course. But everybody is writing and they are keeping me in touch with what is going on. We have video conferences.
Stewart also gave his impression of what the upcoming season has in store:
There are startling events predicted in season two. I am so excited about them, because it is taking season one on from where we were. We are not going to be covering the same ground. It is going to be extraordinary. I am very excited about it. Of course, I can’t go into detail at all. I have a long conference planned for tomorrow where I hope for certain aspects of how season two will develop, and I’m looking forward to it very much.
The second season of Star Trek: Picard was originally planned to go back into production during the summer, but that remains uncertain while the lockdown remains, possibly through the summer. Stewart spoke about how he is eager to get back to working with the cast and crew:
Frankly, perhaps the thing I am missing the most right now, other than going out to dinner, is I am not working with this group of people I admire and have grown to like and respect so much as well. I can’t wait to be back on the set in a workspace with these people, and explore what we are going to do with season two.
How Picard deals with his new body is an open question
The first season ended with Picard dying and having his consciousness transferred into a new android body. This profound event has sparked much fan debate. Stewart spoke briefly about what impact this resurrection may have for the character going forward:
Brilliantly and wonderfully they were able to perform surgery on me in such a way that I survived and came back. But, now with an artificial life inside me – not a subservient cruel one like the Borg, but we shall see. We don’t know how Picard is going to live with this new condition which has become part of his life, which is going to extend his life.
Season one showrunner Michael Chabon has said that the second season will not “pretend like these events never happened,” and it will explore “whatever the implications are going to be for Picard having this new body, and essentially a new brain structure, too.”
Picard “reborn” in his new synth body in the season one finale
Hints more TNG guest stars to come, but a season one regular may not be back
The first season of Star Trek: Picard saw a number of veteran Trek actors reprise their roles on the show. Stewart outlined how important it was to him to see any returning characters evolve from when they were last seen in the show and movies:
In meetings when we talked about bringing in members of the Next Generation crew, that was one of the things I was most passionate about, which was not only should Picard have changed during the 18 years that had passed, but the same has to be applied to Counselor Troi, to Commander Riker, to whoever it is. And by the way, I am very hopeful we will see more of The Next Generation crew before we say goodbye to Picard. And that is just what they did, and there is no better example than the episode [“Nepenthe”].
Jonathan Frakes agrees with this, recently saying he was happy to return to the role of Riker in “Nepenthe,” but was glad he had retired from Starfleet. Star Trek: The Next Generation stars who have yet to appear on Picard include LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge), Michael Dorn (Worf), and Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher). Recently Burton confirmed he was already in talks with show producers about appearing, and he too had some thoughts on where he sees Geordi in 2399.
Sir Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard with Jonathan Frakes as William Riker and Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi in “Nepenthe”
One of the open questions left from the season one finale was the fate of Harry Treadaway’s Romulan operative Narek, last seen being taken into custody by the Synths, although Michael Chabon said there was a deleted scene that showed him being handed over to the Federation. When talking about what it was like working with the rest of the Picard cast, Stewart indicated Treadaway may not be back for season two:
We have a dazzling group of actors. No matter who I find myself playing a scene with, it is interesting, unusual, challenging, and always exciting. And every one of us is back. Well, I think we may have said goodbye to Harry Treadaway, which I am disappointed about because I enjoyed working with him so much.
This may be the last we see of Harry Treadaway’s Narek
Watch full Stewart interview
There is much more from Patrick Stewart’s new interview about the first season of Star Trek: Picard. You can watch the full video on Gold Derby or via YouTube below.
Keep up with all the Star Trek: Picard news, reviews, and analysis at TrekMovie.com.
I have low expectations for season 2. The season one finale was horrible on so many levels. Maybe Star Trek: Picard deserves a few Emmy nominations. Patrick Stewart was having fun doing this. I can tell he loves it.
Picard has a new android body now. It reminds me of Altered Carbon. That show is about that sort of thing. His new body will allow him to live longer.
Transferring the consciousness to a new body could be possible but is a complicated process.
Maybe Narek is in a Federation prison planet as we speak. I never liked him. His abusive relationship with Soji goes against basic morality.
The finale was great right up there with Best of Both Worlds and In a Pale Moonlight. It is now one of my favorite Trek episodes ever and this is coming from someone who grew up watching TNG.
season 1 is a 8.0 out of 10. It was okay for the most part.
At least you like it.
I’m not sure how your rating system works but “8 out of 10” doesn’t sound like “okay for the most part” to me ;-)
Agreed. 80% (8 out of 10) is a B-average in school, which means a GOOD rating. OKAY would be more in line with a C-average in school, or 70% — a score of 7.0 out of 10.
I wouldn’t say Picard Season 1 is my favorite Trek, my favorite season, nor the finale my favorite episode, nor my favorite finale.
But it’s also not even close to the worst Trek season (TNG 1), nor close to the worst Trek finale (TOS). I also don’t hold up “TBOBW” as high as others, though ITPM is still one of the greatest Trek episodes.
