How Logan Helped Convince Patrick Stewart to Return in Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard sees Patrick Stewart returning to his role as Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Stewart is also known for playing Professor X in the X-Men movies. At Destination Star Trek, Stewart recalled the process of producers Alex Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman convincing him to return as Picard, something he'd been determined not to do. It was in Stewart's second meeting with the producers that he brought up Logan, his final performance as Professor X. "I asked to meet them all again and at the second meeting, I had specific terms and conditions that I said would allow me to think about reviving this world," Stewart said (via StarTrek.com). "Much of it was about what the world would be that you were going back to. I referenced X-Men and particularly the final movie that Hugh Jackman and myself did, Logan, as [to] what I had in mind. Logan was nothing like any of the other X-Men movies that had come before. It was very, very different. The world had changed. And so, I challenged Alex Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman to come up with ideas for a completely different world than the one that we had known 17 or 18 years earlier."

It was only after Stewart felt the producers had risen to that challenge that he agreed to return in Star Trek: Picard. "[Star Trek: Picard is] better than being a return to Jean Luc, a return to the franchise," Stewart said. "It felt like a brand new project. And I was fascinated because, in those 18 years, Picard had grown older and Patrick, myself, had grown older. My life, in many respects, is very different. And I felt if we could bring all of those elements into a new series about Picard then I would be content. And this is the end result of that."

The new series follows Picard into the next chapter of his life. Alongside Stewart, Star Trek: Picard also stars Isa Briones, Santiago Cabrera, Michelle Hurd, Alison Pill, Harry Treadaway, and Evan Evagora. The series is produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. Alex Kurtzman, Michael Chabon, Akiva Goldsman, James Duff, Patrick Stewart, Heather Kadin, Rod Roddenberry, and Trevor Roth serve as executive producers and Aaron Baiers (Secret Hideout) serves as co-executive producer and Kirsten Beyer as supervising producer. Hanelle Culpepper directed the first two episodes of the series. Stewart's Next Generation co-star Jonathan Frakes directed the third and fourth episodes of the season.

Are you excited about Star Trek: Picard? Let us know in the comments. The series debuts January 23rd on CBS All Access.