‘Star Trek: Picard’s Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin Are Taking Cues from the MCU for Their Trek Expansion

Star Trek is boldly going where it’s never gone before thanks to CBS All Access‘ gritty miniseries Picard. Starring the iconic Sir Patrick Stewart, the new Trek series picks up 20 years after we last saw the beloved and now retired captain as he’s forced to grapple with the effects of the destruction of the Romulan empire.

But even getting to this somber Trek reflection on war, sacrifice, and immigration was a journey. At the Television Critics Association’s 2020 winter tour Decider spoke to Stark Trek: Picard executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin about how they got Sir Patrick Stewart to return to the franchise, what’s ahead for their growing Trek universe, and what lessons they’ve learned from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

DECIDER: Picard was originally supposed to be a Short Trek. How has it evolved as it’s become a series?

ALEX KURTZMAN: Originally it was going to be a young Picard Short Trek because we knew we weren’t getting Patrick [Stewart] for a Short Trek, especially since he said he was never playing that part again. Then as we started talking, it was like a flood. There were just so many ideas that came. I think I turned to everybody and said, “Why don’t we try to reach out to Patrick to see if he would be interested in meeting?”

We got a meeting with him. And we were subsequently told that he actually came to pass. But not to our faces. He wanted to be respectful because he knew we had taken time, and he listened to us respectfully, and he passed. We said, “OK. We gave it our best shot. Thank you so much for your time. It was really cool to meet Patrick Stewart.” And then the next Monday we got a call saying that he had been reconsidering and he was thinking about it and could we put stuff on paper? Just four pages? We ended up writing about 35. We sent that to him, and that’s what got him to say yes.

Now that this is happening, are there any plans to take any other legacy characters and give them their own spinoff series?

HEATHER KADIN: I feel like everything’s on the table until it’s not, you know?

KURTZMAN: If we were going to give legacy characters their own series, there would have to be a definitive reason to do that series, not just to bring that character back. Because I think that could ultimately be a very empty endeavor. The thing that’s great is that the characters themselves, so many of them are so rich. You could imagine them in their own series. But we have to have a real reason to do it.

That makes a lot of sense. A few Star Trek: The Next Generation characters are going to be in Picard. And I know during the roundtables that Sir Patrick Stewart said he originally didn’t want any characters from TNG come back. Were there some hard calls to make about who could return and who wouldn’t return?

KADIN: It really went off what served the story and in concert with Patrick. We would have never gone out to Jonathan Frakes and not let Patrick know. He was obviously such a huge force of the nucleus that is the creative and then throughout. But we didn’t bring anyone back who didn’t serve the story.

I know Sir Patrick Stewart was obviously very, very involved in creating the story and developing his character further. How involved were the other actors that you brought back in furthering their characters’ stories?

KURTZMAN: They were not as involved as Patrick, but I think that they knew they were on such safe ground with us. We have a nice, wonderful history with Jonathan because he’s been directing for us for two years. So it was an easy conversation. In fact, I remember when I was directing the premiere episode of Discovery Season 2, Jonathan was the next director up. I took him aside and said, “I think we’re going to do this thing,” and I told him about it. And he was like, “Count me in if you ever do it. It sounds amazing.”

KADIN: I think he said something to Patrick too. Like, “These guys are great. I’ve been working with them. You can trust them.”

KURTZMAN: He definitely put in a lot of good words for us. I’m sure that made a difference. But with Jeri [Ryan], with Jonathan, with Marina [Sirtis], they were very trusting.

KADIN: We met with Brent [Spiner] really early. I think because Data is so iconic and obviously had to be played when he was younger and required a lot of prosthetics and a lot more time and a lot of makeup, he definitely had a lot of thoughts. We had a really good initial two-hour meeting with him to learn where the road blocks are, what are you interested in, what are you not interested in? That was helpful.

You’re going to have a lot of Star Trek shows under your umbrella between this, Discovery, Lower Decks, the Nickelodeon show that was mentioned earlier.

KURTZMAN: And Section 31.

Yes. As you’re planning all of this out, the first thing that comes to mind for me is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What are your challenges expanding Star Trek to be a multi-franchise universe?

KADIN: I think we look to Marvel as the way to do it in the sense that we’re all big fans of the Marvel Universe. What we talk about a lot — and I think why they’ve had so much success — is you can love Captain America and then get a completely different flavor when you watch Guardians of the Galaxy and then a totally different flavor from that when you watch Iron Man. So I think for us if we are going to spin off Michelle Yeoh’s character, there has to be a very specific reason, a very unique story to tell that doesn’t feel duplicative to Discovery or Picard that looks different, feels different, and why. The worst would be to read a pilot script and be like, “Why are we making this show?” Because then a fan’s going to go, “Why am I watching this show?”

What we’ve also found, especially with something like Lower Decks, is that was so specific to Mike McMahan and his voice. Him being like, “I love Trek, but I’m a comedy writer. Here’s my comedic take on this thing that I love as much as Michael Chabon loved Jean-Luc Picard.” So I think it’s been that need for unique voices as much as unique characters and tone.

KURTZMAN: But our goal isn’t in any way to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Star Wars or really any other cinematic universe. Why do that? The goal is just to elevate Star Trek and bring it into a new place that it’s never been to before. Star Trek has been traditionally defined in somewhat narrow terms ,and yet I think its appeal is so much broader than it may have been given credit for in the past. There’s a way to expound the boundaries of what it’s been while maintaining its core identity.

There are certain things you can never change about Star Trek: its essential vision of optimism, its diversity. All of these things are what make Star Trek Star Trek and when you remove those things then it isn’t Star Trek anymore. So the intention is that each show has its own unique flavor, its own unique style visually, its own unique tone, so you don’t feel like, “I can watch any of them and I’ll get it.” In the same way that Heather’s saying, you’re not going to get the same thing from Guardians that you’re going to get from Black Panther. I think that’s a very instructive model.

Are there any plans or hopes — because this is still kind of early — to have crossovers between these many series?

KADIN: There haven’t been. I think anything’s possible. Section 31 is the first spinoff that we’ve done. That’s actually been a unique challenge in itself because you don’t want to be developing something assuming that people are showing up having watched Discovery. People may show up because they love Crouching Tiger and they love Michelle Yeoh. We don’t want to take that for granted.

I think the fan in me wishes there could be a massive crossover with everybody. So I guess anything’s possible.

KURTZMAN: It’s possible, but we don’t want to do it just to do it. That’s the key. You have to have an organic reason to bring characters together.

That makes a lot of sense. I have one more question. There’s a 20-year time gap between the last time we saw Picard and Picard the show. Did you plan out what happened during those 20 years?

KURTZMAN: Oh yeah.

KADIN: For sure.

How much will we hear about the intervening 20 years?

KURTZMAN: Quite a bit. You don’t have to have watched Nemesis or really even Next Generation to come into the show, but much has happened. Some events from our 2009 movie affected Picard’s life in a major way. But you’ll find out everything that happened in that 20-year gap.

KADIN: Also the various characters. You’re going to hear what’s been going on with Seven of Nine, and when you meet up with Riker [Frakes] and Marina, you’re going to get a sense of what they’ve been doing. You have to fill in those blanks.

Star Trek: Picard premieres on CBS All Access on January 23.

Watch Star Trek: Picard on CBS All Access starting January 23