Star Trek: Picard facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Star Trek: Picard
Logo for the first and second seasons
Genre	Drama Science fiction
Created by	Akiva Goldsman Michael Chabon Kirsten Beyer Alex Kurtzman
Starring	Patrick Stewart Alison Pill Isa Briones Harry Treadaway Michelle Hurd Santiago Cabrera Evan Evagora Jeri Ryan Orla Brady Brent Spiner Ed Speleers
Theme music composer	Jeff Russo Jerry Goldsmith
Composer(s)	Jeff Russo Stephen Barton Frederik Wiedmann
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	30
Production
Executive producer(s)	Eugene Roddenberry Trevor Roth James Duff Patrick Stewart Heather Kadin Akiva Goldsman Michael Chabon Alex Kurtzman Terry Matalas Doug Aarniokoski Dylan Massin
Production location(s)	Santa Clarita, California
Running time	39–62 minutes
Production company(s)	Secret Hideout Weed Road Pictures Escapist Fare Roddenberry Entertainment CBS Studios
Budget	$8–9 million per episode
Release
Original network	CBS All Access
Original release	January 23 (2020-01-23) – March 26, 2020 (2020-03-26)
Chronology
Related shows	Star Trek TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Short Treks

Star Trek: Picard is an American science fiction television series created by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, and Alex Kurtzman for the streaming service CBS All Access (later rebranded as Paramount+). It is the eighth Star Trek series and was released from 2020 to 2023 as part of Kurtzman's expanded Star Trek Universe. The series focuses on retired Starfleet Admiral Jean-Luc Picard. It begins at the end of the 24th century, 20 years after the character's last appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

Patrick Stewart stars as Picard, reprising his role from the series Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as other Star Trek media. Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Harry Treadaway, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera, and Evan Evagora also star in the first season, with Jeri Ryan, Orla Brady, and Brent Spiner joining for the second. The third season stars Stewart, Ryan, Hurd, and Ed Speleers, with Next Generation cast members LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, and Spiner as special guest stars.

A new series starring Stewart as Picard was first rumored in June 2018 and officially announced that August. It was produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout, Weed Road Pictures, and Roddenberry Entertainment. The series was designed to be slower and more character-focused than previous franchise installments, with each season exploring different aspects of Picard in his advanced age. Filming took place in California, which granted the series large tax credits, and production on the second and third seasons took place back-to-back. Chabon served as showrunner for the first season, Goldsman and Terry Matalas took over for the second, and Matalas was the sole showrunner for the third.

Star Trek: Picard premiered on CBS All Access on January 23, 2020, and the rest of its 10-episode first season was released weekly until March. The second season was released on Paramount+ from March to May 2022, and the third and final season was released from February to April 2023. The series was met with generally positive reviews from critics and has received numerous accolades, including one Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award from ten nominations and five Saturn Awards from eleven nominations.

Several tie-in projects have been created based on the series, including an episode of the companion series Star Trek: Short Treks. Cast, crew, and fans have expressed interest in the story continuing through a potential spin-off series commonly referred to as Star Trek: Legacy, while Stewart has expressed interest in a film continuation that is in development.

Premise

The series begins in 2399, 20 years after Jean-Luc Picard's last appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), and finds the character still deeply affected by the death of Data in that film as well as the destruction of the planet Romulus in the film Star Trek (2009). Retired from Starfleet and living on his family's vineyard, Picard is drawn into a new adventure when he is visited by a synthetic "daughter" of Data, one of several new synthetic beings or "synths". Picard fights for their right to exist and gives his life to save them.

After Picard's consciousness is transferred into a synthetic body, the second season moves forward to 2401. Picard and his companions are living new lives when his old adversary Q, an extra-dimensional being, traps them in an alternate reality. They travel back in time to the 21st century to save the future of the galaxy. In the third season, Picard learns that he has a son who is being hunted by mysterious enemies. He reunites with the former crew of the USS Enterprise to protect his son and face a new invasion by the Borg.

