Star Trek Picard season 2 release date: Cast, trailer and latest news on Patrick Stewart's sci-fi drama

Patrick Stewart is reprising his role as the former Enterprise captain in season 2.

And talking about what's in store for his character in the upcoming season, the actor recently hinted Jean-Luc may be ready for romance.

"Well, what immediately comes to mind is romance of a very different nature and quality than it might have been in Star Trek: The Next Generation, when really, I had a succession of dates. But this has developed much more in season two," he told comicbook.com.

The latest trailer also teased the return of Whoopi Goldberg as El-Aurian bartender Guinan, with the actor reprising the role she played for 29 episodes back in Star Trek: The Next Generation, while a previous clip also teased a surprising development for Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine.

Star Trek: Picard finally started production on the new episodes in February 2021 after a lengthy delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, with seasons two and three reportedly being filmed back-to-back.

Read on for everything we know so far about Star Trek: Picard season 2.

Picard season 2 release date

The Star Trek: Picard season 2 release date is taking place on 4th March 2022, the producers have confirmed. The series will continue to air on Amazon Prime Video in the UK, and you can sign up for an Amazon Prime free trial if you don't have a membership already.

The Picard return date is occurring much later than planned - the series enjoyed an early renewal and had been intended to start filming more episodes in June 2021, which became impossible due to the pandemic.

Fortunately, the cameras finally started rolling and Sir star Patrick Stewart couldn't have been happier about it.

"Of course, given the circumstances of the past year, there is extra joy that we are back again in a fully active, fully healthy shooting situation," he said in a recent video from Paramount Plus.

Picard is filming seasons two and three back-to-back, so there shouldn't be too long a gap once season two is released.

• Star Trek Picard season 2 review: Make it so-so

Picard season two cast

Picard himself – AKA Sir Patrick Stewart – is a lock having said he was contracted for at least "three years", and it seems likely that supporting cast members Michelle Hurd (Raffi Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Chris Rios), Isa Briones (Soji Asha), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati) and Evan Evagora (Elnor) will be back alongside him.

Following her appearance in the trailer, it seems Jeri Ryan will be back also as classic character Seven of Nine, though it's less clear whether other Star Trek mainstays like Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, or Marina Sirtis (all of whom had guest roles in Picard season one) will also continue to appear. However, it seems likely more of Stewart’s castmates from The Next Generation will find their way into the series somehow.

In fact, Whoopi Goldberg – who played Guinan in the 1980s/90s series – has already been asked to return by Stewart himself, who invited her live on US TV show The View.

"I’m here with a formal invitation, it’s for you Whoopi," he said. "Alex Kurtzman, who is the senior executive producer of Star Trek: Picard, and all of his colleagues, of which I am one, want to invite you into the second season."

This invitation seems to have been accepted as Goldberg told SFX Magazine later in 2020 that she hopes to join the show from the second season but it's unclear if she will have a major role or a smaller cameo.

"I haven't seen Star Trek: Discovery but I did watch the first season of Picard, which was great," she said. "From time to time, I talk to Patrick about Star Trek. Hopefully, I will be joining their cast for a little while next year. I'm very excited about that."

However, one classic character who will definitely have a big part to play is Q, with actor John De Lancie's return announced at First Contact Day in April 2021.

The fan favourite villain has appeared throughout the Star Trek canon – most recently in animated spin-off Star Trek: Lower Decks – and De Lancie has hinted that he will appear in both season two and three of Picard.

So who knows? There could be all sorts of familiar faces when season two eventually beams down to us.

Picard season 2 trailer

The trailer for Picard season 2 was finally released on Captain Picard Day in June 2021 - and as well as a few stirring words from Patrick Stewart and his iconic booming voice, the trailer also teased the long-awaited return of Q.

And that's not it for returning characters - a second trailer released in January 2022 finally showed Whoopi Goldberg back as Guinan for the new run. Take a look below:

To mark the start of filming Paramount Plus revealed a Q&A with Patrick Stewart in April 2021, hosted by Wil Wheaton.

The video served as an official announcement that John de Lancie's fan-favourite character Q is making a return in the next batch of episodes, with an appearance from the man himself.

Picard season two plot: What will happen?

While we don’t want to give away any spoilers from the season one finale, it does largely wrap up most of the synthetic human/Romulan spy storyline, which could suggest that season two will explore other corners of the galaxy as Picard tries to bring Starfleet back to its better self.

Alternatively, it could be that Picard’s writers will choose to delve deeper into Romulan culture after introducing new elements of it in season one.

It seems there will be a focus on Seven of Nine’s (Jeri Ryan) continued struggles to move on from her Borg past also, with the trailer showing her waking up with her Borg implant mysteriously missing.

The trailer also hints that season two will involve time travel, with Picard vowing to "save the future" and a poster appearing to show modern-day Los Angeles.

It seems Q will play a role in fixing the timeline, having previously used time as a weapon in The Next Generation.

For our part, we hope we’ll get to see more of what Picard’s old Enterprise crew have been up to, examples of which were the highlight of season one.

Star Trek: Picard is available on Amazon Prime video in the UK – check out our guides to the best Amazon Prime series and the best movies on Amazon Prime.

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