Editors note: The Star Trek: Picard Podcast is a weekly series of in-depth and informed discussions with the stars and creative team behind CBS All Access’ anticipated series on the ideas, strategies and geopoetics behind the 10-episode first season of the Patrick Stewart-led series. The podcast is sponsored by CBS All Access and hosted by Deadline’s Senior Editor Dominic Patten and Genre Editor Geoff Boucher.
If you were waiting for Star Trek: Picard to kick into warp drive, today’s “The End is the Beginning” episode puts Federation pedal to the metal as Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc stood on the deck and proclaimed “engage.”
However, beyond sending millions of Trekkies to their magic place, the third episode of the recently renewed CBS All Access series had many added benefits, as we discuss on the podcast this afternoon.
Listen here:
Written by showrunner Michael Chabon and James Duff and introducing Jonathan Del Arco back into the fold, the many strands of “The End is the Beginning” episode that are both tied up and thrown out there offer all the hallmarks of a well-completed Act One.
As well as expanding the show’s universe beyond and through Star Trek canon, the Hanelle M. Culpepper-directed episode got inside Picard’s dereliction of true duty, inside the remnants of the Borg, built a crew, pulled back the curtain even more on the Romulans’ designs and revealed Soji (Isa Briones) as the “destroyer.”
“I think about the Romulans,” says executive producer Kirsten Beyer, joining us again with fellow EP Alex Kurtzman and director Culpepper, who helmed the opening trio of Picard episodes. “Honestly, how little we really knew about them,” Beyer adds of the incredibly secretive culture that has long been part of the Trekverse. “That was the thing we kept coming up against as we were trying to go as deep as possible into each character and into each story.”
“What the show is going to do is it is going to give you a totally different perspective on the Borg than you’ve had before,” said Kurtzman, to add another twist to where Picard is headed.
So, take a listen to Star Trek: Picard Podcast this week and see you here next week for Episode 4, where the formula gets broken even further.
Subscribe to the Star Trek Picard Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify
Must Read Stories
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.