Star Trek: Picard (season 2)

The second season of the American television series Star Trek: Picard features Jean-Luc Picard. The season is being produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Secret Hideout, Weed Road Pictures, Escapist Fare, and Roddenberry Entertainment, with Terry Matalas serving as showrunner.

Star Trek: Picard
Season 2
Promotional image
Starring
Country of originUnited States
Release
Original networkCBS All Access
Season chronology

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, Evan Evagora, Michelle Hurd, and Santiago Cabrera also star. A second season of the series was in development for months before being officially announced in January 2020, with Matalas joining the series ahead of the planned departure of first season showrunner Michael Chabon, who remained as a writer and executive producer. Filming is expected to begin in California in early 2021, delayed from a June 2020 production start date by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The season is expected to premiere on the streaming service CBS All Access, and consist of 10 episodes.

Episodes

Michael Chabon is writing two episodes of the season,[1] and Jonathan Frakes will return as a director for the season.[2]

Cast and characters
Main article: List of Star Trek: Picard characters

Main

Notable guests

Production

Development

Executive producer Heather Kadin revealed in October 2018 that Star Trek: Picard was intended to be ongoing series rather than a limited miniseries;[7] the producers knew from the beginning of development that star Patrick Stewart was signed on for at least two seasons, and that a second season would definitely be made.[8] Stewart reiterated this in February 2019, saying "we are set up for possibly three years of this show".[9] That September, Stewart said filming for a second season could begin as early as March 2020.[10] Co-creator Alex Kurtzman confirmed a month later that a second season of the series was "already in the works" ahead of the release of the first season.[11]

In early December, showrunner Michael Chabon signed an overall deal with CBS Television Studios to create several new series for the studio, beginning with an adaptation of his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Chabon would remain with Picard as showrunner until he had to focus on Kavalier & Clay at some point in 2020, at which point he would still remain creatively involved in Picard as an executive producer.[12] A week later, the series was informally green-lit for a second 10-episode season after being allocated $20.45 million in tax credits by the California Film Commission for the production to continue filming in California. This was the most any television series had been awarded by the program since its expansion in September 2014.[3][13] An official renewal was expected once a showrunner for the second season could be confirmed.[13]

In January 2020, CBS officially announced the second season renewal and revealed that Terry Matalas had joined the series as an executive producer to fill the void that would be created by Chabon's departure. CBS had moved Matalas from their series MacGyver to Picard due to the latter being a high priority for the studio. Matalas had been working with Chabon and the second season's writers for "some time" before the official announcement, and he was expected to take over as showrunner once Chabon left. The series was also reported to have an informal green-light for a third season that would be developed at the same time as the second, so the two could be filmed back-to-back.[14] Chabon expressed regret at having to leave the series, but said that he was "every bit as involved" in the development of the second season as he had been on the first, and would be writing episodes for the second season as well as remaining an executive producer.[15] The difference was he would not be running the series day-to-day once filming began.[16]

In March 2020, journalist Marc Bernardin, who interned on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, joined Picard as a supervising producer.[17] By the end of that month, filming was set to begin in mid-June.[18][6] These plans were made before the COVID-19 pandemic began.[19] Goldsman said in May 2020 that if filming could not begin in June due to the pandemic, it would begin as soon as possible after pandemic restrictions were lifted and preparation for filming could be completed. He noted that any delays in production would allow more of the season to be written before filming begins, and therefore allow earlier episodes to be revised based on the finished scripts for later episodes, to help tell the season's serialized story.[20] That September, after a deal was made between major studios and Hollywood unions regarding safety measures for productions during the pandemic, director Jonathan Frakes said the season would potentially begin filming in January 2021 and added that Stewart was eager to begin filming as soon as possible.[21]

Writing

Before the end of 2019, Chabon and Goldsman met with Stewart to pitch their story for the second season.[22] With the season order in January 2020, Kurtzman said the writers were confident in this "surprising" story, but he wanted to wait until the first season had begun airing before locking this down to allow the creative team to adjust the direction of the season based on the response of fans to the first. He felt this was an essential part of making a Star Trek series that he had learned during his previous work on the franchise.[23] In March, Chabon said the full story for the second season had been broken and the "writing portion" of the production was beginning, with Chabon writing two episodes for the season.[1] He added that the story of second season was true to the original ideas of the series and would not be affected by Star Trek fans who had criticized the ways in which the first season had not met their expectations. However, Chabon felt emboldened by the success of the first season to go in some new directions and said the second season would take advantage of lessons he learned during the making of the first season about television production and about Picard's cast and characters. He added that the second season would have more time to explore the personal lives of the series' supporting cast than the first did due to not needing to introduce and cover so many new characters and plot points.[16]

