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Star Trek: Picard
Season 2
Star Trek Picard season 2 poster.jpg
Promotional image
Starring
Country of originUnited States
Release
Original networkParamount+
Season chronology
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Season 1
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Season 3
List of Star Trek: Picard episodes

The second season of the American television series Star Trek: Picard features Jean-Luc Picard as he faces the true final frontier, time. The season is being produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment, with Akiva Goldsman and Terry Matalas serving as showrunners.

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, Santiago Cabrera, Jeri Ryan, Orla Brady, and Brent Spiner 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 began in California in February 2021, delayed from a planned June 2020 production start by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The season is expected to premiere on the streaming service Paramount+ in 2022, and consist of 10 episodes.

Episodes[edit]

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[edit]

Main article: List of Star Trek: Picard characters

Main[edit]

  • Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard[3][4]
  • Alison Pill as Agnes Jurati[3][4]
  • Isa Briones as Soji Asha[3][4]
  • Evan Evagora as Elnor[3][4]
  • Michelle Hurd as Raffi Musiker[3][4]
  • Santiago Cabrera as Cristobal "Chris" Rios[3][4]
  • Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine[5][6]
  • Orla Brady as Laris[6][7]
  • Brent Spiner as Altan Inigo Soong[6][8]

Notable guests[edit]

  • Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan[9]
  • John de Lancie as Q[6]

Production[edit]

Development[edit]

Executive producer Heather Kadin revealed in October 2018 that Star Trek: Picard was intended to be an ongoing series rather than a limited miniseries;[10] 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.[11] Stewart reiterated this in February 2019, saying "we are set up for possibly three years of this show".[12] That September, Stewart said filming for a second season could begin as early as March 2020.[13] 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.[14]

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 shift focus to Kavalier & Clay at some point in 2020, and he would still be creatively involved in Picard as an executive producer from then.[15] 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][16] An official renewal was expected once a showrunner for the second season could be confirmed.[16]

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.[17] 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.[18] The difference was he would not be running the series day-to-day once filming began.[19]

In March 2020, journalist Marc Bernardin, who interned on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, joined Picard as a supervising producer.[20] By the end of that month, filming was set to begin in mid-June.[5][21] These plans were made before the COVID-19 pandemic began.[7] Executive producer Akiva 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.[22] 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 filming could begin in January 2021 and added that Stewart was eager to begin as soon as possible;[23] filming began in February.[24] Goldsman and Matalas were confirmed as co-showrunners for the season that April.[6]

Writing[edit]

Before the end of 2019, Chabon and Goldsman met with Stewart to pitch their story for the second season.[25] With the season order in January 2020, Kurtzman said the writers were confident in this story, but he did not want to lock it down until the first season had begun airing so the creative team could adjust the direction of the season based on the response of fans to the first.[26] In March, Chabon said the full story for the second season had been broken and writing had begun.[1] He added that the story was true to the original ideas of the series and would not be affected by Star Trek fans who criticized the first season for not meeting their expectations. 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.[19] Goldsman said one lesson learned during the first season was to figure out the ending of the season early on, saying "you better know the end of your third act before you start filming your first scene".[27]

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,[28] and that it would further explore the personal lives of the series' supporting cast,[19] the Romulan refugee storyline from the first season "in a way",[7] and the technology and culture of Starfleet.[29] Chabon 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.[30] In May, Goldsman noted that delays in production due to the pandemic allowed more of the season to be written before filming began, and therefore allowed earlier episodes to be revised based on the finished scripts for later episodes.[22] In April 2021, Goldsman said the season would continue to explore issues that come up in the last stage of a person's life, and added that the nature of connectedness would be a major theme for the season; the Star Trek: The Next Generation character Q appears in the season because of his deep relationship with Picard.[27]

Casting[edit]

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 did 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.[31] That July, Robert Picardo, who portrayed the holographic doctor in Star Trek: Voyager, said CBS had expressed interest in him returning for the second season of Picard.[32] 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.[9] 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".[30] 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.[33] 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.[34]

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,[8] and Goldsman later admitted that Soong was created in part so Spiner could return for future seasons following Data's death.[29] 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.[7] Ryan said in May 2020 that she was returning for the second season,[5] and she, Brady, and Spiner were confirmed as main cast members in April 2021 when John de Lancie was announced as reprising his Star Trek role of Q in the season.[6]

Filming[edit]

Filming was initially scheduled to begin in mid-June 2020,[5][21] but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was instead expected to begin in January 2021.[23][35] In December 2020, Ryan said filming would begin on February 1,[36] but on that date she revealed that it had been delayed again.[37] Production began on February 16, 2021,[24] in California, after the series received tax incentives to continue filming there for the second season.[3] In April 2021, de Lancie confirmed that the second and third seasons were being filmed simultaneously, and explained that the production was following strict guidelines on set due to the pandemic, with cast and crew members being regularly tested.[38]

Music[edit]

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".[39]

Marketing[edit]

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.[40] In February 2021, Stewart appeared in a marketing campaign for Super Bowl LV advertising the rebranded streaming service Paramount+.[41] A panel for the season was held during the "First Contact Day" virtual event on April 5, 2021, celebrating the franchise on the fictional holiday marking first contact between humans and aliens in the Star Trek universe. A teaser for the season debuted at the panel, revealing a focus on time travel and the return of Q. Stewart and de Lancie discussed the season.[6]

Release[edit]

The season is expected to premiere in 2022 on Paramount+ in the United States,[6] and run for 10 episodes.[3] Each episode of Picard is broadcast in Canada by Bell Media on the same day as the Paramount+ release, on the specialty channels CTV Sci-Fi Channel (English) and Z (French) before streaming on Crave.[42] Amazon Prime Video streams the episodes within 24 hours of their U.S. release in over 200 other countries and territories around the world.[43]

References[edit]

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