Next year, Patrick Stewart will reprise his role as Jean-Luc Picard for the first time in live-action since Star Trek: Nemesis. However, Star Trek: Picard won’t simply be a rehash of Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s greatest hits. During a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Picard executive producer Alex Kurtzman noted that Stewart resisted the idea of revisiting the Borg. Regardless, Stewart was eventually won over by the story that will unfold in the show.
“[Stewart’s] constant refrain was: ‘I don’t want to do what I’ve already done,'” recalled Kurtzman. “Obviously it’s not a secret that the Borg were involved, and his first instinct was not to do the Borg. He was like, ‘I did that story. I don’t want to do that story.’ And we couldn’t just say, ‘Yeah, but we loved you in it so much, we just want to do that again.’ And what ended up emerging was actually as a result of that back and forth, a very unique and very different Borg story. Definitely not one that you could have told in Next Generation. And certainly not what I think anyone’s expecting.”
During TNG, Picard was briefly assimilated by the Borg and it traumatized him for years. Picard put most of his Borg PTSD to rest in Star Trek: First Contact.
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Additionally, Kurtzman reiterated that Stewart wasn’t initially willing to come back. However, he was eventually convinced and allowed to have a creative role in the show.
“We entered into that knowing Patrick is going to have a major, major voice in whatever this becomes if we’re going to get him to say yes,” added Kurtzman. “He doesn’t want to repeat what he’s done already. Which was by the way, the best bar he could have put forward. The show is inspired by Next Gen, and it’s written by people who grew up loving it but it is very much not Next Gen. It feels like a modern adult drama in the world of Star Trek, which has not actually really happened before. It’s also singularly about a man in his emeritus years. And there are very few franchises that would allow you to have an almost 80 year old lead and tell his story.”
Star Trek: Picard will hit CBS All Access on January 23, 2020.
Are you excited to hear that Picard will have a unique Borg story? What do you want to see in the new series? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard
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