Patrick Stewart’s “journey has begun” on what is probably nowhere near the “final frontier” for the “Star Trek” franchise.
On Monday, Stewart tweeted a picture revealing the writers’ room for the upcoming CBS All Access “Star Trek” series featuring his return to his iconic role as Jean-Luc Picard, had broken ground.
“The journey has begun,” Stewart tweeted, along with a pic of him and the writers settling in to start storyboarding. “Kirsten Beyer, Michael Chabon, Akiva Goldsman, Diandra Pendleton-Thompson, James Duff, and yours truly. #StarTrek.”
The currently untitled series — with the premiere date yet to be announced — will be spearheaded by “Star Trek: Discovery” co-creator and executive producer Alex Kurtzman, whose overall deal with CBS Studios has him running point on all small-screen “Star Trek” projects at CBS.
Stewart announced the news himself at the Las Vegas “Star Trek” Convention back in August.
“I will always be very proud to have been a part of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation,’ but when we wrapped that final movie in the spring of 2002, I truly felt my time with ‘Star Trek’ had run its natural course,” Stewart said at the time. “It is, therefore, an unexpected but delightful surprise to find myself excited and invigorated to be returning to Jean-Luc Picard and to explore new dimensions within him. Seeking out new life for him, when I thought that life was over.”
Stewart carved out his place in “Star Trek” history while playing Picard for seven seasons on “The Next Generation,” as well as in four movies. The 78-year-old Englishman said on Saturday the time felt especially right to bring the character back to life.
See the photo below.
The journey has begun. Kirsten Beyer, Michael Chabon, Akiva Goldsman, Diandra Pendleton-Thompson, James Duff, and yours truly. #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/GxhwkTIgWQ
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) September 24, 2018