The second season of the American television series ''
Star Trek: Picard'' features the character
Jean-Luc Picard
Jean-Luc Picard is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, most often seen as the captain of the Federation starship . Played by Patrick Stewart, Picard has appeared in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (''T ...
in the year 2401. He and his companions are trapped in an alternate reality by the extra-dimensional being
Q as part of the ultimate trial for Picard, and must travel back to 2024 Los Angeles to save the future of the galaxy. The season was produced by
CBS Studios
CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount Television, as a renaming of the o ...
in association with
Secret Hideout
Secret Hideout is a film and television production company founded in 2014 by Alex Kurtzman. It is notable for the recent incarnations of the '' Star Trek'' franchise with Roddenberry Entertainment.
History
In 2014, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto ...
,
Weed Road Pictures, and
Roddenberry Entertainment
Eugene Wesley "Rod" Roddenberry Jr. (born February 5, 1974) is an American television producer and the chief executive officer of Roddenberry Entertainment. He is the son of ''Star Trek'' creator Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett and is an exec ...
, with
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making motion pictures and adaptations of popular novels.
Goldsman's filmography as a screenwriter includes ''The Client''; ''Batman Forever'' and its sequel '' Ba ...
and
Terry Matalas
Terry Matalas (born December 11, 1975) is an American television writer, Television director, director, and Television producer, executive producer, best known for co-creating and showrunning ''12 Monkeys (TV series), 12 Monkeys'' (20152018), whi ...
serving as
showrunner
A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...
s.
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor who has a career spanning seven decades in various stage productions, television, film and video games. He has been nominated for Olivier, Tony, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actor ...
stars as Picard, reprising his role from the series ''
Star Trek: The Next Generation'' as well as other ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' media.
Alison Pill
Alison Pill (born November 27, 1985) is a Canadian actress. A former child actress, Pill began her career at age 12, appearing in numerous films and television series. She transitioned to adult roles and her breakthrough came with the television ...
,
Jeri Ryan
Jeri Lynn Ryan (née Zimmermann; born February 22, 1968) is an American actress who played the former Borg drone Seven of Nine in '' Star Trek: Voyager'', for which she was nominated four times for a Saturn Award and won in 2001. She has reprised ...
,
Michelle Hurd
Michelle Hurd (born December 21, 1966) is an American actress best known for her work in television. She first received recognition for portraying Monique Jeffries in the police procedural series '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (1999–20 ...
,
Evan Evagora
Evan Evagora is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as the Romulan Elnor on the television series '' Star Trek: Picard'' (2020present).
Biography Early life
Evagora was born in Melbourne, the youngest of seven children born to Ma ...
,
Orla Brady
Orla Brady (born 28 March 1961) is an Irish theatre, television, and film actress born in Dublin. She has been nominated for several awards from the Irish Film & Television Academy for her work in televised programs, as well as starring in the ...
,
Isa Briones,
Santiago Cabrera
Santiago Cabrera (; born 5 May 1978) is a Chilean-British actor who has worked mainly in the UK and United States. Cabrera is best known for his roles as the character Isaac Mendez in the television series ''Heroes'', Lancelot in the BBC drama s ...
, and
Brent Spiner
Brent Jay Spiner (; born February 2, 1949) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the android Data on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', as well as four subsequent films. In 2019, he reprised the role for ...
also star. A second season was in development for months before being officially announced in January 2020, with Matalas and Goldsman replacing
first-season showrunner
Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon ( ;
born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, DC, he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, gr ...
. Matalas suggested the
time travel
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
story to save costs after the expensive first season, and returned to the visual style of ''The Next Generation'' with new production designer
Dave Blass
David "Dave" Blass is an American production designer and art director.
Work
For his work on the '' Justified'' television series Blass was nominated for the 2012 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series f ...
. Delayed from a planned June 2020 production start by the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, filming began in California in February 2021 and lasted until September with location shooting around Los Angeles. During filming, Matalas switched focus to showrunnning the
third season which was shot
back-to-back
Back to Back or back-to-back may refer to:
Music Songs
* "Back to Back" (Drake song), 2015
* "Back to Back" (Jeanne Pruett song), 1979
*"Back to Back", a song by Pretty Maids from the 1984 album ''Red Hot and Heavy''
*"Back to Back", a song by ...
with the second. The second season features special guest stars returning from previous ''Star Trek'' media, including
John de Lancie
John Sherwood de Lancie, Jr. (born March 20, 1948) is an American actor, television director, director, film producer, producer, writer, and comedian, best known for his role as Q (Star Trek), Q in various ''Star Trek'' series (1987–present); ...
as Q and
Whoopi Goldberg
Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...
as
Guinan.
The season premiered on the streaming service
Paramount+
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
on March 3, 2022, and ran for 10 episodes until May 5. It was estimated to have high viewership and audience demand, and received positive reviews from critics. The season was nominated for four
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime E ...
and several other awards.
Episodes
Cast and characters
Main
*
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor who has a career spanning seven decades in various stage productions, television, film and video games. He has been nominated for Olivier, Tony, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actor ...
as
Jean-Luc Picard
Jean-Luc Picard is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, most often seen as the captain of the Federation starship . Played by Patrick Stewart, Picard has appeared in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (''T ...
*
Alison Pill
Alison Pill (born November 27, 1985) is a Canadian actress. A former child actress, Pill began her career at age 12, appearing in numerous films and television series. She transitioned to adult roles and her breakthrough came with the television ...
as Agnes Jurati
and the new
Borg Queen
The Borg are an alien group that appear as recurring antagonists in the ''Star Trek'' fictional universe. The Borg are Cyborg, cybernetic organisms (cyborgs) linked in a Group mind (science fiction), hive mind called "the Collective". The Borg ...
*
Jeri Ryan
Jeri Lynn Ryan (née Zimmermann; born February 22, 1968) is an American actress who played the former Borg drone Seven of Nine in '' Star Trek: Voyager'', for which she was nominated four times for a Saturn Award and won in 2001. She has reprised ...
as
Seven of Nine
Seven of Nine (born Annika Hansen) is a fictional character introduced in the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Voyager''. Portrayed by Jeri Ryan, she is a former Borg drone who joins the crew of the Federation starship ' ...
*
Michelle Hurd
Michelle Hurd (born December 21, 1966) is an American actress best known for her work in television. She first received recognition for portraying Monique Jeffries in the police procedural series '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (1999–20 ...
as Raffi Musiker
*
Evan Evagora
Evan Evagora is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as the Romulan Elnor on the television series '' Star Trek: Picard'' (2020present).
