Talking About 'Star Trek': Is Patrick Stewart's new 'Trek' series a reboot, and how do you feel about it?

Before I tell you how I feel about Patrick Stewart’s return to Star Trek in a CBS Access series about which little is known, let’s get our showbiz terminology straight.

First, let’s stop referring to “reboots” in cases where it is not necessary. For instance, Star Trek: Picard (for lack of a better name) is not a reboot; it’s a sequel to, and a continuation of, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Based on what little information CBS (the owner of the Star Trek franchise’s television half; Paramount Pictures handles the features) has released, the new show starring Stewart in his TNG role is set 25 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis.

A “reboot” would be a totally different animal. It would involve a re-telling of Star Trek: The Next Generation with an all-new cast and would be presented as either a “hard” reboot (the 1987–2002 series and features never happened, thus allowing CBS to recast every role, including Picard’s), or a “soft” reboot, in which the events from Encounter at Farpoint through Star Trek: Nemesis occur, but some weird event messes up the timeline and creates an alternate one in which Stewart could conceivably coexist with a younger version of himself.

Hard reboots have been done in many franchises, most notably in Paramount’s Jack Ryan series, which began with a linear structure in which a young CIA analyst makes his way up the ranks until he’s promoted to the post of Deputy Director, Intelligence. The first three films showed this by casting first Alec Baldwin, then Harrison Ford. Clancy purists (I’m one) winced at seeing the timeline of the novels messed with, but this change made sense. (In a way, the film versions of Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger are sequels to The Hunt for Red October, with just the major role being recast.)

The Sum of All Fears was supposed to be a continuation of the first three Jack Ryan films, and Harrison Ford was set to star in it as Ryan for the third time. But it took so long to develop that Phillip Noyce (who was also supposed to come back as director of Sum) and Ford lost interest and moved on to other projects. Thus, when Mace Neufeld, the producer who owns the adaptation rights finally made The Sum of All Fears for a 2002 release, it was a “hard reboot” in which Ben Affleck takes on the role of Jack Ryan, but a much younger Ryan in a world where the other novels’ events never took place. And when Kenneth Branagh made Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit with actor Chris Pine as the title character, once again it was a hard reboot.

So, let’s try again, shall we?

Star Trek: Discovery, CBS All-Access’ current entry in the franchise, is not a reboot. It’s a prequel, with some recasting done in the case of characters from The Original Series who show up in guest roles as younger versions of themselves. Thus we see different actors portraying Sarek, Amanda Grayson (Spock’s human mother), Harry Mudd, Capt. Christopher Pike, and Spock himself. The show may look like it’s set in the Kelvin timeline because its design is modern in comparison to that of The Original Series, but it’s a Prime timeline prequel set between Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Trek: TOS.

Conversely, Star Trek: Picard is not a reboot, soft or hard. It’s a sequel to TNG.

As for how I feel about Sir Patrick Stewart returning to Star Trek? Ecstatic!