One of the biggest surprises last summer was the announcement that Patrick Stewart would return to reprise his iconic role as Jean-Luc Picard in CBS All Access' Star Trek: Picard. The news was praised by fans worldwide, with the upcoming series premiering later this year on the premium streaming service.
While delivering a keynote speech at a conference of the National Association of Television Program Executives in Los Angeles, CBS All Access Executive Vice President of Original Content Julie McNamara shed some light on how Stewart was convinced to return to the role since his last appearance in 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis.
"We approached him at a time when he felt inspired to tell this story in a certain way. When I say ‘We,’ it wasn’t me. It was Alex Kurtzman and Michael Chabon," McNamara explained. "They made a compelling case. … for looking at Picard in that last act of his life.”
Kurtzman oversees CBS' expanding line of new Star Trek series and will executive produce Picard. In addition to executive producing the series, Chabon also serves as the showrunner after heading its writers' room. McNamara noted that the concept of the upcoming series telling an overarching story, rather than largely self-contained episodes, was an approach Stewart personally found "compelling."
Set 18 years after the events of Nemesis, Picard has retired from Starfleet and quietly runs his family's vineyard in France. However, he quickly finds himself back on a new adventure in the cosmos, with several familiar faces appearing along the way.
Debuting in 2020 on CBS All Access, Star Trek: Picard stars Patrick Stewart, Alison Pill, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora, Isa Briones, Santiago Cabrera and Harry Treadaway.
(via Deadline)