Star Trek is one of the most enduring franchises in the history of cinema and television. It’s continuously been on screens, in some form or another, since the 1960s, when the original show was airing on CBS.
Now, a spinoff series following, arguably the most popular Star Trek captain, Jean-Luc Picard, is on its way to screens via CBS All Access. And while there have been a lot of teases as to what the show’s going to be about, such as Picard now standing apart from the Federation, no one’s really quite sure what to expect.
What’s more, the project itself seems to have been given more freedom to develop how the creators wanted it to. In fact, co-showrunner Michael Chabon recently sat down for an interview and elaborated about the production process. Noteworthy among his comments is how much input Sir Patrick Stewart, the titular captain himself, had.
According to Chabon, Stewart was integral in establishing the foundational psychology behind the show. Given the actor’s knowledge of the franchise and love of the character, he was utilized as an invaluable resource.
Specifically, the producer stated:
We got priceless input from Sir Patrick Stewart… the things he told us, the things he said he was interested in doing, and was not interested in doing. The acting challenges he was looking for, and the things that he felt were old challenges that he had already risen to and he was not interested in doing again.
We took all that so seriously, like gospel. We really tried to tailor the story to suit the actor, to suit the thinker… [Stewart had given a lot of thought] to what it was that made Picard interesting to him, what he thought was going to be interesting about Jean-Luc Picard at his fairly late stage of his life. What was important to Patrick Stewart looking around at the world that we’re living in now. He very much let us know he wanted the story to resonate to our times.
It’s good to know that everyone involved is taking this show seriously and giving Picard the respect he’s due. Fans quickly get in an uproar when they feel the characters they love are being mistreated, but that doesn’t seem the case here at all.
If anything, Chabon and the rest of the creative team are doing everything they can to fashion a timely and unique story featuring one of the franchise’s most popular characters. Fingers crossed that everything pans out and hopefully when the series releases in January 2020, it’s another home run for the Star Trek universe.
