Captain Picard Will Have Left Starfleet Behind In The Upcoming Star Trek Show

We found out that Patrick Stewart would be returning as fan favorite Jean-Luc Picard for an upcoming Star Trek series last year, but we still haven’t received much in the way of information on what the show will be about. Stewart’s previously explained that it was the appeal of tackling a very different take on the character that encouraged him to come back to the franchise after a gap of almost 20 years, but how exactly will Picard be different?

That remains to be seen, but Stewart’s former The Next Generation co-star Jonathan Frakes has given us a better idea of what to expect now thanks to a recent interview. Frakes, who played Commander Riker on TNG and its associated movie spinoffs, has also returned to the world of Trek to direct an episode of Star Trek: Discovery. While speaking with Deadline about the gig, he teased what he knows about the Picard series, revealing in the process that it’ll feature the Captain having moved on from Starfleet.

“The feeling is we would love to be part of it. But the feeling is also that it’s Patrick’s show. [Laughs.] Having said that, I can’t imagine a world where there’s no reference to what happened to the rest of the Next Generation cast. Patrick isn’t playing Capt. Jean-Luc Picard this time, he’s done with [that phase of his career in] Starfleet in this show. That’s about the only thing I do know about the show. Patrick and I had a steak dinner a couple of weeks ago and this man, who I’ve known for 31 years now, is so excited about this show he’s like a little kid. It’s fabulous! He’s thrilled and excited to be invited into the writer’s room and he’s a producer on the show and he’s part of the development of the story arc. It’s terrific. I mean he is a guy who is fully engaged.”

We were previously told a bit about the setting of the Picard series and in a neat bit of cross-pollination with the modern movies, it’ll be set after the destruction of Romulus, as seen at the beginning of 2009’s Star Trek. While Leonard Nimoy’s Spock Prime then went back in time and ended up in the alternate Kelvin timeline, Stewart’s show will explore the ramifications of the planet’s end, which includes the dissolution of the Romulan Empire.

Frakes seems to know quite a lot about the Picard series, which makes us think he might be involved in it. While we’ve heard that no other TNG characters will appear in the production, at least at first, the team could still have some surprises up their sleeve. In fact, The Hollywood Reporter asked Frakes outright if he was involved, and though the actor wasn’t able to comment on the situation, he did tease the following:

“I’m not allowed to say what role I have in the new series.”

Color us intrigued! While we wait for more concrete news on Patrick Stewart’s Star Trek return, be sure to catch Discovery season 2 every Thursday on CBS All Access.