Star Trek: Picard was supposed to see its second and third season shot back-to-back as a cost-cutting and time-cutting measure. The move would’ve helped cut significant costs off the series, which is rumored to cost ViacomCBS close to $100 million per season, and not only that, but it would’ve ensured they had Patrick Stewart for every episode.
At his age, it’s probably best they do as much as they can, as soon as they can.
Yet, Picard executive producer Akiva Goldsman talked to the Hollywood Reporter, he was very adamant that he had no idea if the series was in fact filming back-to-back seasons.
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter)
"The original, pre-COVID-19 plan was to shoot seasons two and three of Picard back-to-back. Is that still happening?I would love to answer that, but I cannot."
This seems to be a concern, as they’re currently filming season two of Picard as we speak. Now, it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that ViacomCBS and Paramount+ shift their thought process and decide to go ahead with the filming of a season three in the immediacy of finishing work on the second season, but who knows.
It should be noted that there have been a lot of changes since Picard was originally announced. CBS and Viacom merged to form ViacomCBS. CBS All Access failed, massively, to reach an audience and there are some who believe it never netted a profit. Then there was the re-launch/new launch of its replacement service, Paramount+.
With a focus on older original programming libraries and series already in production, there may be a sense at ViacomCBS to rethink some of the Star Trek shows, or at the very least their methodologies. While a third season was rumored to always be part of the show’s long-term plan, there’s always a chance that ViacomCBS opts to end Picard due to the budget of the show, among other concerns.