First Star Trek: Picard Trailer Teases A Wine-Filled Future For Jean-Luc
What do you get when you mix Logan with that Napa Valley vineyard from The Parent Trap? Apparently, Star Trek: Picard — CBS All Access' upcoming Star Trek spin-off series centered on Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard.
On Thursday, May 23, CBS All Access dropped the first teaser trailer for Star Trek: Picard and it's, in a word, interesting.
Like Wolverine was in Logan, Picard is time-weathered and grizzled in the footage. And like that lush landscape in the 1998 family rom-com, the series' setting appears to be nothing but rolling hills and rows upon rows of grapevines.
Based on the visuals alone, it's clear that something happened to Picard that caused him to escape to his family's vineyard, Chateau Picard, in La Barre, France. The voiceover that plays atop it all confirms that Picard has hung up his proverbial hat as a Starfleet Admiral: "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?"
The Star Trek: Picard teaser trailer ends on a close-up shot of Stewart's face, staring straight down the lens of the camera. Flash to the title card, and it's over.
But what exactly is going on here? What's the deal with Star Trek: Picard?
Well, it appears as though that mystery is the show's main selling point as of right now. No one knows for certain why Picard ended up at his family's vineyard, or why he abandoned Starfleet, or what it will take for him to return to the life he turned his back on 15 years ago. According to Star Trek: Picard architect and executive producer Alex Kurtzman, Picard is leading a "radically altered" life now — which may be connected to the dissolution of Romulus and the Romulan Empire in the 2009 Star Trek movie. That's the biggest clue we have, but there's no telling what other traumas Picard has faced that pushed him to walk out on Starfleet.
Overall, Star Trek: Picard will be a "more psychological show" and "a character study about this man in his emeritus years," as Kurtzman once described it, and will seek to answer an important question. "What happens when circumstances have conspired to not give him the happiest of endings?" Kurtzman previously told The LA Times, adding that he hopes the series will be a reinforcement of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's "vision of optimism." He also noted that Star Trek: Picard follows the titular character as he goes through "deep valleys to get back to the light."
It will be a while before all the uncertainties surrounding Star Trek: Picard are solved, as the series doesn't yet have a set release date.