Following the first-season finale, Chabon and Goldsman said the second season would not ignore the fact that Picard's consciousness is now in a synthetic body, with Chabon stating "we definitely don't want to pretend like these events never happened".[24] Chabon said the Romulan refugee storyline from the first season would be further explored in the second "in a way",[19] and added that the USS Enterprise had not been revisited in the first season because the writers did not want to include it in a throwaway moment. He said a full appearance of the Enterprise was being considered for the second season, but a final decision on this had not been made by the writers by the end of March 2020.[25] In June, Goldsman said the technology and culture of Starfleet would be explored more in the second season after the first season was about "somebody who is outside of Starfleet".[26]

Casting

Returning from the first season to star in the second are Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard, Alison Pill as Agnes Jurati, Isa Briones as Soji Asha, Evan Evagora as Elnor, Michelle Hurd as Raffi Musiker, and Santiago Cabrera as Cristobal "Chris" Rios.[3][4] Harry Treadaway will not return for the second season as Narek.[3][4]

In February 2019, Whoopi Goldberg stated that she would like to reprise her Star Trek: The Next Generation role of Guinan in Picard.[27] That July, Robert Picardo, who portrayed The Doctor and Lewis Zimmerman in Star Trek: Voyager, said CBS had expressed interest in him returning for the second season of Picard.[28] In January 2020, while promoting the first season of the series on the talk show The View, Stewart officially invited co-host Goldberg to appear in the second season, an invitation which Goldberg accepted.[5] Chabon rewatched several key episodes of The Next Generation that feature Guinan in preparation for writing new scenes for Goldberg who he called "an amazing actor".[25] By April, LeVar Burton had discussed reprising his Next Generation role of Geordi La Forge on Picard, and said there was a possibility he would appear in the second season.[29] In July, Picardo praised the series and expressed interest in guest-starring in it in the future, but said there were "absolutely no plans" for him to appear in the second season.[30]

After reprising his The Next Generation role of Data in the first season, Brent Spiner said in March 2020 that he would not do so again as he felt that story was a fitting end to the character. He expressed interest in returning for the second season as Dr. Altan Inigo Soong who he began playing in the first season two-part finale,[31] and Goldsman later admitted that Soong was created in part so Spiner could return for future seasons following Data's death.[26] Chabon expressed interest in first season recurring guest stars Jeri Ryan, Orla Brady, and Jamie McShane returning for the second season, respectively as Voyager's Seven of Nine and Picard's Romulan staff-members Laris and Zhaban. He said a relationship between Seven and Raffi that was teased at the end of the first season would be explored in the second.[19] Ryan confirmed she was returning for the second season in May 2020.[6]

Filming

The season will be filmed in California, after the series received tax incentives to continue filming there for the second season.[3] Filming was initially scheduled to begin in mid-June 2020,[18][6] but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was instead expected to begin in January 2021.[32][21] In December 2020, Ryan said filming would begin on February 1,[33] but on that date she revealed that it had been delayed again.[34]

Music

Composer Jeff Russo said in December 2020 that he was beginning to think about the score for the season, adding, "there's a lot going on there".[35]

Marketing

CBS announced in June 2020 that it was participating in the "All In Challenge" to raise money for COVID-19 relief. Money donated to the campaign would go to charities including Feeding America, Meals on Wheels, World Central Kitchen, and No Kid Hungry, and fans who donated could win the chance to visit the series' set, meet Patrick Stewart, and have a walk-on role in an episode.[36]

Release

The season is expected to premiere on CBS All Access in the United States,[13][21] and run for 10 episodes.[3] Each episode of Picard is broadcast in Canada by Bell Media on the same day as the All Access release, on the specialty channels CTV Sci-Fi Channel (English) and Z (French) before streaming on Crave.[37] Amazon Prime Video streams the episodes within 24 hours of their U.S. release in over 200 other countries and territories around the world.[38]

References
  1. Patten, Dominic (March 5, 2020). Star Trek: Picard Podcast: Reunion With Riker & Building The Borg. Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  2. "Jonathan Frakes Talks 'Discovery' And 'Picard' Critics, And His Future Directing Two New Star Trek Shows". TrekMovie.com. April 14, 2020. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  3. Patten, Dominic (December 16, 2019). "'Star Trek: Picard' Renewed For Season 2 Ahead Of Series Debut On CBS All Access Next Month". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 16, 2019. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  4. "Patrick Stewart Is Ready To Take More Risks For 'Star Trek: Picard' Season 2". TrekMovie.com. June 10, 2020. Archived from the original on June 14, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020. The main cast is all expected to be back, with the exception of Harry Treadaway (Narek).
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