Hot on the heels of the logo and title reveal of "Star Trek: Picard" comes our first look at the new Trek spin-off series, focusing on Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart.
It opens with a picturesque scene of a vineyard; sunlight softly glistens through water gently trickling from an old-style, iron hand-pump on a beautiful summer day. A man walks through the rows of trellises, pausing to briefly inspect the leaf of a young vine. A case of '86 vintage (undoubtedly 2386) Chateau Picard Bourgogne is gently placed outside a rustic farmhouse as a voice calmly speaks.
"Fifteen years ago, today, you led us out of the darkness. You commanded the greatest rescue armada in history. Then, the unimaginable. What did that cost you? Your faith? Your faith in us? Your faith in yourself? Tell us, why did you leave Starfleet, Admiral?"
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Finally, we see the great man himself.
You may recall, in "Star Trek: Generations" (1994) we learn that Jean-Luc's young nephew René and his father Robert — Jean-Luc's brother — were tragically killed in a fire in 2371 at the family home. Only Marie Picard, Robert's wife, survived. This is obviously the Picard vineyard in La Barre, in the south-east corner of the Burgundy region of France, so we wonder if these events will be referenced and if Marie will appear in the show.
We've seen the Picard vineyard twice before, once in the epic "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Family" (S04, E02), and then again in the outstanding, two-part series finale "All Good Things" (S07, E25) — the second part of which just happens to have aired 25 years ago today.
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We assume the rescue armada mentioned here is the evacuation of the Romulan homeworld before it was destroyed by the Supernova of 2387. When was he promoted to Admiral? And why did he leave Starfleet?
Joining Stewart will be Santiago Cabrera ("Transformers: The Last Knight" and "Salvation"), Isa Briones ("American Crime Story"), Alison Pill ("Snowpiercer" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World"), Harry Treadaway ("Penny Dreadful"), Michelle Hurd ("Hawaii Five-0") and Evan Evagora ("Secret City").
We don't know yet when we'll hear anything more about the details of "Star Trek: Picard," but it's likely that more information will be available at the San Diego Comic Con in July, as it's the next big genre event of 2019.
Along with the trailer, the first official artwork for the series was also revealed today:
CBS and Amazon Studios have announced that the new show will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries worldwide. As part of a multi-year deal between the network and Amazon, episodes will be released on Prime Video within 24 hours of their premieres on CBS All Access and Space in the US and Canada, respectively.
This new arrangement won't affect the deal CBS has with Netflix internationally, where every "Star Trek" TV series, including "Star Trek: Discovery," currently resides. With one of the new animated series going exclusively to Nickelodeon, the future seems to feature more streaming subscriptions if "Trek" fans want to keep up with everything.
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