But on topic, I am excited for Season 2. Season 1 did a lot of things right, and it will be interesting to see if they tackle the moral and ethical dilemma’s of having Picard’s mind in an artificial body, because I think that’s ripe for a very Trek story, and one that I can see calling for the return of Guinan as Picard goes soul-searching and what it means to be human, and the return of The Doctor, as Jean-Luc looks to discover what it means to be artificial.
TOS didn’t have a series finale. It was simply yet another episode. Every other show got a “sendoff” episode. And the worst was Enterprise’s These Are the Voyages.
I think you’re nitpicking. I was referring to a “final episode.”
In your terms though, yes, i’d agree that TATV was the worst, but Voyager’s sendoff was a huge let down, and not far behind. As much as I like “What You Leave Behind” it felt more like a “let’s tie up all the stories and say goodbye” rather than a great episode in its own right, and gets more love sometimes than it deserves. It serves as a good capper to a long running story, but as finale’s go, “All Good Things” stands head and shoulders above them all: it’s a strong standalone story (among my top 10-15 of the entire run) that also serves as a nice bookend to the series by tying back to “Farpoint.” Plus, even if there had been no feature films, the final scene would have been a nice farewell to the characters, showing how the characters grew into a family and how the Captain had mellowed and learned to love his crew as friends as much as colleagues.
Yeah TOS and ENT easily had the worst final episodes. But TATV is probably the worst because not only because its meant to wrap up Enterprise but was also suppose to wrap up that entire era of Star Trek and bitterly failed.
@Tiger2
I actually don’t mind TATV as much as most, even if it is the worst of the finales. It’s an OK episode. Some of it just makes no dramatic sense. They spend the whole first half hyping up the death of Trip, and it’s not even a great death or sacrifice.
I don’t even mind the inclusion of the TNG characters. The big mistake they made was trying to set it during a TNG episode, and they had aged SO much, it wasn’t at all convincing. And unlike their performances in PICARD, Frakes and Sirtis did poor jobs playing Riker and Troi: they were clearly just so happy to be back in those roles again they couldn’t stay in-character.
I wonder if that had to do with the brief time between NEMESIS and TATV– they were still eager for more, and were so excited to get the chance. Whereas, by 2020, they had long moved on from the idea of playing those characters, and this was just a nice little bonus for them.
Either that, or better direction.
I don’t consider it a nit pick. I just don’t think it fair to compare a regular episode to a show that had an actual series finale when talking about final episodes. There is a huge difference.
Also, while TATV is indeed easy the worst finale of the lot, All Good Things comes up a close 2nd to me. In fact, it was a lot like TOS in that it was a series finale that really wasn’t a finale at all. It played out like a very pedestrian regular episode on all fronts. Q only worked when he was acting the clown. He wasn’t doing that in AGT. He held Picard’s hand throughout the entire thing. Spoon feeding him everything. It was quite the let down an amazingly dull. The final scene conveyed none of what you described. It did not feel like a finale at all probably because everyone was starting work on Generations literally the next week. Had there been no feature it would have been an even bigger let down. No one grew. No one moved on. No one became a better person because they were all perfect from day one. If there were to be no feature films for them the scene would have played out as very awkward.
Wow you have an even narrower definition of finale than I thought! That’s fine if you want to nitpick and then continue to insist you aren’t nitpicking. The rest of us will just move on to another discussion.
I loved the finale as well. For me, it was the best Trek season finale since DS9 Season 7.
So, because someone sees something differently than you do it means they have a “narrow” view of things. I’m guessing you aren’t seeing the irony there. I’d love to discuss this but you just dished out your conclusion without revealing why you think that way. Makes it hard to continue. I guess that explains why you prefer to just “move on”. Can’t be bothered to support your own conclusions.
No one grew? The entire point of AGT is that Picard (and his crew when he tells them of his experience jumping through time) realizes the future is up to them if they don’t want for instance Riker and Worf to become bitter towards each other over Troi or Picard choosing to stay away from his crew off-duty. The series literally ends with him sitting down to play cards with them for the first time and how meaningful that is for him as character.
I had tears with that last scene. The character growth from Picard, Seven of Nine, Rios and Raffi across this season and through the finale I would argue was some of the best character growth — and positive at that — that we have ever witnessed in a Star Trek series.
This is what you get in Trek when you bring in a Pulitzer winner to write and be the show-runner.
Can’t wait for Season 2!
I couldn’t agree more. It was moving, touching and inspirational all at once. I am very much looking forward to season two!
So how is that personal growth, Rich? Are you trying to tell me that no one on that crew thinks the future is NOT up to them? They seemed to have a pretty good grasp of that concept for years. Why would they suddenly forget it? Yes it ends with an awkward scene of JL playing cards with them. How is that meaningful? I actually don’t recall any of the Riker Worf stuff. Haven’t seen it since ’94. What I recall is being really disappointed with the episode because nothing happened and Q spoon fed Picard the whole way. Nobody earned anything in that episode. How is that a good thing?
