It's been revealed that Patrick Stewart pushed for the upcoming Star Trek series about Picard to be new and different. Stewart has had a very successful career in the film industry, but one of his most popular roles came in 1987, when he first appeared as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the long-running Star Trek: The Next Generation. The actor then returned to the role in 1993 for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and a year later for Star Trek: Generations. Stewart would go on to play the character for another three movies, and it was recently announced that Stewart was returning as Picard for a whole new Star Trek series.
Since the announcement in August, fans have been dying to hear updates about the next chapter of Picard's life, and been curious if any other Star Trek characters would get their own show. While stars like William Shatner probably won't get their own show, CBS is planning to make multiple seasons of the Picard series. It's also been confirmed that the Picard show will not connect to Star Trek: Discovery, and will be a standalone story. Now that pre-production for the currently untitled Picard show has been underway for a few months, it's been revealed that Stewart has had some control in the direction the series will go.
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Reported by IGN, Stewart really pushed for the upcoming Picard series to be new and different. When speaking about Stewart's influence on the show, writer Michael Chabon revealed, "he’s really pushing us to try to do something new and different with the character. And that’s why he wants to play it, so that he can play something that honors the character, that’s true to the character". Chabon also teased that Stewart, "wants to see Jean-Luc Picard having experiences, having adventures, and be put in situations we haven’t seen before". Chabon is currently one of the writers on the Picard show, and also wrote the script for the recently released Star Trek short titled "Calypso".
Aside from the untitled Picard series, the second season of Star Trek: Discovery will be airing on CBS All Access in January 2019. CBS also hopes to have Star Trek shows airing all year long, meaning they could possibly be developing other Star Trek shows in the coming years. As for the film side of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek 4 is still a mystery at Paramount, and Quentin Tarantino may put out an R-rated Star Trek movie at some point.
With Stewart having played the character of Picard in many movies, TV shows, and video games since the 1980s, it makes sense why he would be given some degree of creative control with the new Star Trek series. Even though the actor has never been nominated for an Oscar, Stewart has become recognized as a diverse talent, appearing in everything from the X-Men series to The Emoji Movie. With his clearly abundant ability and understanding of the Picard character, not granting his wish to have a new and different series would have been a mistake.
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Source: IGN