Picards early season renewal isn’t a sign the show will be great

CBS All Access is reading to debut Picard, the show that will see the return of Patrick Stewart to his iconic role but what can fans expect?

CBS All Access’ Picard will see at least twenty episodes of the new series starring Patrick Stewart, a series aimed at past fans. The show will look to bring back some of those older fans of the franchise that may or may not been turned off by Star Trek: Discovery, and the J.J. Abrams-produced films. The franchise, though, has grown and changed since Stewart’s last turn as Jean-Luc Picard. Fans once accustomed to specific aesthetics and storytelling elements will see a brand new franchise.

One would believe that with some of the most iconic Star Trek actors being brought back to reprise their equally iconic roles, the cost of the series and the early pre-premiere renewal for a second season, that this show would be a slam dunk for fans. Yet, the fans they’re targetting are used to one thing specifically when it comes to Star Trek, and this show will be a drastic departure from all things they hold dear.

Part of the issue is that CBS is looking to use the same set of producers for all of their Star Trek shows, much like Greg Berlanti and the Arrowverse. CBS went back to the well and tapped Alex Kurtzman to head Picard. The first in what could be numerous Star Trek series spin-offs.  That means if you didn’t like  Kurtzman’s last series, Star Trek Discovery, and there’s certainly ample reason for that, then you probably wouldn’t like Picard. If you like Discovery, then you’re probably in for a treat.

Expectations are high for Picard. Shelling out money to bring back two of the most popular ‘Trek characters for the show in William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is a sign that CBS All Access is not screwing around. There is a dedicated focus on bringing back the past for this series but what will we get?

The series won’t have Rick Berman and Michael Piller to guide it, and their voices were so integral in the development of the three most popular iterations of the show (Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space 9), which is the same group of fans Picard is targeted towards. That lore that we Trek fans hold so near and dear is now in the hands of the man who wrote The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the 2017 reboot of The Mummy.

There is reason to be concerned. That’s valid and justified. Yet, the show could still be good even if it’s a Kurtzman project. Giving it a fair shake is the way to go, regardless of how you feel about Bad Robot’s take on the Star Trek film franchise and Kurtzman’s direction for Discovery.