Jean-Luc Picard is ready to explore more strange, new worlds.
During the second half of a two-part panel at New York Comic Con 2019, CBS All Access previewed a new trailer for its upcoming series “Star Trek: Picard,” which will premiere Jan. 23, 2020. Sir Patrick Stewart will reprise the role he played for seven years on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Stewart, 79, was greeted with exuberant applause and a standing ovation and, in return, blew a kiss to the excited crowd before introducing the trailer at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater Saturday.
The three-minute clip gave fans a peek into the life that awaits the now-retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, who — while biding time on his vineyard alongside his dog, Number One, named for his former first officer — finds himself embarking on an unauthorized mission at the behest of someone from his former life. “I came here to find safety, but no one is ever safe from the past,” he says in voiceover, apparently prepared to disrupt his life of leisure. “The past is written, but we are left to write the future.”
Several familiar faces from the “Star Trek” franchise make appearances, including Data (Brent Spiner), Picard’s android sidekick who was killed in the 2002 film “Star Trek: Nemesis.” Jeri Ryan also makes a crossover appearance as ex-Borg Seven of Nine from the “Star Trek Voyager” series. She’s now leading a kickass, phaser-blasting life and appears willing to assist Picard with his secretive mission, telling him, “I help people who have no one else to help.”
Sir Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes revisit their “Star Trek: The Next Generation” roles in the upcoming CBS All Access series “Star Trek: Picard.”CBSFans were enthusiastic throughout the trailer, which was shown twice in a row to further satisfy the masses. But it was the appearance of Picard’s former first officer — “Number One” William Riker, played by Jonathan Frakes — two minutes into the clip that was greeted with the most whoops and applause. Picard visits a startled Riker at home — his wife, empath Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), still by his side — and seeks his support for his secret mission.
“Thank you for not trying to talk me out of all this,” Picard tells Riker. His former first officer’s response is a nod to their complicated history on “The Next Generation.”
“Believe me, I know better,” Riker says with a laugh.
During the panel, cast and show-runners were asked whether the series would be more than just a homecoming for the characters. “I don’t think the fans would have appreciated that,” executive producer Heather Kadin said about regrouping everyone for nostalgia’s sake. “Patrick [Stewart] did not want it to be a ‘Next Generation’ reunion show. We only brought people back if their stories really mattered to the stories we were telling. We didn’t want it to be, ‘Oh, there’s Riker!’”
Additionally, executive producer Alex Kurtzman sees the series — and the entire franchise — as a way of addressing problems that exist in today’s world.
“’Star Trek’ is a mirror; it holds itself up to society,” he said. “We’re in the middle of a massive immigration conversation right now, and we are very proud to say we’re diving head-first into that and using ‘Trek’ to explore it from all points of view.”
The first half of the panel served as a preview for Season 3 of “Star Trek: Discovery,” which will return next year — the exact date has not been announced — and stars Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Michael Burnham. A trailer for the new season picks up where Season 2 left off: The USS Discovery has crossed through a wormhole and is 930 years in the future, with Burnham and her shipmates looking to build new lives and find their place in a time period they could not have fathomed.
“When we jump to this future that we don’t know, full of uncertainty, we have to grapple with how that’s going to affect how we see ourselves, and then how we’re going to navigate this,” said Martin-Green. “Sometimes it’s ugly and uncomfortable and inconvenient and hurtful — but duty calls.”
CBS All Access also used New York Comic Con 2019 to announce a new installment of “Short Trek” mini episodes that delve into “Discovery” characters’ pasts. First up, available now: A segment titled “Q&A,” which looks at interactions between Ensign Spock (Ethan Peck from Season 2) and first officer Number One (played by Rebecca Romijn) on the former’s first day on the iconic starship Enterprise.