Episodes

Cast and characters

• Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard:
  A retired Starfleet admiral who previously commanded the USS Enterprise. Picard retired from Starfleet in protest when the United Federation of Planets chose not to aid the Romulans when their planet was destroyed. He is diagnosed with a terminal illness in the first season, as the writers wanted to discuss relatable issues that people face at the end of their lives, and he dies at the end of the season. Picard's consciousness is transferred to a synthetic body, which led to widespread discussion by fans and critics regarding whether the synthetic version was still the same person. Co-creators Michael Chabon and Akiva Goldsman both felt he was the same character, but other commentators disagreed. More than a week of debates on the Star Trek wiki encyclopaedia Memory Alpha regarding whether or not a new wiki page should be created for the synthetic version of Picard ended with the information being kept on the same page. Picard is appointed Chancellor of Starfleet Academy by the second season, which explores the character's trauma from his mother's death when he was a child. In the third season, Picard is reunited with the former command crew of the Enterprise.
• Alison Pill as Agnes Jurati (seasons 1–2):
  A former Starfleet doctor and expert on synthetic life who joins Picard. During the second season, Agnes is assimilated into the Borg Collective and becomes the new Borg Queen.
• Isa Briones as Dahj and Soji Asha, Sutra, and Kore Soong (seasons 1–2):
  Dahj and Soji are twin androids with organic bodies that were created to be the daughters of Data. Sutra is an earlier android model, and Kore is the daughter of Dr. Adam Soong from 2024. This helps explain by whom Data was inspired for the appearance of Dahj and Soji.
• Harry Treadaway as Narek (season 1):
  A Romulan agent sent to spy on Soji Asha.
• Michelle Hurd as Rafaella "Raffi" Musiker:
  Picard's former Starfleet first officer.
• Santiago Cabrera as Cristobal "Chris" Rios (seasons 1–2):
  A former Starfleet officer and the pilot of La Sirena. Cabrera also portrays the emergency holograms aboard La Sirena. During the second season, Rios falls in love with a 21st century woman and opts not to return to the future.
• Evan Evagora as Elnor (seasons 1–2):
  A Romulan refugee whom Picard abandoned as a boy and was raised by the Qowat Milat, a sect of all-female warrior nuns.
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine:
  A former Borg drone and crew member aboard the USS Voyager who became a member of the Fenris Rangers vigilante group.
• Orla Brady as Laris and Tallinn:
  Laris is Picard's Romulan housekeeper who develops romantic feelings for him. Tallinn is a Supervisor like the Star Trek: The Original Series character Gary Seven.
• Brent Spiner as Data, Altan Inigo Soong, Adam Soong, and Lore:
  Data is Picard's android former second officer, created by cyberneticist Dr. Noonian Soong. Altan Inigo Soong is the latter's descendent and Dr. Adam Soong his ancestor from 2024, continuing the franchise's tradition of having Spiner play every male member of the Soong family. The android Lore is Data's evil older brother.
• Ed Speleers as Jack Crusher (season 3):
  The son of Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard.

Patrick Stewart reprises the series' title role from previous Star Trek media

Visual effects

Visual effects for the series are provided by Pixomondo, DNEG, Crafty Apes, Ghost VFX, Gentle Giant Studios, Technicolor VFX, and Filmworks/FX. with Jason Zimmerman returning from Discovery as visual effects supervisor. Pixomondo worked with the series' production design department to help flesh out their designs into 3D assets, and then shared those assets with the other vendors. For the first season, these digital models included the Borg Cube, La Sirena, and the Romulan ships.

Music

Star Trek: Discovery composer Jeff Russo was revealed to be composing the score for Picard in July 2019. Russo's relationship with Star Trek began as a fan of The Next Generation, and he asked Kurtzman if he could work on Picard after seeing Stewart's announcement of the series at the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention. Russo wanted his music to remain truthful to previous Star Trek scores without repeating them, and especially wanted to avoid his music for Discovery. Russo felt that Picard was a more intimate story and wanted to take a more personalized approach by featuring more solo instrument performances than he did for Discovery.

Russo wrote several iterations of the main theme for the series before settling on a more emotional and stirring version. It is bookended with a piccolo, which Russo felt sounded similar to the fictional Ressikan flute that Picard plays in the Next Generation episode "The Inner Light". The second season features an "up-tempo rearrangement" of the main theme. Additionally, Russo used Jerry Goldsmith's theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) to connect to The Next Generation, as that series used Goldsmith's theme for its main title, and he also referenced Alexander Courage's original Star Trek theme to "evoke the idea of Star Trek in general". A soundtrack album for the first half of the first season was released on February 7, 2020, followed by an album for the full season on April 3. An album for the second season was released on April 29, 2022.

Stephen Barton replaced Russo as composer for the third season, after working with Matalas on the series 12 Monkeys. They took inspiration from the work of Goldsmith and James Horner for the Star Trek films. Craig Huxley contributed performances on the blaster beam, an instrument that he invented and previously played on the soundtrack of The Motion Picture.

Release

Streaming and broadcast

Star Trek: Picard premiered on the streaming service CBS All Access in the United States on January 23, 2020. Like Discovery, each episode was broadcast in Canada by Bell Media on the same day as the U.S. release, on the specialty channels CTV Sci-Fi Channel (English) and Z (French) before streaming on Crave. Amazon Prime Video released each episode within 24 hours of its U.S. debut in over 200 other countries and territories around the world; this was separate from Discovery, which was released internationally by Netflix at that time. The deals with Amazon and Bell were made by international distributor arm CBS Studios International.

After CBS All Access was rebranded as Paramount+, the first season remained on the service and the other two seasons were confirmed to be released on it as well. In February 2023, Paramount made a new deal with Prime Video for the series' international streaming rights. This allowed the third season to be streamed on Paramount+ in some other countries, within 24 hours of each episode's U.S. debut, alongside its Prime Video release. The first two seasons were also added to Paramount+ internationally in addition to remaining on Prime Video. The series finale was released on Paramount+ in the U.S. on April 20, 2023. In August 2023, Star Trek content was removed from Crave and all three seasons of Picard began streaming in Canada on Paramount+ instead. The series would continue to be broadcast on CTV Sci-Fi and be available on CTV.ca and the CTV app.

