Streaming service CBS All Access has already renewed Star Trek: Picard for a second season just over a week before the first season is even set to start airing, Deadline reports.
The announcement was made at the Television Critics Association (TCA), a recurring event at which television networks present their slate of programming to advertisers, the press, and partners. In a Picard-themed panel at the event, the show’s cast and showrunner talked about what viewers can expect from the series, which returns to a character who has not appeared on screen since the film Star Trek: Nemesis way back in 2002.
Executive Producer Akiva Goldsman said we can expect to see some of the social relevance that the Star Trek franchise has been known for. Quoted in Deadline, he said:
The marginalization of others, not being open-hearted or seeing with empathetic eyes, this seems to be a pervasive problem we all saw as ripe for healing… Star Trek does its bit to heal social ills.
Also, series star Patrick Stewart indicated that fans should expect to see familiar characters from The Next Generation era in the series, even beyond those already revealed in trailers to date. “It is my hope that, whenever the series wraps, we will have encountered all the principal actors from Next Generation,” he said.
Below: Images from a recent trailer for Star Trek: Picard.
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Who is that Federation officer in the vineyard?YouTube/CBS All Access
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Data (Brent Spiner) appears in Picard’s dreams.YouTube/CBS All Access
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Just a retired captain and his trusty Number One.YouTube/CBS All Access
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A mysterious young woman needs Picard’s help.YouTube/CBS All Access
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Federation headquarters looks much the same.YouTube/CBS All Access
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“This isn’t your house anymore.”YouTube/CBS All Access
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Picard finds a pilot in Cristobal (Santiago Cabrera).YouTube/CBS All Access
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Christobal greets Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill).YouTube/CBS All Access
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Raffi (Michelle Hurd) is a former intelligence officer.YouTube/CBS All Access
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Elnor (Evan Evagora) is skilled at hand-to-hand combat.YouTube/CBS All Access
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Picard’s still got a few fencing moves.YouTube/CBS All Access
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Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is back with guns blazing.YouTube/CBS All Access
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It’s Riker (Jonathan Frakes)!
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Is that Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis)?YouTube/CBS All Access
The renewal was made possible in part by expanded tax credits in the state of California by the California Film Commission. Former Governor Jerry Brown oversaw a rethink of that program that, among other things, resulted in an expansion to $330 million of available credits. Season two of Picard secured $20.45 million of this funding, compared to $15.6 million for the first season in the prior year.
The first season of Star Trek: Picard will premiere on CBS All Access on January 23, 2020. Episodes will be released in a weekly cadence.
Listing image by YouTube/CBS All Access
https://arstechnica.com/?p=1643163