Biography Early life
Evagora was born in Melbourne, the youngest of seven children born to Ma ...
as Elnor
*
Orla Brady
Orla Brady (born 28 March 1961) is an Irish theatre, television, and film actress born in Dublin. She has been nominated for several awards from the Irish Film & Television Academy for her work in televised programs, as well as starring in the ...
as Laris
and Tallinn
*
Isa Briones as Soji Asha
and Kore Soong
*
Santiago Cabrera
Santiago Cabrera (; born 5 May 1978) is a Chilean-British actor who has worked mainly in the UK and United States. Cabrera is best known for his roles as the character Isaac Mendez in the television series ''Heroes'', Lancelot in the BBC drama s ...
as Chris Rios
*
Brent Spiner
Brent Jay Spiner (; born February 2, 1949) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the android Data on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', as well as four subsequent films. In 2019, he reprised the role for ...
as Adam Soong
Recurring
*
John de Lancie
John Sherwood de Lancie, Jr. (born March 20, 1948) is an American actor, television director, director, film producer, producer, writer, and comedian, best known for his role as Q (Star Trek), Q in various ''Star Trek'' series (1987–present); ...
as
Q
* Madeline Wise as Yvette Picard
*
Annie Wersching
Annie Wersching (March 28, 1977 – January 29, 2023) was an American actress. She was known for her television roles as Renee Walker in '' 24'', Julia Brasher in '' Bosch'', and Emma Whitmore in '' Timeless'', as well as the voice and performan ...
as the original Borg Queen
*
Sol Rodríguez
María Soledad Rodríguez Belli (; born 17 April 1990), known by her stage name Sol Rodríguez, is an Argentinian actress and model, of Spanish and Italian descent. She is best known for the role of Mecha in the Nickelodeon Latin America's seri ...
as Teresa Ramirez
* Ito Aghayere as young
Guinan
*
Penelope Mitchell
Penelope Mitchell (born 24 July 1991) is an Australian actress best known for playing the roles of Letha Godfrey in the American horror television series ''Hemlock Grove'', and Liv Parker in ''The Vampire Diaries''.
Early life
Born in Melbourne ...
as Renée Picard
Notable guests
*
Whoopi Goldberg
Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...
as Guinan
* April Grace as Sally Whitley
*
Kirk Thatcher
Kirk R. Thatcher (born February 14, 1962) is an American writer, producer, television and film director, an Internet video director, and a production designer.
Personal life
Thatcher was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. In high school, ...
as the
punk on the bus
*
James Callis
James Nicholas Callis (born 4 June 1971) is a British actor. He is known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones's best friend Tom in ''Bridget Jones's Diar ...
as Maurice Picard
*
Jay Karnes
Jay Karnes (born June 27, 1963) is an American actor, best known for his role as LAPD detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach on the FX television series ''The Shield'', Agent Josh Kohn on ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2008) and Craig on '' The Crossing'' ( ...
as Martin Wells
*
Wil Wheaton
Richard William Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', Gordie Lachance in the film ''Stand by Me (film), Stand by Me'', Joey Trotta in '' ...
as
Wesley Crusher
Wesley Crusher is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. He appears regularly in the first four seasons of the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (''TNG''), and sporadically in its next three seasons. He also app ...
Production
Development
Executive producer
Heather Kadin
Heather Kadin (born August 7, 1972) is an American television producer and film producer. She co- executive produces '' Star Trek: Discovery''.
Life and career
Kadin was born on August 7, 1972, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Before being President o ...
revealed in October 2018 that ''
Star Trek: Picard'' was intended to be an ongoing series rather than a limited miniseries;
the producers knew from the time
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor who has a career spanning seven decades in various stage productions, television, film and video games. He has been nominated for Olivier, Tony, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actor ...
signed on to star in the series that a second season would definitely be made.
Stewart reiterated this in February 2019 and added, "We are set up for possibly three years of this show".
That September, Stewart said filming for a second season could begin as early as March 2020.
Co-creator
Alex Kurtzman
Alexander Hilary Kurtzman (born September 7, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his work on the ''Star Trek'' franchise since 2009, co-writing the scripts to ''Transformers (film), Transformers'' (2007), ''Transformers: Revenge ...
confirmed a month later that a second season was "already in the works" ahead of the
first-season premiere in January 2020.
![Akiva Goldsman by Gage Skidmore](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Akiva_Goldsman_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg)
In early December, co-creator and
showrunner
A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...
Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon ( ;
born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, DC, he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, gr ...
signed an overall deal with
CBS Television Studios
CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount Television, as a renaming of the o ...
to create several new series for them, beginning with an adaptation of his novel ''
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
''The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay'' is a 2000 novel by American author Michael Chabon that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001. The novel follows the lives of two Jewish cousins, Czech artist Joe Kavalier and Brooklyn-born write ...
''. Chabon was expected to remain with ''Picard'' as showrunner until he had to shift focus to ''Kavalier & Clay'' at some point in 2020, at which point he would still be creatively involved in ''Picard'' as an executive producer.
A week later, the series was informally green-lit for a second 10-episode season after being allocated $20.4million in tax credits by the
California Film Commission
The California Film Commission (CFC) was founded in 1985 by then California Governor George Deukmejian to act in an economic development capacity for the state. It is a part of the California Trade and Commerce Agency, formerly the Business, Trans ...
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.
An official renewal from streaming service
CBS All Access
Paramount+ is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Me ...
(later rebranded Paramount+) was expected once a showrunner for the second season could be confirmed.
In January 2020, CBS officially announced the second season renewal and revealed that
Terry Matalas
Terry Matalas (born December 11, 1975) is an American television writer, Television director, director, and Television producer, executive producer, best known for co-creating and showrunning ''12 Monkeys (TV series), 12 Monkeys'' (20152018), whi ...
had joined the series as an executive producer to fill the void that would be created by Chabon's departure.
CBS had moved Matalas, who began his career working on ''
Star Trek: Voyager'' and ''
Star Trek: Enterprise
''Star Trek: Enterprise'', titled simply ''Enterprise'' for its first two seasons, is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It originally aired from September 26, 2001, to May 13, 2005 on Uni ...
'',
from ''
MacGyver
Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot.
In both po ...
'' to ''Picard'' because the latter was considered 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. ''Picard'' 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
Back to Back or back-to-back may refer to:
Music Songs
* "Back to Back" (Drake song), 2015
* "Back to Back" (Jeanne Pruett song), 1979
*"Back to Back", a song by Pretty Maids from the 1984 album ''Red Hot and Heavy''
*"Back to Back", a song by ...
.
Chabon expressed regret at having to leave the series, but said he was "every bit as involved" in the second season's development as he had been on the first, and he would be writing for the second season as well as remaining an executive producer.
The difference, he explained, was that he would not be running the series day-to-day once filming began.
Journalist
Marc Bernardin
Marc Bernardin (born November 29, 1971) is an American journalist, public speaker, TV and comic book writer, and podcaster. He has served as film editor for the ''Los Angeles Times'' and senior editor for ''The Hollywood Reporter'' and ''Entertai ...
, who began his career working as an intern on ''
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', joined ''Picard'' as a supervising producer in March 2020.
By the end of that month, filming was set to begin in mid-June.
These plans were made before the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
began.
Executive producer and co-creator
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making motion pictures and adaptations of popular novels.
Goldsman's filmography as a screenwriter includes ''The Client''; ''Batman Forever'' and its sequel '' Ba ...
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.
That September, after a deal was made between major studios and Hollywood unions regarding safety measures for productions during the pandemic, director
Jonathan Frakes
Jonathan Scott Frakes (born August 19, 1952) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his portrayal of Commander William Riker in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and subsequent films and series. Frakes als ...
said filming could begin in January 2021 and added that Stewart was eager to begin as soon as possible;
filming began in February.
Goldsman and Matalas were revealed to be co-showrunning the season that April,
and did so until Matalas switched focus to the third season around half-way through filming the second. Goldsman continued running the second season.
Matalas's change in focus happened later than planned because of the pandemic and issues with writing the second season.
Writing
Following the first-season finale, Chabon and Goldsman said the second season would not ignore the fact that Picard's consciousness was transferred into a synthetic body during that episode.