Agreed. Major nitpicking.
All Our Yesterdays is probably the most fitting capoff to the original series, being the latest in stardate order. It features the main trio getting to do some character and world building, and generally has the excitement of a finale.
AOY was a rare 3rd season gem.
The two-part finale was like a great Trekmovie to me — well said.
I, too, have rather low expectations for season 2. I’d rate STP as a 4 out of 10. There is potential but the overall execution of the entire story was monumentally poor. The middle third was the better part of it. But it opened monumentally slow and ended on a VERY sour note.
Not sure what they are going to explore with his android body, however. I feel like there really is not much interesting ground to cover there. I’m not a professional writer, though. A good writer could likely find something to mine. Unfortunately Secret Hideout doesn’t seem to have good writers. So I really don’t have a lot of faith it will get much better.
LOL you’re brutal ML31! :)
For me I want to say 6.5 out of 10. And believe me it KILLS me to even write that considering how excited I was for this show. Like Discovery season 2 for me, it started off REALLY strong but after halfway through the season there just wasn’t enough happening. And then the stuff that WAS happening they left so much of it unresolved. It just felt like so much wasted potential. And still not happy they gave Picard a new body. Just doesn’t gel for me.
I really want to love this new era of Star Trek like I love TNG, VOY, TOS, ENT etc but it just feels like its missing something. Discovery we talked about to death at this point. And as I said in the past the one positive about Picard is that the setting and era actually feels just right. I am watching a continuation of this era twenty years post Nemesis and I LOVE that! They got that down 100%, unlike Discovery which feels more advanced than Picard does in many ways and could be set in ANY century frankly. But the story and PLOTTING of the show still needs tons of work.
What can I say? They themselves referred to this as a 8 hour movie. I’m treating it like a movie I paid to see. This was not a very good movie. If it were the 5th TNG movie it would be the worst. Yes, even lower than Insurrection. It started of slow and dull. Found myself not interested in any characters at all. Then they left planet and things got much more interesting. Save for the Borg cube stuff which pretty much brought every episode to a halt. The Borg were like the Klingons in Discovery. But apart from the Borg, I found it interesting. The plot moved. We met new and interesting people. But then, there was Soong Jr playing God in his own Eden. Or cyborg-land. And like STD with the MU before it, suddenly the show got too silly and it became hard to really care anymore.
The good news is that middle act worked. So if they could use that success and build on it to get a better beginning and ending we could see improvement. But part of me is thinking this is likely about as good as Secret Hideout Trek will ever get. Maybe Lower Decks will be hilarious….
Yeah the Borg ended up being the biggest disappointment for me too. I mean I liked having them (unlike the Klingon orcs in first season of Discovery), but they did NOTHING with them. They had no real point to be there other than to have a reason to bring Hugh back, who also felt mostly wasted at the end. There is a GOOD story with them involving Picard, Hugh and Seven all trying to confront their demons somewhere but it never really manifested.
Same for the Romulans in so many ways. I liked that they developed them culturally a lot more, certainly more than we got on the other shows like TOS and TNG where they were just treated like the super villains most of the time. I liked we got to see real facets of Romulan culture and the after effects of the supernova. But then they created some of the most one dimensional characters in the entire franchise since Space Hitler with the GOT siblings. Narek wasn’t THAT bad IMO until he got around his sister and my eyes just rolled. I’m glad they killed her off at least.
I just don’t get it? SOOOO much potential with these story lines and characters and it all felt so of ‘meh’ by the end. The only thing that saved the finale for me was the Riker cameo and Data at the end. If it wasn’t for those moments that finale would’ve been at the level of Discovery season 1 finale bad (and that was only saved by seeing the Enterprise show up). Basically nostalgia keep saving these finales and not the actual story which is just sad.
It felt like they tried to hit too many beats. It felt like first and foremost they wanted the Picard dies and comes back as an android story. But they also wanted to do Borg stuff. So it felt like they shoehorned them in just because… It’s the Borg! They felt they needed a baddie so they used the Romulans. I don’t know how this was gestated. Maybe there wasn’t enough “meat” in the Picard android story to fill out 8 hours of show. Maybe they didn’t think there was enough time to adequately deal with the Romulan situation and the Borg in 8 hours. Who knows? But the thing is dealing with the aftermath of the Romulus devastation is an interesting concept on its own and could have carried a 10 episode arc with competent writers. While I am personally tired of them the Borg story about a reclaimed cube might have had enough “meat” in it to fill 10 episodes as well. Obviously the writers didn’t think the synth story had enough in it to fill up 10 hours or we wouldn’t have gotten two side stories tagged on. It really felt like they tried to do way too much. They tried to drop in way too much fan service as well. It almost felt… Well… Desperate.
The finale brought a tear to my eye. I thought it was beautiful. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it.
Me too!
Look at the first season of any other Star Trek. None of them are what I would call “great” but Picard has FAR more bright spots than any of the others. It’s off to a comparatively fast start and has very high potential. I give it a “pretty good.” Nepenthe is now my all time favorite episode across the entire Star Trek universe.
