Star Trek: Picard Is a "Hybrid" Of Discovery and Next Generation, Says CBS Exec

Star Trek: Picard is set to bring the Star Trek: The Next Generation captain into the new era of Star Trek television. That era, so far, has been defined by Star Trek: Discovery, the first new Star Trek series to debut in over a decade. When Picard arrives next year, CBS All Access executive vice president of original content Julie McNamara says it will be the best of both worlds when it comes to Star Trek new and old.

"I would say that it is in production, sort of size and scope, probably more similar to Discovery," McNamara said, speaking to press at the TCA press tour (via SlashFilm). "In terms of the characters and the nature of the storytelling, probably more like Next Generation. But of course, we're a number of years later now so there are some shifts in the storytelling style but I think it's a really nice hybrid of the two."

In the past, Star Trek producer Alex Kurtzman has stressed that Picard will have its own unique feel to it, different from Discovery and different from The Next Generation. "Everybody in that room loves Jean-Luc Picard very deeply, and obviously, the benefit that we have is that Jean-Luc Picard is in the room with us," Kurtzman said in February. "And so, as we're breaking story, we're asking ourselves, 'How do we live to the spirit, and to the character, and for the tone that Next Gen set, but also make it something very, very different in other ways?' And Patrick was really clear with us from the beginning. He did not want to repeat what he had already done. And by the way, it's been 20 plus years, so he couldn't possibly be that same person anymore. And so, the question becomes, 'What has happened to him in that period of time? Have there been occurrences that forced him to reckon with choices that he's made in his life? How do you hold on to being the person everybody loved when the circumstances around you may have changed so radically?' And those are the big questions that we're asking.

"It's interesting, Patrick [Stewart] didn't want to put handcuffs on us in any way by saying, 'I don't want to do this, and I don't want to do that. He said, 'I want you to have the freedom to explore this character from a new perspective, and I will always know in my gut if it feels like something he would or wouldn't do.' And that's the conversation that we have as we're building it scene to scene."

Are you excited about Star Trek: Picard? Let us know in the comments. Star Trek: Picard debuts on CBS All Access in early 2020.