They added that the season would further explore the personal lives of the series' supporting cast,
the first season's
Romulan
The Romulans () are an extraterrestrial race in the American science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. They first appeared in the series ''Star Trek'' (1966–1969). They have appeared in most subsequent ''Star Trek'' releases, including '' The A ...
refugee storyline,
and the technology and culture of
Starfleet
Starfleet is a fictional organization in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Within this fictional universe, Starfleet is a uniformed space force maintained by the United Federation of Planets ("the Federation") as the principal means for conduc ...
.
Goldsman said the season would continue to explore issues that come up in the last stage of a person's life.
One lesson learned by the writers during the first season, according to Goldsman, was to plan out the full story and ending of the season before they began filming.
The writers began by asking questions about Picard's role in the first season, such as "Why is he on a vineyard by himself with a dog? Why did he never marry
Beverly Crusher
Beverly Crusher is a fictional character in the '' Star Trek'' franchise played by Gates McFadden. Debuting in the television series, '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', McFadden appeared in every season except for the second, as well as its sp ...
and have a family?"
This led to them deconstructing Picard in different ways from the first season, putting an emphasis on his past relationships, romance, and "the puzzle-pieces of his past that are stopping him from embracing his future".
After joining the series, Matalas suggested they feature the extra-dimensional being
Q from ''
Star Trek: The Next Generation''. He felt Q's relationship with Picard was important to the latter,
and said Q was "the figure you introduce when your heroes need to face their truest selves".
He wanted to tell a dramatic story with Q rather than just use him for "
Loki
Loki is a god in Norse mythology. According to some sources, Loki is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mentioned as a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi or Na ...
-esque shenanigans" as with the character's previous appearances.
Matalas, who is known for the time travel series ''
12 Monkeys
''12 Monkeys'' is a 1995 American science fiction film directed by Terry Gilliam, inspired by Chris Marker's 1962 short film ''La Jetée'', starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt, with Christopher Plummer and David Morse in sup ...
'', also suggested the season's time travel plot. This was inspired by the film ''
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'' (1986),
and was a way to save money after the expensive first season.
He said "all good time-travel tales are emotional at their core, and speak to something that's happening with your main character",
and the season explores Picard's trauma from his mother's death by suicide when he was a child. Stewart brought his own experience of childhood domestic violence and subsequent trauma to this storyline.
Matalas praised Goldsman for developing these ideas into a "really fascinating and heartbreaking psychological exploration of Picard".
The second and third seasons tell separate stories, despite being developed together.
Before the end of 2019, Chabon and Goldsman met with Stewart to pitch the season's story,
and Kurtzman said in January 2020 that the writers were confident in it. Kurtzman did want the option to adjust the story based on responses to the first season,
but Chabon said the second season would not be affected by fans who criticized the first for not meeting their expectations.
The full story for the second season was broken by March 2020 and writing had begun.
The story features Q sending Picard and his companions to an
alternate timeline
Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...
where humanity has formed the
xenophobic
Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
"Confederation of Earth" instead of the
United Federation of Planets
In the fictional universe of ''Star Trek'' the United Federation of Planets (UFP) is the interstellar government with which, as part of its space force Starfleet, most of the characters and starships of the franchise are affiliated. Commonly refe ...
. They have to travel back in time to the 21st century to prevent that dark future from happening.
Production delays caused by the pandemic allowed more episodes to be written upfront than usual, which meant earlier episodes could subsequently be revised based on later ones.
After nine episodes had been written, Paramount+ asked for rewrites to remove some of the heavier
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
ideas that they felt were too "in-''Star Trek''". This included subplots featuring the Romulans and a secret area of
Guinan's bar for different alien species who are in hiding on Earth, the latter taking inspiration from Rick's Café Américain nightclub in the film ''
Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
'' (1942).
Another change made during rewrites was to condense two episodes that Chabon wrote, exploring the dark alternate timeline, into one.
The season introduces a new
Borg
The Borg are an alien group that appear as recurring antagonists in the ''Star Trek'' fictional universe. The Borg are Cyborg, cybernetic organisms (cyborgs) linked in a Group mind (science fiction), hive mind called "the Collective". The Borg ...
collective that Matalas acknowledged caused some confusion for audiences. He said the new collective is separate from the Borg seen in previous ''Star Trek'' media and had not
retcon
Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subse ...
ned prior Borg storylines.
Exposition
Exposition (also the French for exhibition) may refer to:
*Universal exposition or World's Fair
*Expository writing
**Exposition (narrative)
*Exposition (music)
*Trade fair
* ''Exposition'' (album), the debut album by the band Wax on Radio
*Exposi ...
-heavy scenes were written for the second and third seasons that would have clarified this, but they were not filmed because the producers felt they would be uninteresting to audiences. The anomaly that the new collective discovers was added late in production to give the finale some action. There were suggestions that this could be expanded on in the third season, but the third-season scripts were too far along at that point for it to be added.
Writing for the second season was completed after filming began in early 2021. Goldsman said it would not be clear if they had been successful in crafting the full story until editing was done.
Casting
By June 2020, most of the main cast from the first season were expected to star in the second, including Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard,
Alison Pill
Alison Pill (born November 27, 1985) is a Canadian actress. A former child actress, Pill began her career at age 12, appearing in numerous films and television series. She transitioned to adult roles and her breakthrough came with the television ...
as Agnes Jurati,
Isa Briones as Soji Asha,
Evan Evagora
Evan Evagora is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as the Romulan Elnor on the television series '' Star Trek: Picard'' (2020present).
Biography Early life
Evagora was born in Melbourne, the youngest of seven children born to Ma ...
as Elnor,
Michelle Hurd
Michelle Hurd (born December 21, 1966) is an American actress best known for her work in television. She first received recognition for portraying Monique Jeffries in the police procedural series '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (1999–20 ...
as Raffi Musiker, and
Santiago Cabrera
Santiago Cabrera (; born 5 May 1978) is a Chilean-British actor who has worked mainly in the UK and United States. Cabrera is best known for his roles as the character Isaac Mendez in the television series ''Heroes'', Lancelot in the BBC drama s ...
as Cristobal "Chris" Rios.
Harry Treadaway
Harry John Newman Treadaway''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 10 September 1984) is an English actor known for his performances as Victor Frankenstein in the horror-drama series ''Penny Dr ...
, who portrayed Narek in the first season, did not return for the second.
In February 2019,
Whoopi Goldberg
Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...
stated that she would like to reprise her ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' role of Guinan in ''Picard''.
That July,
Robert Picardo
Robert Alphonse Picardo (born October 27, 1953) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the Cowboy in ''Innerspace'', Coach Cutlip on ''The Wonder Years'', Captain Dick Richard on the ABC series ''China Beach'', the Doctor on '' Star ...
, who portrayed
the holographic doctor in ''Star Trek: Voyager'', said CBS had expressed interest in him returning for the second season of ''Picard''.
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.
By April,
LeVar Burton
Levar Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host, best known for playing Geordi La Forge in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994). He also played Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries ''Root ...
had discussed reprising his ''Next Generation'' role of
Geordi La Forge
Geordi La Forge ( ) is a fictional character who appeared in all seven seasons of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and its four feature films. Portrayed by LeVar Burton, he served as helmsman o ...
on ''Picard'', and said there was a possibility he would appear in the second season,
while
Gates McFadden
Cheryl Gates McFadden (born March 2, 1949) is an American actress and choreographer. She is usually credited as Cheryl McFadden when working as a choreographer and Gates McFadden for acting work. She is best known for playing Dr. Beverly Crusher ...
said in June that there was a "good chance" she would be reprising her ''Next Generation'' role of Beverly Crusher in the season.
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.
