Michael Chabon Will Showrun Star Trek: Picard

Michael Chabon Will Showrun Star Trek: Picard

Well, Alex Kurtzman can’t singlehandedly manage every damn one of these Star Trek series himself.

CBS has officially announced that Chabon, who has been on board with the series since its early days, writing and executive producing, will take the conn as Star Trek: Picard’s showrunner.

Here’s a statement from Kurtzman given to Deadline on the news, possibly delivered with the tone of someone who is both very, very tired and very, very happy to not be directly overseeing another series:

Daring, lyrical, humane, whimsical, celebrated: words that describe both Jean-Luc Picard and the literary genius of Michael Chabon. Despite a laundry list of accomplishments most writers only dream of, Michael shines with the heart and soul of a Trekkie who’s finally found his dream job. We’re so fortunate to have him at the helm as we explore this next chapter in the great captain’s life.

It’s a move that makes sense, given Chabon’s previously-established presence behind the scenes on Picard – itself a surprising move given that Chabon’s TV debut had come with the release of his Star Trek: Short Treks episode, the touching “Calypso.”

But Kurtzman has also made repeatedly clear that as he becomes the architect for pretty much the entirety of CBS’ Star Trek output going forward—and there’s more of it on the way than you could cram into the Enterprise’s cargo holds, he cannot be directly running each show.

The producer also added Michelle Paradise as a co-showrunner for Discovery’s third season, presumably before he can transition the role to her entirely going forward.

After all, there’s probably gonna be at least five other Trek shows announced as part of CBS’s grand scheme by the time I’ve finished typing this sentence. Maybe some of them will also get female showrunners, like the Michelle Yeoh Section 31 spinoff did!

We’ll have to wait and see.