Agreed. And not just first seasons– ANY season! There have been seasons with a lot of good episodes, a season or two with several GREAT episodes, but every single Trek season has been littered with lots of filler, if not downright bad writing, acting, and ludicrous storylines that strained credulity, and lacked internal consistency, let alone story logic. But as fans, we looked past those things because the sum was more than its parts. Even within episodes you could look past its flaws to view the forest rather than the trees.
I’m sad to see Trek fans today can’t view DSC or PIC the same way they did TOS, TNG, DS9, and VOY.
It’s not viewed the same way because circumstances are radically different. Fan have to now pay directly for their new Trek. Not only that, but instead of longer annual reliable seasons of 20+ episodes we only get 10-13 that come out whenever the hell they are ready. It is understandable that these new shows are held up to far greater scrutiny. Especially when their creators compare them to feature films. The shows should at least get that kind of critique.
While not my favourite character, Narek was indeed responsible for much of the screen time in season 1. It’s a little disappointing how carelessly his character seems to be put aside without a satisfying end to his arc. There was potential for some emotional resonance there with Soji.
Soji is by far my favorite character in season 1 who isn’t Picard.
Narek is my least favorite character. I don’t care what happens to him. He belongs in a jail on some planet.
I agree that his arc should end in a reasonable manner.
I thought Narek was an intreasting character myself. and I think just dismissing him as being the problem with the Soji/Narek relationship does Soji a disservice. We heard all the jokes about them they made, Soji knew what she was getting into (or should have known) there was a lot to Narek that sugested the char was complicated and his feelings for soji may have been genuine, however that aside he belived it was NESSCARY to do what he was doing. I think the char could definatly have been given at the very least a fitting ending. and honestly, I don’t think the char’d fit further into Picard but if they used him as a character in a spin off series he’d be intreasting
Rios was easily the best character in the show for me. The “bad guys” were easily the worst.
If we’re just talking new characters, I agree Rios along with Raffi were my favorites. I was a little afraid I wasn’t going to like Raffi at all after her introduction but they toned it down a bit. I just like that she speaks her mind, especially to Picard and usually without a filter. I see why her and Seven would make the perfect couple. ;D
I’m hoping Rios gets more to do next season and a real story line. He turned out to be a likable character but he wasn’t really given much in terms of development.
Yes. And he has the most potential of all of them. And I include the older characters when I say Rios was the best of the lot. I’d like a show entirely about him without Picard if I’m being honest.
Narek was okay. Narissa was a much less interesting character, way too one-dimensional for a 21st Century science fiction series. Narek at least had sides to him. He could have killed Soji very easily, but chose a complicated route that gave her a good chance to escape.
I really liked Allison Pill on “The Newsroom”, but I didn’t like her in “Picard” or in “Devs”. Just zero presence on screen in either of them. So Jurati is my least favorite character in “Picard”.
I think I’d prefer they just move beyond the new body thing. Maybe make a sly joke about it. “I’ve been dead before.”
Yeah… I’d prefer it if they just pretended it never happened. Treat the new body like they treat Sybok. Just don’t mention it and treat it like it never happened.
Especially since they skipped over the fun part where he adjusts to being his new self.
We have different definitions of ‘fun’. I’m glad they flash-forwarded past that. It would have been tedious.
Yeah, I really think they should treat it like Spock’s rebirth: If I’m not mistaken, ST IV dedicated a grand total of four lines to it and dedicated the rest of the time to being a fun movie.
They could make it a plot point that the Federation would rather keep Picard’s new body a secret, lest thousands of citizens with chronic health issues might also want to “go in for a new body at Copellius Station.” So Admiral FU tells Picard to pretend it never happened. Really, how many people actually know, anyway?
Problem solved.
Heh, this is precisely how the writers solved a colossal continuity problem on Discovery. Admiral _______ orders them all to keep mum about what happened.
Good to hear that it sounds like things are moving along from a writing and pre-production standpoint for S2. With the serialized format of the show, I hope they have come up with a good S2 story narrative. Sounds like Sir Patrick is happy, so that bodes well, at least for me who was pretty satisfied with S1, giving it a 7.5 to 8.0 out of the 10 for the year. If it is good enough for him, I am looking forward to seeing it on the small screen. Let’s hope S2 is not delayed for too long.
I hope Season 2 doesn’t feel like it was written by a 20 year-old community college drop-out…because Season 1 felt like it was written by a 20 year-old community college drop-out.
Much like this comment.
Very much like your comment.
Well, if a 20-year-old wrote season 1, a 12-year-old wrote your comment.
Meh. But I’m not running a major TV show, am I? FYI – Rios is a giant cliché of a character: “Ooo, I’m going to pull this chunk of metal out of my shoulder, and then not suture the gaping hole. Then I’ll pour booze into it. That will prove to everyone how big of a hard-ass I am.” Derp!
I noticed you did not deny you are a kid?