In May 2021, McFadden said "things have changed a lot on different levels" and she would no longer be appearing in the second season, expressing her disappointment at this,
though in April 2022 she was revealed to be reprising her role in the third season of ''Picard'' instead, alongside Burton and other members of the ''Next Generation'' cast.
After reprising his ''Next Generation'' role of
Data
In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...
in the first season,
Brent Spiner
Brent Jay Spiner (; born February 2, 1949) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the android Data on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', as well as four subsequent films. In 2019, he reprised the role for ...
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 as Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, who he began playing in the first season two-part finale,
and Goldsman later admitted that Altan Soong was created in part so Spiner could return following Data's death.
Chabon expressed interest in first-season recurring guest stars
Jeri Ryan
Jeri Lynn Ryan (née Zimmermann; born February 22, 1968) is an American actress who played the former Borg drone Seven of Nine in '' Star Trek: Voyager'', for which she was nominated four times for a Saturn Award and won in 2001. She has reprised ...
,
Orla Brady
Orla Brady (born 28 March 1961) is an Irish theatre, television, and film actress born in Dublin. She has been nominated for several awards from the Irish Film & Television Academy for her work in televised programs, as well as starring in the ...
, and
Jamie McShane
Jamie McShane is an American actor best known for his roles on ''Sons of Anarchy'', ''Southland'', and ''Bloodline'', and as Agent Jackson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films ''Thor'' (2011) and '' The Avengers'' (2012). In 2021, he appe ...
returning for the second season, respectively as ''Voyager''s
Seven of Nine
Seven of Nine (born Annika Hansen) is a fictional character introduced in the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Voyager''. Portrayed by Jeri Ryan, she is a former Borg drone who joins the crew of the Federation starship ' ...
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.
Ryan confirmed in May 2020 that she was returning for the second season,
and she, Brady, and Spiner were revealed to be main cast members in April 2021.
Zhaban is revealed to have died since the end of the first season, and Laris becomes a love interest for Picard in the second.
Brady also plays Tallinn, an ancestor of Laris's who is a Supervisor like the ''
Star Trek: The Original Series
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship and its crew. It later acquired the retronym of ''Star Trek: The Original Series'' (''TOS'') to distinguis ...
'' character
Gary Seven
Gary Seven is the major character in the last episode of the second season of the original ''Star Trek'' television series, " Assignment: Earth". He is portrayed by Robert Lansing.
"Assignment: Earth"
The episode " Assignment: Earth" was origi ...
.
Spiner's contract stipulated that he not portray Data again,
and he instead plays a new Soong ancestor in 2024 named Adam.
Briones portrays his daughter, Kore, which helps to explain who Data based the appearance of Briones's Soji on in the first season—Soji is a synthetic being that Data created to be his daughter.
Also in April 2021,
John de Lancie
John Sherwood de Lancie, Jr. (born March 20, 1948) is an American actor, television director, director, film producer, producer, writer, and comedian, best known for his role as Q (Star Trek), Q in various ''Star Trek'' series (1987–present); ...
was announced to be reprising his role as Q from ''The Next Generation'' in the season.
To explain why Q appears much older in this season than he did in ''The Next Generation'', the character initially appears the same as he did in that series—with de Lancie being
digitally de-aged—before choosing to age himself to match the older Picard.
In September,
Annie Wersching
Annie Wersching (March 28, 1977 – January 29, 2023) was an American actress. She was known for her television roles as Renee Walker in '' 24'', Julia Brasher in '' Bosch'', and Emma Whitmore in '' Timeless'', as well as the voice and performan ...
was revealed to be cast in the recurring role of the
Borg Queen
The Borg are an alien group that appear as recurring antagonists in the ''Star Trek'' fictional universe. The Borg are Cyborg, cybernetic organisms (cyborgs) linked in a Group mind (science fiction), hive mind called "the Collective". The Borg ...
, taking over from
Alice Krige
Alice Maud Krige (; born 28 June 1954) is a South African actress and producer. Her first feature film role was in ''Chariots of Fire'' (1981) as the Gilbert and Sullivan singer Sybil Gordon. She played the dual role of Eva Galli/Alma Mobley i ...
who portrayed the character in the film ''
Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996) and the ''Voyager'' series finale.
Susanna Thompson
Susanna Thompson (born January 27, 1958) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in films ''Little Giants'' (1994), ''Ghosts of Mississippi'' (1996), ''Random Hearts'' (1999) and ''Dragonfly (2002 film), Dragonfly'' (2002). On televisio ...
also portrayed the character in several episodes of ''Voyager''.
Wersching's first television role was as a guest star on ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', and Goldsman considered bringing this "full circle" by having this version of the Borg Queen be the same character, but this idea did not make it to the screen.
Later in the season, the Borg Queen enters the mind of Agnes Jurati and becomes a new Queen that Alison Pill portrays.
Matalas revealed in January 2024 that
Emily Hampshire
Emily Hampshire (born 1979) is a Canadian actress. Her best known roles include Angelina in the 1998 romantic comedy '' Boy Meets Girl'', Vivienne in the 2006 film ''Snow Cake'', Jennifer Goines in the Syfy drama series ''12 Monkeys'' (2015–2 ...
, who starred in ''12 Monkeys'', was almost cast as the Borg Queen for the season but scheduling issues prevented this.
The season introduces a younger version of Guinan in 2024 who does not yet know Picard. The original version of Guinan first met Picard in 1893 during the events of the ''Next Generation'' time travel episode "
Time's Arrow
Time's Arrow may refer to:
* "Time's Arrow" (short story), a 1950 short story by Arthur C. Clarke
* ''Time's Arrow'' (novel), a 1991 novel by Martin Amis
* "Time's Arrow" (''Star Trek: The Next Generation''), a 1992 two-part episode of ''Star Trek: ...
", but Matalas explained that these events do not happen during this season's altered timeline because the Federation does not exist. A long-time ''Next Generation'' fan, guest star Ito Aghayere revisited Goldberg's episodes and studied her mannerisms. She intended for her version to start as more aggressive and grow into Goldberg's calmer performance.
With the season delving further into Picard's family, his mother Yvette appears several times via flashbacks portrayed by Madeline Wise. The character was portrayed as an old woman by
Herta Ware
Herta Ware (June 9, 1917 – August 15, 2005) was an American actress and activist.
Early life
Ware was born Herta Schwartz in Wilmington, Delaware, the daughter of Helen Ware, a musician and violin teacher, and Laszlo Schwartz, an actor wh ...
in the ''Next Generation'' episode "
Where No One Has Gone Before
"Where No One Has Gone Before" is the sixth episode of the American science-fiction television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', which originally aired October 26, 1987, in broadcast syndication in the United States. A high-definition, r ...
",
but the flashbacks in this season show her to have struggled with mental health issues and died by suicide when Picard was a child. To explain Ware's appearance as an older version of the character, Picard says he has been suppressing the memory of his mother's death and has had visions of her getting to live a long life.
James Callis
James Nicholas Callis (born 4 June 1971) is a British actor. He is known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones's best friend Tom in ''Bridget Jones's Diar ...
, who had a recurring role in ''12 Monkeys'', appears as Picard's father Maurice. The character was portrayed by Clive Church in ''The Next Generation''.
A new member of the family, Renée Picard, plays a key role in the season's 2024 events, portrayed by
Penelope Mitchell
Penelope Mitchell (born 24 July 1991) is an Australian actress best known for playing the roles of Letha Godfrey in the American horror television series ''Hemlock Grove'', and Liv Parker in ''The Vampire Diaries''.
