On the back of yesterday’s article focusing on Strange New Worlds, Akiva Goldsman also spoke about Picard how Star Trek: Picard came about, and he revealed some details about what we can expect about season 2 of the hit show.
During his discussion with the Hollywood Reporter, Goldsman let some previously unknown information slip, originally Picard was meant to be a Short Trek, and not even involve Sir Patrick at all. It was only later that the team behind Picard decided to flush out the show from a “one and done” to a full-on show with Sir Patrick reprising his iconic role as Jean Luc Picard…
You know, Picard wasn’t supposed to be a series. It was just a one-off scene in a Short Trek. He wasn’t even going to be played by Patrick Stewart. They were going to have a young Picard at the end of a short we were making up. Then Alex was like, “What if it was Patrick Stewart? … What if it wasn’t one scene?” Alex has a plan, and it’s pretty cool.
Moving on from that bombshell, he went on to discuss the complexities of filming Picard, originally Picard was to film seasons 2 and 3 back to back, however with the ever-changing climate of COVID these plans are still open and he was unable to either confirm or deny whether this was still the case, we know that production has started but as for how long the filming will be we will have to wait a little longer.
One thing some fans have stated is that the storylines for both Picard and Discovery are overly complicated and as such takes away from their enjoyment, as such the focus of Discovery season three was “The Burn” and that meant the overall feedback for Discovery’s third outing was better received, Goldsman gave his reaction…
Certainly there are different levels of complication over the seasons of Discovery – and I’m just a friend of the court at this point on Discovery. After season one, I started trying to excavate this Picard idea. But no, I think where our storytelling is complicated, if it is frustratingly so, it’s just our own fault for not doing it well enough. The great thing about plot complication and character excellence is they shouldn’t be mutually exclusive. Even a really complicated plot should ultimately become invisible, that’s sort of the job of it.
Chinatown being the example that we all endlessly lean on in our imaginations – [the plot of Chinatown is] really complex and complicated, yet at the end of the day you just remember it’s about water. There’s this elegant disappearing act so the characters can shine … Early on we made the choice to be agnostic when it came to the audience’s knowledge of Trek.
We want to welcome somebody who knows Trek and make it even better because of the things we have, but we don’t want to alienate those who don’t. If you know Next Gen, Picard is more fun, but you don’t have to watched Next Gen to watch Picard – but by the time we get to episode six you better have watched episodes one through five or your eyes are going to cross. That’s not true with Strange New Worlds where you can drop in, watch one, drop out, then watch another one later.
One question that has been lingering from that explosive season 1 finale, the second season of Picard WILL address the elephant in the room, is he even the same person he was now he has a different body…
We did fundamentally try to address that at the end of 10. He’s not Super Picard. We reset this congenital problem he lived with him since Next Gen and gave him the opportunity for rebirth, but it’s nothing more than a record as he might have been where he not here.
John De Lancie Returns As Q …
Moving on from storylines and filming, the subject of John de Lancie as Q returning for season two of Picard, Goldsman addressed why they decided to bring the iconic character back and how a playful Q can fit in the more serious tone of Picard. While acknowledging that time may not even have any meaning to an immortal like Q, Goldsman did reveal that Q will be treated the same as all the other characters and reflect the decades that have passed…
There are a lot of people who think of Q as a trickster god, right? And he is. But he’s also a profoundly significant relationship in Picard’s life. There’s a lot of discussion in Picard season two about the nature of connectedness. Q’s kind of a great lightning rod for that because in some ways he’s one of Picard’s deepest — not deep in the same way that Riker is or Beverly Crusher was — but in its own uniquely, profoundly deep relationship.
[W]e definitely chose to follow suit when it came to him. So as we tried to evolve the other characters, the same is true of Q. This is a show of a different time with actors of a different age. We’re now talking about the issues that come up in the last [stage] of your life. We wanted a Q that could play in that arena with Picard.
With Q returning for the sophomore season, exactly how will the story evolve for a Q, Goldsman assure us that much like Picard, Q’s character will evolve, and he won’t just be the same old Q we all know…
Terry Matalas and I don’t pretend that the interstitial years didn’t happen. No, obviously, chronological time is less relevant to Q. The time between shows is probably not even the blink of an eye in Q time. But we definitely chose to follow suit when it came to him. So as we tried to evolve the other characters, the same is true of Q.
This is a show of a different time with actors of a different age. We’re now talking about the issues that come up in the last [stage] of your life. We wanted a Q that could play in that arena with Picard.
Lastly, giving everyone an update on the state of the Star Trek: Universe and the question of “How much is too much?” Goldsman gave an update and some information about if there is more to come…
I can’t speak for CBS. Look, we all do the same thing, which is to look at the example that really works — like, you cannot have enough Marvel shows. I’m waiting for Falcon and the Winter Soldier tomorrow, and I watched the Loki trailer 19,000 times. So with that as the example, you can never have enough Star Trek shows. — but we’ve all seen the other side where it doesn’t work. Star Trek has that heart-space for some people, especially now, after the world was revealed for being worse than we thought it was, I’m a big believer in hard-won happy endings. It doesn’t mean it’s not hard getting there, but I’m just going to choose to believe that there can be good outcomes.
Watch the teaser for Picard season 2 below…
Star Trek Picard is set to return to our screens in 2022 with the same cast as season one plus a few additions such as John de Lancie and although yet to be officially confirmed, Whoopi Goldberg is also set to return as Gunun…
Be sure to keep checking back to follow us for all the updates as they happen
