Patrick Stewart has officially announced the return of the ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ captain.
The crowd was not expecting this. Thousands of Trekkies (or Trekkers, depending on your personal belief system) gathered in the Leonard Nimoy Theater at the annual Star Trek Las Vegas convention held by Creation Entertainment. William Shatner had just left the stage, having delivered his usual round of self-deprecating Q&As, but we were urged to remain in our seats. I had heard earlier that Alex Kurtzman was going to follow the marquee event with a special announcement but had assumed it would just involve information regarding the second season of Star Trek: Discovery or the home release date for the first (that news would come later the next day).
Kurtzman said, “I figured that this was probably the day to announce to you what our next Star Trek series is going to be. If that’s okay with you guys.” A healthy applause spilled forth from the audience, but then he continued, “But I actually don’t feel entirely qualified to be the one to do it. So what I would like to do is bring out a good friend to talk about the next one.” Behind him, a re-creation of the Enterprise-D’s bridge doors opened and Patrick Stewart walked out onto the stage. The room erupted.
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Stewart was sporting a large grin. He appeared a touch overwhelmed by the reception, even though he surely knew the place was going to lose its mind upon his appearance. He stood in front of the moderator’s desk, leaning against it. Someone screamed from the way back of the theater, “We love you!” Stewart put his hand to his chest and replied, “And it is returned. Thank you.”
As was the case for every actor who took that stage this past weekend, Stewart is in awe of the power this franchise has on those who get swept up in it. Star Trek is the future as it should be.
I’ve never heard a crowd as loud. I honestly felt the room move. Some stranger behind me fell upon my shoulders in exaltation. The reaction was absurd and beautiful.
It is an unexpected but delightful surprise to find myself excited and invigorated to be returning to Jean-Luc Picard and to explore new dimensions within him. Read my full statement in the photo. #StarTrek @cbsallaccess Photo: @shervinfoto pic.twitter.com/8Ynuj3RBNm
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) August 4, 2018
However, Stewart warned the excited auditorium that the Picard in this new iteration may look and act a little different from the captain we remember. He might not even be a captain:
“He may not, and I stress may not, be a captain anymore. He may not be the Jean-Luc that you recognize and know so well. It may be a very different individual. Someone who has been changed by his experiences. Twenty years will have passed, which is more or less exactly the time between the very last movie – ‘Nemesis’ – and today.”
He urged us not to worry. What he and the writers have in store for Picard will live up to his history:
It will be, I promise you, I guarantee it, something very, very different. It will come to you with the same passion, and determination, and love of the material and love of our followers and our fans, exactly as we had it before.
This new Star Trek show is still in the very early stages of development. We do not know if it will be an ongoing series or have a limited run. Deadline is reporting that several Star Trek: Discovery team members will be jumping ship for the Picard spinoff. James Duff (Discovery Executive Producer), Akiva Goldsman (Discoveryproducer/writer), and Kirsten Beyer (Discovery writer/novelist) are all tapped for the creative board. As is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon, who also wrote one of the Star Trek: Short Treks installments to be released in December.
(Excerpt) Read More at: FilmSchoolRejects.com