‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 3 Showrunner Details ‘Incredible Pressure’ of Reuniting ‘Next Generation’ Cast

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Anthony Anderson is set to star in the ABC comedy pilot “Public Defenders,” Variety has learned. In addition, Liz Astrof has joined the pilot as showrunner while Randall Einhorn has signed on to direct. The single-camera pilot, which was originally picked up at ABC in January, hails from writer Eddie Quintana. The official logline states: “Up to their earholes in student loan debt, four inexperienced public defenders work tirelessly to keep their clients out of jail. Along the way, they have to rely on each other to navigate their first defendants, the absurd court system, and the copy machine that always jams.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Star Trek: Discovery” will end with the upcoming Season 5 at Paramount+, Variety has learned. In addition, the fifth and final season will now debut in early 2024 as opposed to this year as originally thought. Filming is mostly complete on Season 5, but according to an individual with knowledge of the situation, there will be some additional filming that has yet to take place.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Demi Singleton is the latest addition to the cast of the “Bass Reeves” series at Paramount+, Variety has learned exclusively. Singleton will appear in the period drama as a series regular opposite series lead David Oyelowo, who will star as the titular legendary lawman. Additional cast members include Barry Pepper, Dennis Quaid, Forrest Goodluck, Lauren E. Banks, and Grantham Coleman. Per the official logline, the show “will bring the legendary lawman of the wild west to life. Reeves, known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, worked in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory, capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded.”

So, what’s the latest on “Star Trek 4“?  J.J. Abrams certainly sounds bullish on the film’s future.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director What’s going on with Paramount’s “Star Trek” film franchise? Don’t ask Chris Pine, even though he’s one of its headlining stars. Pine has played Captain Kirk in three “Star Trek” movies, and he is painfully out of the loop when it comes to the long-delayed and long-overhauled fourth movie. Directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Noah Hawley developed “Star Trek 4” scripts that never got off the ground. “WandaVision” director Matt Shakman was the most recent filmmaker attached to “Star Trek 4,” but he left the project to shoot Marvel’s “Fantastic Four” reboot instead. Paramount announced last September it was removing “Star Trek 4” from its release calendar. As part of Chris Pine’s new Esquire cover story, franchise producer J.J. Abrams said the “Star Trek 4″ script is in a good place. “I will say it’s the first time [since the original reboot] that we have a story that feels as compelling as the first one,” he added. But even still, Pine is out of the loop.

Paramount+ is debuting its first immersive activation, The Lodge: A Paramount+ Experience, for fans in California, Texas and Colorado this month, as part of the streaming platform's Mountain of Entertainment campaign.Attendees can expect to take part in the ultimate mountain lodge atmosphere, filled with environments inspired by popular Paramount+ content, including ,,,,, and more.Standout attractions will include custom cocktails at the Speakeasy Bar and 10 Forward Bar, photo-opportunities with the Vince Lombardi Trophy and the  helmet, and additional elements that will be showcased in a creative way. “The success of our award-winning A Mountain of Entertainment brand campaign is intrinsically tied to the wonder of our iconic Paramount Mountain, popular franchises and beloved characters.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The “Waco: The Aftermath” series at Showtime has added 10 new cast members, Variety has learned. The new cast members for the followup to Paramount Networks’ “Waco” include: Shea Whigham, who will reprise the role of Mitch Decker, the FBI agent who managed the situation leading up the siege; Annika Marks, who will reprise the role of Kathy Schroeder, one of the surviving Branch Davidians who was also called upon to testify; Alex Breaux, who will play Timothy McVeigh; Michael Cassidy, who will play Bill Johnston, the lead prosecutor in the trial of the Branch Davidians; Gary Cole, who will play Gordon Novel, described as an “intense private investigator;” Nicholas Kolev, who will play Paul Fatta, another one of the Davidians on trial after the Waco siege; Michael Luwoye, who will play Livingstone Fagan, described as “an extremely bright biblical scholar and one of the surviving Branch Davidians on trial;” Kali Rocha, who will play Ruth Riddle, one of the Branch Davidian survivors facing trial and the possibility of life in jail; Michael Vincent Barry, who will play George Roden, one of the early leaders of the Davidian sect; and Sasheer Zamata, who will play Angie Graham, described as “a smart, experienced ATF agent.”

