The first trailer for the new Star Trek series, Star Trek: Picard premiered at Hall H at San Diego Comic Con and readers, it’s good. Damn good. The highly anticipated CBS All Access series brings Patrick Stewart back as the beloved Captain Jean-Luc Picard for the first time in 17 years, since his last appearance as the character in the feature film Star Trek: Nemesis.
It’s been 25 years since Picard graced the small screen, and not only is he returning to the iconic character, but he’s bringing some familiar faces along with him. The trailer gives us a glimpse of both Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Data (Brent Spiner), the latter of whom has been taking up drawer space at Picard’s vineyard residence.
The trailer features beautiful cinematography, making the most of the series high production values. We catch glimpses of a lonely Picard struggling to adjust to civilian life, before a mysterious woman (Isa Briones) enters his life, seeking his help. This turn of events forces Picard to return to Starfleet and space as he must captain a new crew and reunite with old friends. “These past few years, I’v really tried to belong here,” Picard says in voice-over. “But it never truly felt like home.”
The trailer gives us a peek at new cast members Alison Pill, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora, Santiago Cabrera, and Harry Treadaway. And while they didn’t appear in the trailer, Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) will return to the series as well. Spiner joked about his return to Data saying, “I called producers and asked if they had anybody for the role of Picard yet and they hung up on me … I spoke to Patrick he said there’s a possibility, would you think about coming on this show and I said, ‘I don’t think could do that’ and he started crying and couldn’t take it.”
Stewart discussed his connection to the role of Picard during the panel, recalling the end of his run on Star Trek:The Next Generation, saying “When we were shooting the last episode of the series Jonathan Frakes and I had a scene in the Ready Room and he said, ‘It was an honor Captain,’ and I was supposed to say, ‘the honor has all been mine’ and I couldn’t say it. The emotion … we tried again and again and I couldn’t get it. And that emotion is still right here on this platform and it’s not going to go away.”
Executive producer Alex Kurtzman said of the upcoming series, “It’s an extremely different rhythm than [Star Trek: Discovery] … Discovery is a bullet. Picard is a very contemplative show. It will find a balance between the speed of Discovery and the nature of what Next Gen was, but I believe it will have its own rhythm.”
Oh, and as for Picard’s pooch? His is, naturally, “Number One”. Star Trek: Picard premieres in early 2020 on CBS All Access.
(via Entertainment Weekly, image: CBS All Access)
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