Do you want me to be a kid?
To be fair there is also that “I’m so emotional numb and guild-ridden, that I need that physical pain to feel alive” layer about it.
Oh here come the PC Nu-Trek brownshirts. Independent thought will not be tolerated, and it will be dealt with swiftly. .
The sad thing is they’re in their own little echo chamber here. Most of the fandom Trek built up over 50 years have now departed never to return.
I got a small chuckle out of the comment. Thumbs up.
Kind of like your comment.
Personally, I want to see Worf back as captain of the E. Maybe in the season finale. If you’re exploring the character of Picard, though, Beverly is essential sooner rather than later.
I would prefer if Worf had his own limited series. He could then, subsequently, show up in Picard Season 3. I think CBS would be wise to do some Trek shows that are intended to be small, self-contained stories: 6 episodes, a 3-part tele-movie, that sort of thing.
I also think they are wasting AGAIN to leverage the opportunity of a connected TV universe. In the 90s they had THREE shows going (back-to-back or together) and they only ever REALLY did one crossover. I would have loved to see more episodes like late-series Voyager utilizing Barclay, where characters moved back and forth, crossed over in single episodes, etc etc.
The TNG movies, for example, really wasted the chance to tell a story in the Dominion War.
So if we could have a few other shows or movies set during the Picard era it would be awesome to have the characters, ships, and events move back and forth from series to series (and i’m not talking a big Avengers-style crossover).
I agree T’Pol’s Beard.
The Short Treks are very cool, and offer the opportunity for a bit of exploration of other characters.
However, the S2 shorts went in the direction of running closer and closer to the minimum time, and suffered for it.
I’d like to see another innovative anthology series of episodes that run 22-44 minutes, with the possibility of 3 or 4 parters. So, we could have an episode or a few in any era with any existing character, or new ones.
Basically, run with the original Discovery pitch of an anthology, but reuse as much as possible the existing sets etc. 6-8 episodes to a season. Give it a solid showrunner. Perhaps Kirsten Beyer when she’s ready for the next bump up the WGA hierarchy.
It would be a great way to bring in some of the spec script writers, and some new creative energy.
The second batch of Short Treks were unwatchable, with one possible exception. They were just awful.
I thought they were all nice. None of them will ever be all time greats, but I especially appreciated the variety. An animated episode, a fairy tale, a funny story, a dramatic story– again, nothing spectacular, but pretty much what i had expected from a series of 5-10 minute shorts. They took risks; some of them paid off, others were misses.
I hope they continue using Short Treks to take some risks and try new things.
Technically insurection is a dominion war Story, right?
The sona are producing the White and Star flet Works with them to dryout the production Pipeline.
The Son’a producing white was mentioned in a single line of dialogue (in DS9, if I remember), and it had nothing to do with the plot of Insurrection. In fact the only line in ST:U referencing it, is when they say the federation are tied up with “Dominion negotiations.”
I’m talking about a story where Picard and the Enterprise are on the front lines of the war.and have a quantifiable impact on DS9.
I remember reading it was the movie studio people who were always afraid of referencing the shows in the movies because they were worried they were going to lose all the people who didn’t watch them. Perfect example of that was the reason Dax was never brought up in Insurrection as Worf’s wife who had literally just died that same year. You would think Worf losing his wife would be a big deal to his friends he’s known for over a decade and at least mentioned.
Michael Piller actually wanted to include it in the story line but was overruled because Dax was never shown in the films before and could’ve confused people. So if you can’t get something like THAT in just a few lines of dialogue then I’m guessing something like a full scale Dominion war story line was off limits and just compromised with a few references instead.
There was probably always a lot of discussions of how much to use and not use with current plot lines or if a story is too ‘Star Trek-y’ for movie audiences as Simon Pegg once said. I too would’ve liked to have seen a bigger Dominion story but I could see why they would’ve had issues of doing it because the back story alone may have been too much to explain for movie audiences.
They did manage to get a reference to Ketracel White in there. That and Picard mentioning Dominion negotiations was the only reference to the other shows. I can appreciate the idea that those who didn’t watch the shows would not be aware of the side stories but it seems like a few lines of dialog would be enough to get newbies up to speed on the situation. At least enough to make the movie story work.
Yeah as said they acknowledged it but we get what T’Pol Beard is saying (I chuckle every time I write that). As fans we want the full experience. I mean end of the day while these movies (and I guess shows) are made in mind for causal audiences or newbies, we’re going to be the ones still talking about these shows and films years from now, still buying the merchandise and frankly still caring even when said show or film has disappointed us. Only fans buy movies and shows they say they hated lol. I doubt any teenager who watched the first Kelvin film when it came out is still talking about it today and moved on long ago. So it is frustrating in many ways. The movie studio is just thinking about RIGHT now and trying to get as many butts in the seats as possible but very understandable when they spend so much money on this stuff.
But that’s why while I love the movies and look forward when they do come, Star Trek is always going to just be better on TV (or whatever ;)) because they can appeal to Star Trek fans directly and don’t have to worry about those things as much.
