With anticipation mounting for Patrick Stewart’s return as Jean-Luc Picard in CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Picard, there are a lot of questions as to what happened to Picard and his former Enterprise crew since the last time they were seen onscreen. Star Trek fans will get a chance to learn more about the intervening years between Star Trek: Nemesis and Picard prior to the series’ premiere as The Hollywood Reporter has revealed a prequel comic book series and a novel are in the works from IDW and Simon & Shuster’s Galley Books.
“From the moment we announced this series we’ve seen a groundswell of support from our fan base who are thrilled to have Jean-Luc Picard back on their screens,” said Veronica Hart, CBS’ Consumer products executive VP of global franchise management, to THR. “Having this brand new original backstory play out through both comic book and novel formats will set the stage for the new series in an exciting way while also showcasing the work of our talented partners at Simon & Schuster and IDW.”
Star Trek: Picard – Countdown will be the first of the prequels to be released this fall. The three-issue IDW series will be written by Mike Johnson and Kristen Beyer, Picard‘s supervising producer. The series will follow Picard on a single mission that changed his life forever. t is due to begin in November and run through to January 2020.
After that, Galley Books will release The Last Best Hope in February 2020. The book comes from Una McCormack, a veteran writer of several Star Trek novels. The Last Best Hope is set to lead directly into Star Trek: Picard and will introduce new characters from the upcoming show.
Star Trek: Picard sees Jean-Luc having retired from Starfleet, but is pulled back into it as a mysterious young woman comes to him for help. As revealed at the San Diego Comic-Con, the series will also see the return of Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi, Jonathan Frakes as Will Riker, Brent Spiner as Data and Star Trek: Voyager‘s Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine and Jonathan Del Arco as Hugh, a guest star from The Next Generation who played Hugh, a Borg drone with a sense of individuality against the Borg collective.
Also starring in Star Trek: Picard are Santiago Cabera (Salvation), Michelle Hurd (Blindspot), Alison Pill (The Newsroom), Harry Treadaway (Mr. Mercedes), Isa Briones (Takers) and Evan Evagora (Fantasy Island).