Early life
Born in Melbourne ...
.
When serving as an associate producer on ''Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'',
Kirk Thatcher
Kirk R. Thatcher (born February 14, 1962) is an American writer, producer, television and film director, an Internet video director, and a production designer.
Personal life
Thatcher was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. In high school, ...
briefly appeared in the film as the "
Punk on the Bus". He reprises this role for another brief appearance in the second season of ''Picard'', which was one of the first things that Matalas pitched for the season as a way to reference the film and acknowledge its influence on the season's story. Thatcher was excited to return to the role, which he said was what he was best known for, and he had suggestions for the character's appearance including a similar red mohawk as he had in the film.
April Grace, who previously portrayed Maggie Hubbell in episodes of ''The Next Generation'' and ''Deep Space Nine'', portrays Admiral Sally Whitley in the season premiere.
Jay Karnes
Jay Karnes (born June 27, 1963) is an American actor, best known for his role as LAPD detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach on the FX television series ''The Shield'', Agent Josh Kohn on ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2008) and Craig on '' The Crossing'' ( ...
plays FBI agent Martin Wells after previously portraying the time travelling Starfleet officer Ducane in ''Star Trek: Voyager''.
Additionally,
Sol Rodríguez
María Soledad Rodríguez Belli (; born 17 April 1990), known by her stage name Sol Rodríguez, is an Argentinian actress and model, of Spanish and Italian descent. She is best known for the role of Mecha in the Nickelodeon Latin America's seri ...
has a recurring role as Teresa Ramirez, a doctor who treats those without identification or money and helps Rios;
Briones's father,
Jon Jon Briones
Ernesto Cloma Briones Jr., known as Jon Jon Briones (born August 7, 1965), is a Filipino-American actor best known for his work in musical theatre. He was born in Quezon City, Philippines and became a United States citizen in 2010.Wolf, Matt"We ...
, portrays the Confederation Magistrate in the alternate timeline;
Patton Oswalt
Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...
voices a virtual cat named Spot 73;
Brian "Q" Quinn makes a
cameo appearance
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...
as Dale, a character that he also appeared as in Matalas's previous series ''12 Monkeys'' and ''MacGyver'';
director
Lea Thompson
Lea Katherine Thompson (born May 31, 1961) is an American actress and director.
She is best known for her role as Lorraine Baines-McFly in the Back to the Future (franchise), ''Back to the Future'' film trilogy (1985–1990) and Beverly Switzl ...
appears as Dr. Diane Werner, the chairman of a committee who remove Adam Soong's license to research and funding;
and Stewart's wife
Sunny Ozell
Sunny Ozell, Lady Stewart (born December 23, 1978) is an American singer and songwriter who resides in England. She is married to the British actor Sir Patrick Stewart.
Early life
Ozell grew up in Reno, Nevada, in a musical household and began ...
has a cameo appearance singing in a bar that Jurati goes to.
Wil Wheaton
Richard William Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', Gordie Lachance in the film ''Stand by Me (film), Stand by Me'', Joey Trotta in '' ...
reprised his ''Next Generation'' role of
Wesley Crusher
Wesley Crusher is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. He appears regularly in the first four seasons of the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (''TNG''), and sporadically in its next three seasons. He also app ...
for an appearance in the season finale, which he kept secret for around a year until the episode was released. Wheaton was excited to return and praised the writers for honoring the
headcanon that he developed for the character after ''The Next Generation'', in which Crusher serves as one of
the Travelers and is "effectively ''Star Trek'' version of a
Time Lord
The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, is a memb ...
" from ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
''.
Design
Matalas said each season would be differentiated visually. He wanted to return to the visual style of the ''Next Generation'' era while incorporating elements from the
''Original Series''-era films, which were his personal favorites. He said new production designer
Dave Blass
David "Dave" Blass is an American production designer and art director.
Work
For his work on the '' Justified'' television series Blass was nominated for the 2012 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series f ...
was a long-time ''Star Trek'' fan who also wanted to return to that aesthetic,
and they both insisted on bringing back several creatives from earlier ''Star Trek'' series including
Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
and
Denise Okuda
Denise Lynn Okuda is a computer, scenic and video supervisor, and a writer known for her work on several ''Star Trek'' film and television productions, as well as other science fiction television. She also co-authored the '' Star Trek Encyclope ...
, who designed the
LCARS
In the ''Star Trek'' fictional universe, LCARS (; an acronym for Library Computer Access/Retrieval System) is a computer operating system. Within ''Star Trek'' chronology, the term was first used in the ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' series. ...
computer system for ''The Next Generation''; long-time ''Star Trek'' concept designer and visual effects artists
Doug Drexler
Doug Drexler (born in New York City) is a visual effects artist, designer, sculptor, illustrator, and a makeup artist who has collaborated with such talents as Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, Meryl Streep, and Warren Beatty. He began hi ...
; and frequent ''Star Trek'' starship designer
John Eaves.
The design team included a lot of references to previous ''Star Trek'' projects, which Matalas said was partially "cheeky, nerdy fun", but also about honoring the history and legacy of the franchise.
The series' opening title sequence was updated from the first season by creative agency
Prologue
A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...
to include new imagery from the second season, including adding a Starfleet combadge to Picard's jacket for the ending shot.
The Starfleet uniform designs from the first season were merged with those from the ''Original Series''-era films;
one of
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, then ...
's
Spock
Spock is a Character (arts), fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He first appeared in the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star Trek'' series serving aboard the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), USS ''Enterprise ...
costumes from ''
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'' (1982) was used as reference.
The new designs have a jacket-like opening and remove the "militaristic collar" from the first season's uniforms. They are black with different colors across the chest and shoulders to represent each division.
Picard's Starfleet Academy assignment badge was inspired by the badge worn by
William Shatner
William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...
's Admiral
James T. Kirk
James Tiberius Kirk is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Originally played by Canadian actor William Shatner, Kirk first appeared in ''Star Trek'' serving aboard the starship USS ''Enterprise'' as captain. Kirk leads ...
in ''The Wrath of Khan''.
The Borg Queen was intended to be a new character with access to the same information as the previous Queens,
and Matalas wanted a new design that honered the previous Borg Queen designs while "bringing it into the 4K streaming world".
Creature designer
Neville Page
Neville Page is a British-American film and television creature and concept designer. Born in England, he was raised in Manchester, and Chicago, Illinois. He was inspired by science fiction, including ''Star Wars'', and makeup artist Rick Baker' ...
created the new design which was translated into prosthetics by
Glenn Hetrick
Glenn Hetrick is a prosthetic makeup, special make-up effects artist/designer, actor and producer. Hetrick is CEO of Alchemy FX Studios, a special effects studio which has worked on over 100 film and TV credits, such as ''Star Trek: Discovery'', ' ...
and Alchemy Studio. Head of prosthetics James Mackinnon applied the prosthetics to Wersching,
which initially took four hours but was down to two-and-a-half hours by the end of production.
The prosthetics consisted of a crown piece that Page sculpted digitally, based on scans of Wersching's head, which was 3D printed and had built-in lighting. 10 other silicon pieces were used to cover Wersching's face, neck, and shoulders, featuring built-in magnets where the Queen needed to be connected to her containment vessel.
Page wanted to match the original Borg Queen silhouette of just a head and neck, but ultimately gave the character shoulders and arms due to logistical concerns. He approached the character as an evolution of the prosthetics that were already used for Seven of Nine, who has Borg implants.