And as you know I’m a huge MCU fan (oddly enough partly BECAUSE the shared universe idea felt so much like Star Trek in the beginning) and we have literally the exact same arguments about those shows and movies. As you know the movies are all connected but I’m sure as you also probably know the TV shows are COMPLETELY ignored in the movies beyond just the slightest most vague easter egg or reference you can find although the shows reference the films. It’s ironic for something as celebrated as that franchise building so many connected story lines and character crossovers its still frustrating for a lot of fans they pretend the other medium and those characters just don’t exist at all; especially when its pretty easy to include them because every freakn movie you are introducing new characters and tons of back story with them.
At least with Star Trek, it really does feel like one big shared universe between the shows and films, especially because 2/3rds of the films are made from the TV shows themselves. So yes they could DO more in that vein but it’s actually pretty good when all said and done. Until the Kelvin movies the TV shows is what created the films in the first place, so I’m happy with that even if I still wish to see more crossovers as a fan.
I can certainly understand back then, being reticent to do too many crossovers, and afraid of confusing audiences. Streaming wasn’t a thing, even TiVo was still years away, and home video was very expensive investment before the DVD boom. “Catching up” on a show was next to impossible.
But these days, it is a no-brainer.
Hopefully Narek will at least guest star at some point, even if he’s not a regular anymore.
Why would Narek guest star? He’s probably in prison Federation custody. Unless the Romulans get him free.
And no scenes in television or cinema take place in prisons of any sort.
It’d be easy eneugh to do depending on what they wanted to do with him. As we never saw the deleted scene of the hand over in the series they could easily have it not have happened and “lo and behold he actually got away by smuggling himself out”. If they needed someone with Tal Shiar ties to do something they could likewise easily have Narek re-apper. it would, in short be easy for them to have him guest star if they so choose to do so. In fact if they wanted to be intreasting with him, have season 2 about hunting down Oh. and have Narek show up as a suprise ally at some point. (suggesting that the romulan government disavowed her and she went rogue)
Yeah I agree. If they want to bring him back it would be pretty easy to do. I don’t care either way but your story idea sounds good if they did. Just as long as we no longer have scenes of his sister trying to make out with the guy.
Just give him a Short Trek.
The deleted scene could be repurposed to start it, and the rest could tell us how he deals with his remorse for dubious choices for what he believed to be a greater good.
If Sela came back as the big bad in the second season of Picard, that would make killing Yar worth it.
I thought her appearance in Season 1 was almost a foregone conclusion, but i’m kind of glad she didn’t, there was already a ton of fan service.
Yeah. Ideally she’s the puppet master behind Oh. The Romulan Queen that was referenced once.
Bring back Armus. Maybe he gets off world and decides to pay ol’ JL a visit.
Nah.
I’d rather see Armus back than Q, Guinan or Sela/Yar.
While this is clearly a joke, I actually wouldn’t mind some more one-off, obscure returns, in the same way they brought back Khan for the movie: Berlinghoff Rasmussin, Kivas Fajo, or the alien parasites from “Conspiracy.”
It was a joke, but I do think there is potential in the character of Armus, he just had a so-so costume and a ridiculous voice. Those things can be amended. I think there’s a fair chance he might go after Picard if he got off world, or they might inadvertently meet all these years later.
My favourite thing about Conspiracy is the atmosphere on Dytallix B when Picard beams down. That is such a creepy planet. The music, the sky, the colours, the mine, all great. Those alien parasites came back in the books, didn’t they?
I would like to see that trill-looking lady from “Perfect Mate” again. She and Picard could open a school for gifted synths. Geordie could modify his eye-implants to shoot laser beams, and Rios could overcoat his bones with adamantium.
Rios might be better as Gambit. Riker is beast.
So they forget to resolve Narek, and now he’s not in the series anymore. Ok…
According to Chabon, he was arrested by Federation security after they stopped the AIs from coming through the portal. Of course I always wonder WHO went to the planet to arrest the guy since Riker and the gang all warped out a few minutes after the Romulans left? I guess we have to assume someone showed up again later to take him but yeah.
No. That’s not what Stewart said.
The question is: did anyone really care a lot about Narek in the first place… ?
Narek was a very interesting character, thanks to the actor’s charismatic performance. My issue with him is that we never really understood why he was so obsessed with stopping synths. Was it just a a broad cultural revulsion he was raised with? Or something personal, as with his “sister” who was affected by the meld?
I liked him in the very beginning, but by episode four I didn’t care if they killed him off or not. He got boring quick.
Treadway’s character was the weak link anyway, along with his sister. I’d be happy to see them both gone.
As disappointing as the season ended up being for me I’m still excited to see where season 2 goes. It’s just great hearing we will get more TNG characters showing up (and maybe one or two DS9/VOY characters as well…a guy can dream!).
