Alison Pill, Harry Treadaway & more join Patrick Stewart in Picard series

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Star Trek's future on the small-screen is looking quite bright indeed as there are multiple new shows in development, including a Jean-Luc Picard series which is due to kick off production later this month. Naturally, Patrick Stewart is back to reprise his iconic role, and CBS has been gathering up a group of actors to join him in the 24th Century.

CBS All Access announced today that Alison Pill (The Newsroom), Harry Treadaway (Penny Dreadful), and Isa Briones (American Crime Story: Versace) have joined the cast of the as-yet-untitled Picard series. Details about their characters are being kept under wraps, but they'll join previously announced cast-members Santiago Cabrera (Big Little Lies), Michelle Hurd (Daredevil), and Evan Evagora (FANTASY ISLAND). It was previously rumoured that Cabrera's character would be the pilot of Picard's ship who is also a skillful thief, while Hurd's character is said to be a "former intelligence officer who is a brilliant analyst with a terrific memory that has not been affected by her drug and alcohol abuse." Take that with a grain of salt until we hear something more official.

Star Trek franchise producer Alex Kurtzman sat down with Patrick Stewart last month and came close to crying after hearing him read the first episode.

Here’s what I will tell you. I had an amazing experience yesterday. I sat at Patrick’s kitchen table and I heard him read the first episode and I almost cried. It was quite something. He’s at an amazing place in his life. He’s so excited. It’s going to be a very different show from Discovery. The only way this universe, I think, works correctly is if each show is really different and speaks to a different part of Star Trek.

If Patrick Stewart is excited, then so am I. Alex Kurtzman went on to add that the Picard series will be quite different from Star Trek: Discovery. "This is going to be a very thoughtful, psychological portrait in a lot of ways," Kurtzman said. "We all know what Picard means to the world and why he, like so many legendary characters on Star Trek, has endured and what he’s represented. He in some ways has to go through a gauntlet to find that again. Things have changed for him and changed him in some ways, and yet he is so deeply and fundamentally still Picard. We’re thrilled at what we’re going to deliver. I know Patrick is really excited. The cast is coming together beautifully. And I will give you nothing else." The first two episodes of the Picard series are set to be directed by Hanelle Culpepper, with episodes three and four being helmed by Jonathan Frakes. The series will debut on CBS All Access late 2019.