Amazon secures rights to Patrick Stewart Star Trek series
Live long and prosper on streaming. The home of Patrick Stewart’s new Star Trek spin-off has been revealed.
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Amazon Prime Video will have streaming rights to Patrick Stewart’s upcoming Star Trek spin-off series in Australia.
Under a multi-year agreement, Amazon will stream the series in more than 200 territories within 24 hours of its release in the US on CBS All Access. The move will be a blow to Channel 10, which is owned by CBS, and has struggled to secure buzzy shows for its own paid streaming service, 10 All Access.
The Patrick Stewart series was announced last August and will follow the further adventures of Jean-Luc Picard, the character he played in Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1987 to 1994 and over four films.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times earlier this month, executive producer Alex Kurtzman said the series will be a psychologically focused show, a “character study about this man in his emeritus years — there are so few shows that allow a significantly older protagonist to be the driver”.
Kurtzman, who will serve as showrunner alongside a roster of other people including writer Michael Chabon, Akiva Goldsman and Rod Roddenbury, added that the as-yet-untitled series will be slower and “more meditative” than Star Trek: Discovery.
The Stewart series will also star Alison Pill, Harry Treadway, Isa Briones, Santiago Cabrera, Evan Evagora and Michelle Hurd.
The Next Generation cast member Jonathan Frakes will direct two of the 10 episodes.
Star Trek: Discovery is the first of a fleet of new Star Trek TV properties as the sci-fi franchise continues to enjoy popularity among TV audiences.
Kurtzman said three live-action shows, including Discovery, the Stewart series and another unconfirmed show, will rotate throughout the year.
Discovery is available on Netflix outside of the US and is set some 100 years before the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
There is also a Discovery spin-off in the works starring Michelle Yeoh and will be based on the character’s role in the secretive Section 31 division. That series is expected to be a “good couple of years away” according to CBS executives speaking at a panel in Israel earlier this year.
Yeoh will return for the third season of Discovery.
The Patrick Stewart series will premiere later this year.
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Originally published as Amazon secures rights to Patrick Stewart Star Trek series
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