Star Trek: Picard has already been renewed for season 2
Patrick Stewart's much-anticipated return to the franchise isn't going anywhere
Star Trek: Picard is still a month away from premiering, but the series has already got the greenlight for a second season in 2021.
The new television show sees Patrick Stewart return to the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, a role he originally played in Star Trek: The Next Generation and reprised in four feature films.
His last appearance was in 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis, set 20 years before the events of the new Picard series.
The announcement came courtesy of the California Film Commission, which released a list of television shows that would be receiving tax credits next year, with a second season of Picard being one of them.
Star Trek: Picard features several original characters portrayed by Alison Pill (Scott Pilgrim vs The World), Santiago Cabrera (The Musketeers), Michelle Hurd (Blindspot) and Harry Treadaway (Penny Dreadful), as well as newcomers Isa Briones and Evan Evagora.
That said, familiar faces from The Next Generation will also be returning in some capacity, including Brent Spiner as the android Data and Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker.
Novelist and screenwriter Michael Chabon is serving as showrunner on the first season, although he may not be able to return for the second due to a scheduling conflict with work on an adaptation of his Kavalier and Clay novels.
Star Trek: Picard will debut on Amazon Prime Video in the UK on 24th January 2019
Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.