Tuesday 6 April 2021

Star Trek: Picard season 2: release date, trailer, story, cast and everything we know

Star Trek: Picard season 2 was confirmed before the first season even ended – and now it's finally filming, after a long delay incurred by the pandemic. A first teaser trailer has been revealed for the show, and it's been announced that John de Lancie will be joining the cast as fan favorite Trek character Q. 

According to the one and only Patrick Stewart, Picard season 2 will have some "startling events" weaved into its story arc, and we're definitely keen to see how the events of season 1 will continue to impact the great wide universe of Star Trek. The first season wasn't perfect, but we've got more time for the further adventures of Jean-Luc and the crew of La Sirena.

Here's everything we know about Star Trek: Picard season 2 so far. Spoilers follow from the first season, so make sure you're all caught up before reading on.

Star Trek: Picard season 2 release date: 2022

Production has begun for Star Trek: Picard season 2, and a release date of 2022 has been confirmed. An exact time hasn't been narrowed down by Paramount Plus – but we'd expect to see it in the first half of next year.

Star Trek: Picard season 2 trailer teases Q's return

The first trailer for Picard season 2 has been revealed – confirming that John de Lancie will be reprising his role as Q in an upcoming set of episodes. 

What will Star Trek: Picard season 2's story be?

(Image credit: Trae Patton/CBS)

We don't know much about season 2's story, though Patrick Stewart has discussed how Q will pop up again during a particularly traumatic moment for Picard.

"I wish I could sit here and blurt out to you all the new storylines, and situations and times that you're going to be seeing in this second season," Stewart says. "Despite 178 episodes of TNG [The Next Generation] and four feature films, there are events coming up in season 2 that have never been seen before."

"Q's arrival is, as it often was, is unexpected. But it also comes at a shattering moment in the episode. And I do mean a shattering moment. Whether it's directly connected to Q or not, I'm not sure, but there is significant trauma. And in fact at the moment, I'm working on how the trauma of this moment hangs around Picard for quite a substantial part of the episode and then – there [Q] is."

The writers have been saying a lot about what's planned over the coming season. Speaking to Collider last year, executive producer Akiva Goldsman said "We know what it is" and "we learned a lot from season 1." That said, it seems like the story may be less dark this time, too. In the same Collider chat, Goldsman likened season 1 to "the first act of a movie [...] it has to be bad at the beginning so it gets good at the end."

We do know that season 2 is going to boldly go to completely new places and destinations, and that "it is going to be extraordinary," Sir Patrick Stewart told Gold Derby. Stewart also explained that the writers are keeping him in the loop on "startling events" in which La Sirena will "not be covering the same ground."

Of course we expect Picard himself to be central to the story of season 2, but balancing his story with the characters he meets on his travels through the Final Frontier will be a returning challenge from season 1.

"That's the challenge," showrunner Michael Chabon told The Hollywood Reporter. "First, it's got to be good, right? It has to be focused on Picard but have room for all the other characters. It's never going to be just a show about the crew of a starship that's part of Starfleet and everyone's wearing uniforms and they're flying around, encountering alien life and weird planets. Those are the challenges we face going into season two, and I'm so excited about the story we've come up with."

At the end of the first season, Picard managed to stop a group of synthetics from summoning a race of mechanical 'higher beings' that would wipe out all organic life in the galaxy. We briefly saw these beings – giant centipede-like machines – but they were sucked back into a portal before they could reach our galaxy.

(Image credit: CBS)

This ending stuck to the original plan, but plenty changed along the way. Chabon also told THP that "even though our original outline changed significantly to what you eventually saw, the plan — and Sir Patrick's plan from the beginning — was ‘let's tell more stories with Picard.'" The original story document penned by Chabon, Alex Kurtzman, and Akiva Goldsman apparently didn't even feature Data.

