Santiago Cabrera & Michelle Hurd join Patrick Stewart in Picard series

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Although the future of Star Trek on the big-screen seems to be unclear, the small-screen side of the franchise is growing very quickly. Not only has CBS renewed Star Trek: Discovery for a third season, but there are also numerous other Star Trek projects in the works as well, including a series which will find Patrick Stewart reprising his role of Jean-Luc Picard.

Production on the as-yet-untitled series is expected to kick off next month, and we've finally got word on who will be joining Patrick Stewart in the series. It's been announced that Santiago Cabrera and Michelle Hurd have both joined up as series regulars. Cabrera is best known for his work on Heroes, Big Little Lies, Salvation, and The Musketeers, while Hurd has been featured in Law & Order: SVU, Blindspot, Lethal Weapon, Ash Vs. Evil Dead, and Daredevil. The exact nature of their roles are being kept under wraps, but Deadline has heard that Santiago Cabrera will be playing a skillful thief who is also the pilot of Picard's ship and that Michelle Hurd will be playing a "former intelligence officer who is a brilliant analyst with a terrific memory that has not been affected by her drug and alcohol abuse." Until we hear something more official, take that with a grain of salt for now. It was also recently announced that Hanelle Culpepper, who has helmed several episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, will be directing the first two episodes of the Picard series.

While it was initially expected that the Picard series would be a limited one, consisting of a single ten-episode season, Patrick Stewart has previously said that he's game to return for more and that the production is "hoping for more than one season." The actor has also teased that the series will be telling one long tale rather than ten separate episodes, saying, "They are writing a 10-hour movie." We still don't know exactly what Jean-Luc Picard will be up to in the new series, but it has been confirmed that the series will take place after the destruction of the Romulan Empire and that Picard's life has been radically altered by the event. The series is expected to debut on CBS All Access late 2019.