Patrick Stewart: Picard 'Never Actually Left Me'

(Image credit: ViacomCBS)

Two years after launching Star Trek: Discovery, and achieving only middling results while trying to reboot the venerable sci-fi franchise with new characters and largely unproven stars, CBS All Access is handing the ship over to one of its most reliable stewards ... er, Stewarts.

Star Trek: Picard begins on CBS All Access today, Jan. 23. Sir Patrick Stewart plays Jean-Luc Picard. There are 10 episodes. 

Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, Michelle Hurd and Santiago Cabera are also in the cast. 

Stewart played Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Stewart spoke about revisiting the role at TCA press tour in Pasadena earlier this month. “There was actually nothing that strange to be stepping into Star Trek:  Picard, because he's never actually left me,” he said. “He has always been there, and it's a relationship that I am happy to continue with. That's an understatement. I'm absolutely thrilled to continue.” 

Executive producers on Star Trek: Picard are Alex Kurtzman, Michael Chabon, Akiva Goldsman and Heather Kadin. Chabon is the author of the novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. 

CBS All Access costs $5.99 monthly with commercials and $9.99 without. It debuted Star Trek: Discovery in 2017.

The network has ordered a second season of Star Trek: Picard, meaning ten more episodes.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.