The design team wanted to expand Chateau Picard beyond the main study set from the first season,
introducing a library and a solarium.
Art director Joe Comeau described the chateau as a "reflection of the psyche" of Picard.
It is seen in three different time periods in the season: 2401 at the beginning of the season, abandoned in 2024 for much of the season, and in flashbacks to 2315 when young Picard and his family first move in.
Matalas and the designers wanted to bridge the look of the chateau from the first season with its depiction in the ''Next Generation'' episode "
Family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
".
Establishing shots of the chateau in 2024 include two wings of the building that are not seen in the first season or the second season's 2401 scenes. These match the parts of the building seen in "Family", suggesting that they burned down during the fire that is mentioned in the film ''
Star Trek Generations
''Star Trek Generations'' is a 1994 American science fiction film and the seventh film in the ''Star Trek'' film series. Malcolm McDowell joins cast members from the 1960s television show ''Star Trek'' and the 1987 sequel series ''The Next G ...
'' (1994).
Evidence of fire damage was included in the 2401 solarium design,
and the 2315 sets were meant to align with the style of "Family"'s sets rather than the "tuscan look" of the first season and the second season's 2401 sets.
The designers intended to have major damage, like a "busted ceiling", in the 2024 sets but this was cut back in favor of general aging and set dressing.
The season introduces a new starship, the USS ''Stargazer'' (NCC-82893). Designed by Eaves, Drexler, and Blass, it was based on an earlier USS ''Stargazer'' (NCC-2893), the first starship that Picard captained which was introduced in the ''Next Generation'' episode "
The Battle".
The new ship retains the original ''Stargazer'' unique design of having four
nacelle
A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...
s. Goldsman said they wanted to revisit the ''Stargazer'', which Picard has a deep emotional connection to, as part of the season's theme of looking back at the past.
Blass explained that the registry for the new version was not "NCC-2893-A", following the pattern used for the
USS ''Enterprise'' of denoting the version with a letter, because the ''Stargazer'' "does not hold the status in the Federation that the ''Enterprise'' had... the ''Stargazer'' didn't have that legacy". The set for the ''Stargazer'' bridge is wider than the bridge set for the
USS ''Enterprise''-E in the
''Next Generation''-era films to allow for multiple widescreen cameras to film inside the set at once, though it is not as wide as the bridge set of the USS ''Discovery'' from ''
Star Trek: Discovery''.
Filming
Filming was scheduled to begin in mid-June 2020,
but was delayed to January 2021 by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In December 2020, Ryan said filming would begin on February 1,
but on that date she revealed that it was delayed again.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began on February 16,
in California where the series received tax incentives to continue filming after the first season.
Doug Aarniokoski directed the first two episodes,
and Crescenzo Notarile returned as cinematographer from the
third season of ''Discovery''.
Jimmy Lindsey was also a cinematographer for the season.
Location filming took place later in February at the
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 24, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Ave ...
in Los Angeles, to portray Starfleet Academy in the first episode and the Confederation Presidential Palace in the second.
SoFi Stadium
SoFi Stadium () is a 70,240-seat sports and entertainment indoor stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California, United States. SoFi occupies the former site of the Hollywood Park Racetrack, from Los Angeles International Airport an ...
in
Inglewood was also used to depict part of Starfleet Academy in the premiere.
In April, de Lancie said scenes for the second and third seasons of ''Picard'' were being filmed simultaneously.
The two seasons had one of the largest television crews at the time with more than 450 crewmembers.
Lea Thompson directed the third and fourth episodes,
including the sequence where the main cast travel back in time to 2024. This was not initially in the third episode's script when Thompson joined the series, but it was moved from the second episode to the third following rewrites.
Thompson noted that she has experience working with time travel stories after starring in the ''
Back to the Future
''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...
'' film trilogy, and also acknowledged that there were existing time travel sequences in ''Star Trek'' that they wanted to be consistent with. The crew still wanted to put their "own spin on what it would look like going back in time", and specific visuals that Thompson added to the sequence include falling sparks that suddenly rise back off the ground, a tear on Jurati's cheek moving in reverse, and footage captured by moving a
camera dolly
A camera dolly is a wheeled cart or similar device used in filmmaking and television production to create smooth horizontal camera movements. The camera is mounted to the dolly and the camera operator and focus puller or camera assistant usual ...
forward while zooming out which was a technique popularized by
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
.
Thompson spent a lot of time discussing how to light the set of ''La Sirena'' with Notarile due to its large size and the complex lighting needed for the time travel sequence, including flashing lights, sparks, strobes, and a representation of the ship flying close to the sun. They also had to light the set with the Borg Queen's "signature green hue" for the scene where Picard and Jurati attempt to extract information from the Borg Queen.
The Markridge Industrial Tower that Raffi and Seven visit in the third episode was filmed at the
Wilshire Grand Center
Wilshire Grand Center is a skyscraper in the financial district of downtown Los Angeles, California, occupying the entire city block between Wilshire Boulevard and 7th, Figueroa, and Francisco streets. Completed in 2017, it is the tallest bui ...
, the tallest building in Los Angeles. The name "Markridge" is a reference to ''12 Monkeys''.
While at the tower, Raffi detects an alien signal coming from
MacArthur Park
MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park) is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur, and later designated ...
, which is where Picard's meeting with Tallinn in the fourth episode was filmed.
Frequent ''Star Trek'' director Jonathan Frakes helmed the fifth and sixth episodes.
Filming for them began by the end of June 2021.
Frakes discussed the change in tone between the first and second seasons with Matalas and Goldsman, but not any changes to his own directing style.
He noted that there were several parallels between the episodes and the film ''Star Trek: First Contact'', which he directed,
and he worked with Lindsey to replicate some of the techniques that cinematographer
Matthew F. Leonetti
Matthew Frank Leonetti A.S.C. (born July 31, 1941) is an American cinematographer. Accomplished and highly prolific, he has worked on dozens of well-known and acclaimed films spanning numerous genres, including '' Poltergeist'', ''Fast Times ...
used on the film.
Frakes also acknowledged the similar approach in portraying 2024 to the ''Deep Space Nine'' two-part episode "
Past Tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some hav ...
", which he directed half of. Frakes explained that both depictions had "a lot to do with immigration and the mistreatment of brown people... being set in 2024 serves as a cautionary tale to all of us."
He felt this element of the season helped make it feel like ''Star Trek'' despite the contemporary setting.
Frakes was excited to be working with Stewart, Spiner, and de Lancie again after he starred with them on ''Next Generation'',
particularly highlighting the scene where Soong and Q meet in a diner. He praised Spiner and de Lancie as having "gotten better with age. There is a real confidence in the way they embrace their characters."
For the scene where Q pretends to be Renée Picard's therapist, Frakes and de Lancie decided on set that the latter should use a
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
-inspired Austrian accent. Frakes acknowledged that this was "a little on the nose" and something that Matalas and Goldsman had questioned, but they felt it was fun for the scene.
The interior of the gala in these episodes was primarily filmed at the
Millennium Biltmore Hotel
The Millennium Biltmore Hotel, originally the Los Angeles Biltmore of the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels group, is a luxury hotel located opposite Pershing Square in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Upon its grand opening in 1923, the Los Angeles Biltmor ...
in
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...
. Exteriors for the gala were filmed at the
Fox Theater Fox Theatre or Fox Theater or Fox Theater Building may refer to:
U.S.