Regardless, it seems unlikely that the threat of these creatures will be the focus of season 2, but we will almost certainly return to the fight against the synth-hating Romulan General Oh, who was moments away from declaring all-out war on the Federation. She backed down after a threat from Captain Riker and a powerful Federation fleet, but it's likely she'll be back for revenge on Starfleet, Picard, and the synths whose lives he helped save.

We also know that Picard lives to fight another day, having had his memories implanted into a new synthetic body. Although Alton Soong, who performed the procedure, makes it clear that his new body is identical to his old one, including its ability to age and die. But the brain abnormality that haunted him in season 1 is now gone.

Picard has a full, loyal crew now, including Jurati, Seven of Nine, Elnor, Rios, and Raffi — and a ship, the La Sirena – so he's more than ready to face whatever new adventures are thrown at him in Star Trek: Picard season 2.

(Image credit: CBS)
Our past recaps of Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard episode 1 recap
Star Trek: Picard episode 2 recap
Star Trek: Picard episode 3 recap
Star Trek: Picard episode 4 recap
Star Trek: Picard episode 5 recap
Star Trek: Picard episode 6 recap
Star Trek: Picard episode 7 recap
Star Trek: Picard episode 8 recap
Star Trek: Picard episode 9 recap
Star Trek: Picard episode 10 recap

There could also be a Star Trek: Picard season 3

Although CBS has yet to confirm it, and won't comment on rumours, the Hollywood Reporter claims sources have revealed that season 3 has been informally given the go ahead – and may be filmed back-to-back with season 2.

Star Trek: Picard season 2 will be more personal

According to co-creator Michael Chabon, the second season of Picard will have more time to spend fleshing out its characters. Speaking to Variety about the relationship between Dr. Jurati and Rios in season one, he said: "It’s about letting people’s identities emerge. I think we’ll have more time for that in the second season than we’ve had in the first season. We just had so many characters and so much story to tell in this first season, that a lot of the sort of more personal aspects of things – including again, like people’s families, and all that stuff – just all got sort of left [behind]."

Star Trek: Picard season 2 cast: Guinan will return

We don't have a confirmed cast list for the show yet, but it won't be a shock when we see Patrick Stewart reprise his role as Picard now he's feeling his way into his new android body. We also expect to see more from the crew of La Sirena, that's Michelle Hurd (Raffi), Santiago Cabrera (Rios), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), and Isa Briones (Soji). Brent Spiner is expected to appear again as Altan Inigo Soong.

Of course, we know now they'll be joined by John de Lancie as Q, too.

The first season featured cameos from some of The Next Generation's iconic cast, so will we see more from Jonathan Frakes (William Riker), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), and Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi)? Ryan is confirmed for season 2 – but the rest are more of a question mark. 

However, speaking of returning Trekkies, during an appearance on American TV show The View co-hosted by Whoopi Goldberg in early 2020, Patrick Stewart formally invited her to reprising her role as Guinan in Picard season 2. “It was wonderful having you, and we cannot wait to have you with us again one more time," said Stewart. Guinan was a recurring, and fan favourite, character in Star Trek: The Next Generation – an enigmatic bartender on the USS Enterprise who became close friends with Picard. It's unclear what her role in Star Trek: Picard season 2 will be, but it'll likely be an important one.

(Image credit: CBS)

Star Trek: Picard season 2 will see a showrunner change

According to an interview in Variety, Michael Chabon won't be as heavily involved in season 2 of Star Trek: Picard as he was in the first. He's shifting his attention to developing a TV series for Showtime based on his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. But he will continue to work on Picard season 2 as an executive producer, and give notes to the writers. "I’m still an executive producer on Picard," he told Variety. "I’m writing two episodes. I was there breaking the second season, all the way through. I was engaged, I think, to exactly the same degree as I was on the first season."

Terry Matalas will be the showrunner for season 2 instead.

Star Trek: Picard is available to watch on Paramount Plus in the US and Amazon Prime Video internationally.

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