But I really like Stewart’s enthusiasm for the show. I think he loves being back in the world of Star Trek again and we love having him back! :)
The whole thing is still surreal in so many ways to be back in this era with these characters after nearly 20 years. Unreal. Hopefully season 2 will better capture the reason why so many of us love the TNG era with just a stronger and more thought out story.
So… random idea re DS9 chars returning, since we know Goldberg’s returning as Guinan…
Guinana and Quark running a bar together!
I’ll take it!! ;D
They could also be running two competing bars on opposite sides of the street.
And Bender from Futurama gets thrown out of both.
Star Trek characters appeared in Futurama. It’s about time the reverse was done. Maybe they should do a Futurama/Picard short trek. Someone go pester David X. Cohen.
Have the Professor, Bender, and Fry appear momentarily in their time machine from “The Late Phillip J. Fry”. Hey, “Disenchanted” did it!
I also like the enthusiasm Tiger2, but I’m a bit torn.
The season had some fantastic moments and episodes, but other than Nepenthe it seems that the ones that the EPs think are great are the ones many of us think are the weakest.
The finale just didn’t live up to the season’s best moments, but neither did several episodes in the first half. The show seemed to have found an excellent groove in episodes 6-8, but we’re not hearing shout outs from TPTB for episodes 6 and 8 that were directed by Maja Vrvilo.
So, when the XPs are hyping the weak moments while expressing excitement about the second season, I have to really wonder if they are able to distance themselves enough to look critically at the first season and take the lessons.
I agree you’re right, it is odd how they talk about the finale as if it was some kind of masterpiece when at the same time Chabon literally had have a full answer and question session on Instagram to fill in all the blanks the finale should’ve did in the first place.
Maybe they are just trying to put on a good face about it but they do seem to be more in love with it than most of the fans. At least than most of the people here. I thought episode 8 was one of the best episodes as well and does prove they were on the right track to wrapping it up well but then failed by the end.
That said though I think most of us can agree they did have a really great story concept with a lot of potential in the same way Discovery had in its second season. That’s why so many of us was so excited after those first episodes on both shows. The pieces were definitely there. But ultimately the execution marred them more than anything. So they could be telling the truth and they have a great story for season 2 but as its been made clear the story idea alone isn’t enough if the plotting and ending is bad. Sadly that’s the fear going forward. They do come up with interesting and unique concepts but then how they been resolved are a complete let down. I really wish they hired some of the writers and producers of DS9 to guide these story arcs. They knew knew how to do it RIGHT for multiple seasons.
It’s why I understand people being so hesitant about Discovery season 3 as well. Again, I think its a great idea of a story about the Federation falling (and its something I always wanted to see personally) but I’m more worried now it’s all going to end in disappointment based on all three seasons of these shows. I just cross my fingers we’re going to get something amazing like I am for Picard season 2. But yeah, I understand why others aren’t as hopeful based on the track record so far.
Won’t be watching it, ESPECIALLY if it means re-subbing to CBS All Access – we all pay enough for TV already. Plus, they destroyed the Star Trek ethos and turned it into yet another “this is the future — dark, crime-ridden, grimy, sketchy, druggy, pessimistic, dystopian, and on top of all that overflowing with with foul language for no reason” universe. No thanks — I have TOS, TNG, Voyager, plus the 10 movies. That’s real Star Trek, and that’s enough for me.
Sorry that you didn’t like Picard. But, its only six bucks.
Only true if you binge watch the entire series after it’s finished in the one month you paid for a subscription. 10 weeks means you spend at minimum 18 bucks.
Picard is Not even that dark. It Ended very optimistic. I wonder if some even saw the Show….
But Yeah. Its also Not thaaat good.
I simply want to see Beverly Crushed. Hopefully she won’t be swearing OR alcoholic OR drug addicted OR having mother / son issues with Wesley AND (I’m sorry) can we leave her as a heterosexual, cos Bev’s definitely into men!
It is weird she wasn’t even referenced last season, the only main TNG character that didn’t get a single name drop and yet was the closest to Picard out of everyone. Hopefully she’ll show up next season and WITHOUT a drug problem lol.
I have no issues if she discovered she was bisexual later in life though. Just be into both.
If she was then she would have discovered something new about herself. She definitely wasn’t into that Trill who came back as a guy.
I did say ‘discovered later in life’. But I’m not saying they should do it or anything. ;)
My mistake… The Trill who came back as a woman. But if they REALLY want to rile up the fan base, they could go ahead and have Crusher decide she prefers women. Come to think of it, I’d get the popcorn and enjoy the internet explosion of that happened. :)
Twenty fifth century cat lady. That would be fun to watch….
How can she be straight, if she had an relationship with a non-human character?
Can hardly wait for Season 2. Season One was the best Trek series season since Season 7 of DS9.
Treadaway? OK. Just make sure the girl stays!
Startling revelations….
I’m not a robot without emotions-I’m not what you see
I’ve come to help you with your problems, so we can be free
I’m not a hero, I’m not a savior, forget what you know
I’m just a man whose circumstances went beyond his control
Beyond my control-we all need control
I need control-we all need control
Secret, I’ve got a secret!