* Fox Tucson Theatre (Tucson, Arizona)
*Fox Theater (Bakersfield, California)
* Fox Theatre (Fullerton, California)
* Fox Theater, Westwood Village (Los Angeles, California)
* Fo ...
in
Westwood Village
Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Bordering the campus on the south ...
.
Joe Menendez
Joe Menendez (born June 23, 1969) is an American film and television director,[Joe Menendez](_blank)
FilmBug who has m ...
directed the seventh and eighth episodes,
after previously working with Matalas on ''12 Monkeys''.
Michael Weaver directed the ninth and tenth episodes.
The use of smoke on set during the filming of the last two episodes affected Stewart's vocal cords, making his voice more hoarse than usual. The producers planned to re-record his dialogue for the episodes, but Stewart encouraged them not to do that because "the weakness in
isvoice was reflecting the weakness in the character".
Filming for the season ended on September 2, 2021, and the production segued fully into filming the third season.
Visual effects
Visual effects vendors for the season included Crafty Apes VFX,
Outpost VFX,
and Gradient Effects.
Outpost was initially just hired to work on the ''La Sirena'' crash and Chateau Picard location in the third episode, but their work was expanded to include four other episodes in the season when the producers liked the results. Shots featuring Chateau Picard used aerial footage of the chateau filming location which needed to be augmented to make it look rundown for the 2024 scenes and "pristine" for the 25th century scenes. The ''La Sirena'' crash required fire and spark effects on the ship as well as simulations of its impact on the chateau grounds.
For the fleet of starships that appear in the season premiere, Blass wanted to address fan criticisms regarding the fleet from the first-season finale in which all of the ships looked very similar. Though he knew this was done due to practical limitations in modelling that many different ships, Blass looked for a viable solution for this season and contacted the creators of the ''
Star Trek Online
''Star Trek Online'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Cryptic Studios based on the ''Star Trek'' franchise. The game is set in the 25th century, 30 years after the events of '' Star Trek: Nemesis''. ''Sta ...
'' video game about using some of their starship models.
He specifically wanted to use the most popular ships from the game, as long as none of them had four nacelles so the ''Stargazer'' could stand out beside them.
''Star Trek Online'' designer and associate art director Thomas Marrone and his team provided their digital models of existing ''Next Generation''-era ships (including the ''Akira''-class from ''Star Trek: First Contact''), their own original models of potential 25th-century ships, and some new models created specifically for the season.
Marrone updated the models with more detail to match the higher quality expected for a television series,
and the ''Picard'' visual effects team used these models in the final sequence. This meant that fan-favorite starships from the game were now franchise canon (including the ''Ross''-class exploration cruiser and the ''Reliant''-class light cruiser) which Marrone said was a "dream come true".
The user interfaces for the starships were created by visual effects company Twisted Media, based on the LCARS computer system. They referenced the designs from ''The Next Generation'' and the films of that era, as well as the ''
Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual'' (1991) reference guide by
Rick Sternbach
Richard Michael Sternbach (born 1951 in Bridgeport, Connecticut) is an illustrator who is best known for his space illustrations and his work on the ''Star Trek'' television series.
Early years
Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1969 Sternbac ...
and Michael Okuda. Okuda consulted on the company's LCARS designs, as did Drexler who also provided digital models that were integrated into the interface screens.
The original plan was to mostly add the user interfaces during post-production, but this changed after Todd A. Marks and his video playback company Images on Screen joined the series. They used a combination of
LG OLED
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED or organic LED), also known as organic electroluminescent (organic EL) diode, is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light i ...
screens and Screen Innovations' FlexGlass projection screens (paired with rear screen projectors) to display the interfaces on set during filming for the first and last episodes.
Music
Composer
Jeff Russo
Jeff Russo (born August 31) is an American composer, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and music producer, and one of the two founding members of American rock band Tonic. He is also a founding member of acoustic rock band Low Stars.
Russo is a ...
said in December 2020 that he was beginning to think about the score for the season,
which features an "up-tempo rearrangement" of the series' main theme.
Russo did this because he wanted "a little more pace and a little more hype" to reflect the swashbuckling, action-heavy tone of the second season compared to the more contemplative first season that he originally wrote the theme for.
After referencing
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the Rambo (franchise) ...
's theme from ''The Next Generation'' and
Alexander Courage
Alexander Mair Courage Jr. (December 10, 1919May 15, 2008) familiarly known as "Sandy" Courage, was an American orchestrator, arranger, and composer of music, primarily for television and film. He is best known as the composer of the theme musi ...
's
original ''Star Trek'' theme in his initial music for the series,
Russo also references Goldsmith's ''First Contact'' theme in the second season's score.
In Thatcher's first appearance as the punk on the bus in ''The Voyage Home'', the character listens to a
punk rock song titled "I Hate You" that Thatcher wrote and performed with members of the film's crew. For this season, Thatcher wrote and performed a new song for the character to listen to titled "I Still Hate You". ''The Voyage Home'' sound editors
Mark Mangini
Mark Mangini (born 1956) is an American sound editor with over 125 film credits. He won the 2015 Academy Award for Best Sound Editing along with David White for their work on '' Mad Max: Fury Road''.
Mangini is renowned for recording and ed ...
and
Aaron Glascock
Aaron Glascock is a sound editor.
Glascock was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing at the 87th Academy Awards for his work on the film ''Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
''Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue o ...
returned to record the new song, respectively performing guitar and drums.
For Ozell's cameo appearance, she and her band perform the song "Take You Down" from her album ''Overnight Lows''. Menendez chose the song, which Ozell called a "strong, sassy, bluesy powerful anthem".
Russo had begun recording the season's score with an orchestra at the Sony Pictures Scoring Stage by December 2021, and completed recording for the season finale on January 12, 2022.
A soundtrack album was released digitally by
Lakeshore Records
Lakeshore Entertainment Group, LLC is an American independent film production, finance, and former international sales and distribution company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum (1933–2002). Lakeshore Entertainment is headquart ...
on April 29, 2022, featuring Russo's score along with Alison Pill's version of "
Shadows of the Night
"Shadows of the Night" is a song composed by D.L. Byron explicitly for the 1980 film ''Times Square (1980 film), Times Square'', which tells the story of two young runaways in New York City. The song did not make it into the movie and Byron's ow ...
" from the episode "Two of One". All music by Jeff Russo, except where noted:
Marketing
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
Feeding America is a United States–based nonprofit organization that is a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community-based agencies. ...
,
Meals on Wheels
Meals on Wheels is a programme that delivers meals to individuals at home who are unable to purchase or prepare their own meals. The name is often used generically to refer to home-delivered meals programmes, not all of which are actually named ...
,
World Central Kitchen
World Central Kitchen (WCK) is a not-for-profit non-governmental organization devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. Founded in 2010 by chef José Andrés, the organization prepared food in Haiti following its devastati ...
, and
No Kid Hungry
Share Our Strength is a national organization working to end childhood hunger and poverty in the United States. Share Our Strength holds culinary events, solicits individual donations, and uses social media to raise funds, which are then used to ...
, 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.
In February 2021, Stewart appeared in a marketing campaign for
Super Bowl LV
Super Bowl LV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2020 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the American Football Conferen ...
advertising the rebranded streaming service Paramount+.
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. Stewart and de Lancie discussed the season at the panel, which debuted a teaser revealing the focus on time travel and the return of Q.
A second teaser was released to coincide with "Capitan Picard Day" on June 16, featuring a look at de Lancie's return and teasing an alternate timeline for the characters. A teaser poster was also released featuring a contemporary-looking Los Angeles.
