‘Star Trek: Picard’ To Be Preceded By Book And Comic Prequels

As Star Trek Las Vegas week continues, today brings another product announcement to help fans prep for the early 2020 premiere of Star Trek: Picard.

Picard book and comic prequels begin rollout in November

This morning CBS, in association with Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books and IDW Publishing, announced a pair of prequels created to shed light on the events leading into the new CBS series Star Trek: Picard.

Starting in November, IDW will release Star Trek: Picard – Countdown, a deluxe 3-issue miniseries written by Mike Johnson and Picard series Supervising Producer Kirsten Beyer. This countdown event centers around a mission that would go on to change the life of beloved Star Trek captain Jean-Luc Picard – widely considered to be one of the most popular and recognizable characters in all of science fiction.

Following the conclusion of the IDW series, Simon & Schuster Gallery Books will release The Last Best Hope in February 2020. Written by Una McCormack, the novel will also lead directly into the show and continue to introduce fans to brand new characters featured in the series. McCormack is the author of eight previous Star Trek novels including The Lotus Flower (part of The Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Hollow Men and the New York Times bestsellers The Fall: The Crimson Shadow, Enigma Tales, and The Way to the Stars.

“From the moment we announced this series we’ve seen a groundswell of support from our fan base who are thrilled to have Jean-Luc Picard back on their screens,” said Veronica Hart, EVP Global Franchise Management. “Having this brand new original backstory play out through both comic book and novel formats will set the stage for the new series in an exciting way while also showcasing the work of our talented partners at Simon & Schuster and IDW.”

Filling in the two decades before Picard

Jean Luc-Picard was last seen in the film Star Trek: Nemesis, which is set in the year 2379. Star Trek: Picard picks up his story two decades later in 2399, years after he left the USS Enterprise and retired from Starfleet to return to his family’s vineyard in France. The 2009 Star Trek movie provided some of the Prime Timeline’s history following Nemesis, notably the destruction of Romulus which is said to weigh heavily on Picard and factor into the show.

A few clues to Picard’s life during these two decades were revealed at the “First Duty” exhibit at San Diego Comic-Con, but it is otherwise a blank slate which the prequel comic series and novel will help to fill in. In addition one of the episodes from the upcoming second season of Star Trek: Short Treks will be a prequel to Picard. There is no word yet on when that might air, but probably in early 2020, close to the premiere of the Picard series.

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Keep up with all the news on the Picard show and other upcoming Star Trek TV shows here at TrekMovie.com.