'Star Trek: Picard' Will Take Picard Back To Space, But Not With Starfleet

Specific details about Star Trek: Picard, Patrick Stewart's much heralded return to the Trek universe, have been mostly kept under-wraps. But as the CBS All Access series prepares to take the stage at San Diego Comic-Con, executive producer Alex Kurtzman has opened up with some new info. According to Kurtzman, while images so far have shown Picard on Earth, he will indeed be returning to space – "but not in a way that anyone expects."

What's in store for Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: Picard? According to an interview Alex Kurtzman gave to EW, something unpredictable. Yes, Picard will be back in space at some point – "Events began to unfold that conspire to take Picard back to the stars," Kurtzman said. But he also stressed that Picard won't be back with Starfleet. "He will [go to space], but not in a way that anyone expects," the executive producer explained.

Kurtzman also added:

"Because he's no longer in Starfleet, he no longer carries the weight of that behind him...In some ways, it's easier to be [a great man] when you're a captain. But it's an entirely different thing when you don't have an army behind you. When you want to get something done and fight an injustice, how do you do that when you're really only one man?" "

You can also expect Picard to be a "haunted" man at a very different place in his life – while also remaining true to the core of the character as fans know him. Beyond that, Kurtzman also revealed that Picard will be serialized rather than episodic, like Star Trek: The Next Generation. The overall theme Kurtzman keeps stressing is to expect the unexpected. Fans shouldn't be expecting Star Trek: The Next Generation 2.o. Instead, they're going to get a whole new story featuring Picard.

That doesn't mean other Next Generation characters won't pop-up, though. Kurtzman doesn't rule them out, but says, "What we don't want to do is just throw in cameos. There would have to be an incredibly specific story reason [for them to be there]."

I'm not the biggest Star Trek fan, but I have to admit all of this is intriguing to me, and I might just have to check this series out when it arrives. No premiere date has been set for Picard yet, but we'll likely learn that info, and much more, during the Comic-Con panel this week.