Liz Shannon Miller of ''
Collider
A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators.
Colliders are used as a research tool in particle ...
'' highlighted the appearance of Q in the trailer as well as the emphasis on other characters such as Seven of Nine in alternate timeline scenarios.
Matthew Jackson at ''
Syfy Wire
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...
'' also highlighted the appearance of Q, saying it gave him goosebumps.
James Whitbrook of ''
io9
''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...
'' focused on Seven of Nine appearing without her Borg implants and described the teaser poster as "cryptic".
The "''Star Trek'' Day" virtual event on September 8, celebrating the 55th anniversary of the ''Star Trek: The Original Series'' premiere, included a panel for the season where a new trailer was revealed.
''io9'' Germain Lussier felt it answered some questions about the season's plot, which he compared to ''
Back to the Future Part II
''Back to the Future Part II'' is a 1989 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay by Bob Gale and a story by both. It is the sequel to the 1985 film ''Back to the Future'' and the second installment in the ' ...
'' (1989), but also raised more questions. He noted that the time travelling plot allowed the season to film in modern-day Los Angeles in a similar way to ''Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home''.
Joshua Meyer of ''
/Film
''/Film'', also spelled ''Slashfilm'', is a blog that covers movie news, reviews, interviews, and trailers. It was founded by Peter Sciretta in August 2005.
Podcasts
Six podcasts have run on the site. ''The /Filmcast'', hosted by David Chen, De ...
'' highlighted the reveal of the Borg Queen as well as the apparent social commentary of the trailer, including where it juxtaposes a "
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
-esque rally" with images of
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
in an apparent reference to the
2019–2020 Hong Kong protests
The Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement, also known as the 2019 Hong Kong protests, or the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, were a series of demonstrations from 15 March 2019 in response to the introduction by the Hong Kong government ...
. He saw this as evidence of ''Picard'' being the most overt of the current ''Star Trek'' series in its attempts at social commentary, bringing it more in-line with past ''Star Trek'' series. Meyer also compared the trailer's totalitarian imagery to similar scenes in ''
Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (2015).
The official trailer and key art for the season were released in January 2022 after the premiere date was revealed. Commentators said the trailer covered many of the same concepts as the previous teasers, including Q and time travel, but it also gave the first look at Goldberg's return in the season which was the highlight for many.
Adam Holmes of ''
CinemaBlend
Future plc is an international multimedia company established in the United Kingdom in 1985. The company has over 220 brands that span magazines, newsletters, websites, and events in fields such as video games, technology, films, music, photogr ...
'', who believed Guinan was the most important recurring character on ''The Next Generation'', said the trailer "finally gives us our first taste" of Goldberg's role after she publicly agreed to return. He speculated on how the season would explain the fact that Goldberg has aged since she last portrayed Guinan despite her scenes seemingly being set in the past.
Coinciding with the season's release, Paramount+ opened the ''10 Forward: The Experience'' pop-up event in Los Angeles on March 10, for 10 days. Each day featured a different local food truck as well as themed cocktails and the "10 Forward Canteen Store" where merchandise could be purchased. The event also featured "experiential environments", "digital interactions", and photo opportunities. Guests were encouraged to dress in
cosplay
Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...
.
Paramount+ also brought the ''10 Forward: The Experience'' pop-up event to San Diego from July 21 to 24 for the 2022
San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...
. July 23 featured a surprise event with members of the cast.
At the Las Vegas ''Star Trek'' convention in August, ''Star Trek Wines'' announced the 2401 Chateau Picard wine and a Risian wine based on those seen in "The Star Gazer". The bottles were based on scans of the props from the episode.
Release
Streaming and broadcast
The season premiered on March 3, 2022, on Paramount+ in the United States,
and ran for 10 episodes until May 5.
Each episode was broadcast in Canada by
Bell Media
Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
on the same day as the U.S., on the specialty channels
CTV Sci-Fi Channel
CTV Sci-Fi Channel is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Bell Media. The channel primarily broadcasts speculative fiction and related programming.
The network was launched on October 17, 1997 as Space under its original pare ...
(English) and
Z (French) before streaming on
Crave.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...
released each episode within 24 hours of its U.S. debut in over 200 other countries and territories.
In February 2023, Paramount made a new deal with Prime Video for the series' international streaming rights. This allowed the season to be added to Paramount+ in some other countries in addition to remaining on Prime Video.
In August 2023, ''Star Trek'' content was removed from Crave and the season began streaming in Canada on Paramount+ instead. The series would continue to be broadcast on CTV Sci-Fi and be available on CTV.ca and the CTV app.
Home media
The season was released on DVD, Blu-Ray, and Limited Edition Steelbook formats in the U.S. on October 4, 2022. The release includes all 10 episodes, as well as deleted scenes, a gag reel, and behind-the-scenes featurettes on the creation and design of the USS ''Stargazer'', the making of the Chateau Picard sets, the season's props, Q's storyline with de Lancie, and the season's new prosthetics for the Borg Queen.
On September 5, 2023, a box set featuring the complete series and over seven hours of special features was released, while a 54-disc Blu-ray "Picard Legacy Collection" that includes this series was released on November 7.
Reception
Viewership
Whip Media
Whip Media Group is a private American company selling enterprise software for content distribution, as well as TV- and film-related user data. It operates physical offices in the US, the UK, and the EU.
Background
Whip Media Group is the resul ...
, who track viewership data for the 19 million worldwide users of their
TV Time
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...
app, ranked ''Picard'' in the top 10 original streaming series for U.S. viewership each week the season was released except for the week of the season premiere.
Parrot Analytics determines audience "demand expressions" based on various data sources, and the company calculated that ''Picard'' was the third-most in demand U.S. streaming series for March 2022 behind
Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...
's ''
The Mandalorian
''The Mandalorian'' is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is the first live-action series in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, beginning five years after the events of ''Retur ...
'' and
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
's ''
Stranger Things
''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Prod ...
''. This was the first time a Paramount+ series appeared in the company's monthly rankings in nine months, and they said the series was 32 times more in demand than the average U.S. streaming series.
It dropped slightly to 31.4 times more in demand for April 2022, though this made it the sixth-most in demand series on Parrot's list after several new series were released.
''Picard'' was the ninth-most in demand series for May 2022, according to Parrot, down to 27.4 times more in demand than the average series. This was behind ''
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'', which debuted at fifth place.
Critical response
The
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported an 85% approval score with an average rating of 7.95/10 based on 95 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Picard'' gets some backup from franchise fan favorites in a sophomore season that charts a course towards recapturing more of the classical ''Star Trek'' spirit and makes it so."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 69 out of 100 based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' gave the season a negative review saying, it "might just be the worst season of Star Trek ever produced." The review also stated that although the season "started off in a good place, looking to amend some of the missteps of the show's freshman year... in attempting to embrace and celebrate the things that fans love about Star Trek, the show fell into the trap of regurgitating old concepts."
In March 2024, Matalas acknowledged some of the concerns that audiences had with the season, saying "I think you can kind of feel when you watch season two that there's a lot of different ideas here". He attributed this to the rewrites that the studio requested as well as complications from making the second and third seasons at the same time.
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
{{Star Trek: Picard
2022 American television seasons
Season 2 Season 2 may refer to:
* ''Season 2'' (Infinite album)
* '' 2econd Season''
See also
*
{{disambig ...
Picard 02
Television productions postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Television shows set in Los Angeles
Fiction about time travel