Home media

Each season received an individual release on DVD, Blu-Ray, and Limited Edition Steelbook formats, featuring all of the seasons' episodes and relevant special features. On September 5, 2023, the same day that the third season was released on home media, a box set collecting all three seasons and more than seven hours of special features was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the U.S. This was followed by the "Picard Legacy Collection" on November 7, a 54-Disc Blu-ray box set that includes all three seasons of Picard, all seven seasons of The Next Generation, the four Next Generation films, the Wisdom of Picard novel, and other merchandise.

Spin-offs

Star Trek: Short Treks

When the Discovery companion series Star Trek: Short Treks was being released in December 2018, CBS chief creative officer David Nevins said more shorts would be released before Picard. In February 2019, Kurtzman said future shorts could tie-into series other than Discovery. At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, Kurtzman announced that the second group of Short Treks would include a teaser for Picard set 15 years before the start of the series. Titled "Children of Mars", the short was released on January 9, 2020, and depicts the synthetic attack on Mars from the first season's backstory. This is told from the perspective of two school children.

Potential film continuation

Stewart said in November 2022 that he would like to make another Star Trek film with the cast of The Next Generation. He reiterated this wish in February 2023, praising the ending of Picard but feeling there were questions left unanswered and saying "it might be a good idea to look at Jean-Luc Picard one more time in a different atmosphere, and then wrap him up with certainty." That April, Paramount+ announced that the franchise was expanding into television films with Star Trek: Section 31. In June, Stewart said he still thought a film would be an appropriate way to end his time as Picard, but there had been "no eager response" from the studio about the idea and he had been asked to stop talking about it. In his memoir Making It So which was released later that year, Stewart said he was "gently pushing" Paramount to make a Picard film and had discussed the idea with Frakes, Burton, and Spiner. He said they were all open to reprising their roles in the film and Frakes was his personal first choice to direct. In January 2024, Stewart said he had just been told that a Star Trek film was being written for him to star in and he should expect to receive the script in the next week or so. The next month, Matalas said he was open to making a television film that could serve as a backdoor pilot for his proposed Star Trek: Legacy spin-off series, as long as he could hire the cast and crew that he wanted. By the end of March, Kurtzman was considering a follow-up to Picard as one of the next Star Trek television films if Section 31 was successful.

Potential series continuation

Goldsman and Matalas stated in January 2022 that elements of the series could be explored more in a spin-off series, with Matalas describing Picard's 25th century setting as the "present day of Star Trek... what's going on in that particular world is very important to me". By that May, some fans had begun championing the idea of a spin-off series featuring Ryan as Seven of Nine and Hurd as Raffi. Matalas said he was "not just supporting, [but] spearheading" the idea, which both actresses also expressed interest in. In November, Frakes said Picard was "ripe for a continuation of some version of what we've established in the show. Not more Picard, but certainly, Next Gen is alive and well." McFadden added that the Next Generation cast were excited to continue in their roles after the third season. In January 2023, Kurtzman said it was possible for the series to continue beyond its third season. The next month, Matalas said the third season of Picard would feel like "the final voyage" of the Next Generation's main cast, but a "Next, Next Generation" series could continue the story and include "legacy characters" from The Next Generation, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine. He said a spin-off series was not in development but he would love to be involved if it ever was, and suggested the possible title Star Trek: Legacy.

In March 2023, Ryan shared a fan petition calling for a Star Trek: Legacy series to be made, similar to an earlier fan petition that led to the development of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. However, the spin-off was considered unlikely to be ordered in the near future due to Paramount+'s recent cost-cutting measures and the fact that multiple Star Trek series were already in development. Matalas confirmed in April that this was the situation, but he had still been discussing his ideas for the spin-off with Kurtzman who added, "We've heard the fans loud and clear. There's obviously more story to tell. So, we'll see." After Picard ended, Matalas confirmed that he envisioned Star Trek: Legacy as following the crew of the USS Enterprise-G who would be led by Captain Seven of Nine and include Raffi, Speleer's Jack Crusher, Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut's Sidney La Forge, and Mica Burton's Alandra La Forge. Stewart said he was open to making guest appearances as Picard alongside Speleers. Matalas said Worf's son Alexander Rozhenko from The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine would appear in the potential spin-off series, and he wanted Todd Stashwick, who portrayed Captain Liam Shaw in the third season of Picard, to return despite his character's death. He said Stashwick's return would be as "a Shaw character".

Goldsman stated in June 2023 that fan appetite for Star Trek: Legacy was undeniable and he had signed the petition asking Paramount to make the series; the petition was approaching 60,000 signatures at that point, nearly doubling the amount received by the Strange New Worlds petition. In January 2024, Hurd expressed her hope that work could begin on the series following Section 31 and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Kurtzman said at the start of April that he would have green-lighted Star Trek: Legacy by then if he could, but the decision was "beyond [his] paygrade".

See also

In Spanish: Star Trek: Picard para niños