I am curious if those of us who are subscribers actually respond to the CBS “Insider” email questionnaires. I just spent 15 minutes answering questions about Covid-related watching habits.
NGL, no more Narek is an improvement right there.
I don’t trust Stewart to know what is and isn’t a good idea at this point, unfortunately.
It took you this long to learn that, huh? I figured that out after seeing Insurrection.
And I figured that out after seeing Captain’s Holiday. :p
Touche
“In meetings when we talked about bringing in members of the Next Generation crew, that was one of the things I was most passionate about…”
Well sure.
Season 1 was all: We are not TNG, don’t expect much guest-stars, we stand on our own feet.
Season 2 is: expect a lot of guest-stars, that is the only thing we can deliver
That is bankruptcy for me.
Season 1 Was never that. Never ever. It was clear from the beginning that TNG characters will indeed apear. They never said anything Else.
I think with season 1 they didn’t want to OVERSELL the idea of having old characters because then fans would just be expecting everyone to appear and that would’ve been most of the focus. So it was smart they kept expectations low and tried to keep the focus on the new characters until that first trailer. Then suddenly it was a complete surprise to see people like Seven and Data there. But they were part of the game plan on day one which proves old characters were always going to be there, they just lied about it lol.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, they probably feel more free to bring more in season 2. And I think they will still do what they did in first season and find a real reason for characters to be there, really be part of the story somehow and not just an obligatory cameo like when Riker showed up on Voyager (but I really really loved that cameo and they even made a great connection with it in Picard! ;))
BTW, I saw what you said in the other thread about me from the other day! Very well said and just common sense for anyone who knows me here, so thank you! It’s why I love these boards so much (well most of the time ;)).
You’re welcome. I felt obligated because I never saw you say anything mean-spirted, unfair or out of line to anyone. I appreciate this.(It is not always easy on this board to keep it civil)
I wish I can say that was ALWAYS true but I would be lying lol! But I do try. Anyway, thanks again!
Count me out. This fool was happy to desecrate Star Trek just so he could indulge his ego trip that himself and Picard had become one and the same, whilst also producing some of the worst most disjointed tedious badly produced drivel I’ve ever watched.
loose ends and a rushed finale ruined the first season for me.
Not everything has to be end of the universe, truth be told end of universe is lame imo.
Hope for a better second season but If they fill it with guest stars and so on you will not have time for character development with the crew, it will just end up the same over crowded mess season one was.
As for spam fleet, wtf, they need to remove the spam fleet from canon as that was just crap, what should have been an amazing scene was for me just ruined.
The fleet in Sacrifice of Angels etc was awesome, spam fleet was like omfg they broke star trek :(
Captain we have a problem….ok just hail spamfleet they will send 10million capital ships, problem solved
I am still struggling with this all-you-can-imagine tool. Writing and producing something like that is just cheap. It makes obvious that autors and producers dont care for logic or thruth and dont care to make a rich and plausible canon. Its just dirty work. This is way beneath Star Trek. This insults us fans. It makes us look like a silly herd of hungry all eaters. Some statements and interviews of Frakes are sounding also like that. If this is the zeitgeist in the office@Secret Hideout then they should go. I am quite sure that critic on some poor elements in writing and producing gets stroke down with the argument “they will watch it anyway”.
That tool was just too much. Yes, I know the science looks like magic line. Sure sure. But a device like that just makes it too easy to get out of rough situations. There really needs to be rules regarding its use to make not the go to solve for every problem. The transporter is a little like that I grant you. It was created to solve the “landing the ship” budget problems. But it also made it an easy solve for a lot of issues. So they always had to come up with “something is preventing me from getting a lock” or “with all the (insert sci-fi word here) in the atmosphere/rock transporters won’t work.” So far we don’t know its limitations and I am hoping it has a LOT of them.
I doubt we will ever see it again.
Sir Patrick,
STAR TREK PIKE NOW!!!
Low expectations
Bring back star trek
Not this crazy futurestic thing.
You make it sound like you want Star Trek to be an old TV artifact and not be futuristic? Gene R intended it to be futuristic?
In 1966 and again in 1987, the new Star Treks we got were futuristic and kind of crazy in terms of the societal norms of the times.
I will watch Season 2, but I hope for less guest-star fridging, writing that works harder than to use magic synth stuff to get itself out of minor binds, and – most of all – a story that embodies Picard’s eulogy of Data.
would love to see more of Riker and Troi
I really enjoyed the first season, I thought the writers did a great job. The way they brought Brent Spiner back as Alton Soong was particularly brilliant. TNG was legendary, but I am glad the producers opted to create something fresh and new rather than trying to copy the old format.
Picard season 1 had a great story line, the finest cast imaginable, and was beautifully produced, I would give it 9.2/10. Hopefully Wharf and Q will be putting in an appearance in season 2
I really hope to see more of 7 f 9.. She aged really well! Still a hottie to me.
Saddened Picard didn’t mention her in his interview