Warning: This story contains spoilers from season 3 of Outer Banks.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The upcoming Shondaland Netflix series “The Residence” has added 11 new cast members, Variety has learned. The new cast members are: Andre Braugher, Edwina Findley, Molly Griggs, Jason Lee, Ken Marino, Al Mitchell, Dan Perrault, Bronson Pinchot, Susan Kelechi Watson, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and Mary Wiseman. The group joins previously announced series lead Uzo Aduba. The official logline for the series states, “132 rooms. 157 suspects. One dead body. One wildly eccentric detective (Aduba). One disastrous State Dinner. ‘The Residence’ is a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Apple has released the first full trailer for “Ted Lasso” Season 3. In the trailer, Nate is working for Rupert at West Ham United but doesn’t appear to be thrilled with his situation. Ted, Beard, and Roy, meanwhile, try to keep everyone on track at AFC Richmond, while Keeley settles into her new role as a boss. Watch the trailer below. As previously announced, the new season of “Ted Lasso” will debut March 15 with new episodes dropping weekly thereafter. The season will consist of 12 episodes.

United Launch Alliance recently announced it’s targeting May for the inaugural launch of its highly anticipated Vulcan Centaur rocket, which is expected to carry everything from satellites to human ashes into space.The Vulcan Centaur rocket has faced years of delays following the slower-than-anticipated development of powerful engines and requirements for when the moon lander can be launched.Under an updated timetable released by ULA CEO Tory Bruno, the more than 200-foot-tall rocket will take off on May 4, 2023, from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.If the launch is successful, the company plans to eventually replace the Atlas V and Delta IV rockets with the Vulcan Centaur.The rocket is said to be capable of launching 60,000 pounds of payload into low-Earth orbit and could one day be certified to carry highly sensitive satellites for U.S.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The fourth and final season of “The Umbrella Academy” at Netflix has added Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, and David Cross to its cast, Variety has learned. It was announced in August 2022 that the hit series would be wrapping up with its fourth season. Offerman (“The Last of Us,” “Parks and Recreation”) and Mullally (“Will & Grace,” “Party Down”), who are married in real life, will star as Drs. Gene and Jean Thibedeau. The characters are described as “a married pair of community college professors from New Mexico who wear sensible footwear and suffer from the most extreme case of deja vu this timeline has ever seen.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “The Goldbergs” is ending after 10 seasons at ABC, Variety has confirmed with sources. The Season 10 finale set to air in May will serve as the single-camera comedy’s series finale. More to come…

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses plot points on Season 3, Episode 2 of “Star Trek: Picard” (currently streaming on Paramount+) as well as the first half of the fourth season of “You” (currently streaming on Netflix). When Ed Speleers was growing up in the UK, he remembers coming home from school, turning on BBC Two, and tuning into “Star Trek: The Next Generation” at 6:30pm — but he never quite considered himself a Trekkie. So when “Star Trek: Picard” showrunner Terry Matalas cast Speleers for the third season of the Paramount+ series, he told the actor he needed to go to “Star Trek University.” “He gave me this long list of ‘TNG’ episodes that he felt were pertinent, and of films going right from ‘Wrath of Khan’ all the way to ‘First Contact,'” Speleers tells Variety via Zoom. “I devoured them. I’d spend three or four hours a day working on how I was going to approach this guy, and then I’d finish it all off with either watching two episodes of ‘TNG’ or one of these films.”

Turns out Jack Crusher has a deeper connection to Picard than previously thought. dropped one of a reveal in the latest episode of the Paramount+ series' third and final season, confirming that Jack (played by 's Ed Speleers) is in fact not only the son of Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), but also of Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart).

Star Trek: Picard season 3 premiered on Friday (February 17) with Sir Patrick Stewart returning to his iconic role as Jean-Luc Picard.The Star Trek spin-off was first announced back in 2018 with the first season then premiering in 2020, with a second season airing in 2022.Star Trek: Picard is set in the year 2399, 20 years after Jean-Luc Picard’s last appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). The spin-off first found the character deeply affected by the death of Data and the destruction of the planet Romulus.“Retired from Starfleet and living on his family’s vineyard, Picard is drawn into a new adventure when he is visited by an apparent daughter of Data, one of several new synthetic beings, or ‘synths’,” reads a synopsis.The second season then reunited Picard with The Next Generation’s Q (John de Lancie) and Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) before they journeyed back to the year 2024 to adjust the timeline. Season three sees the return of more iconic Star Trek: The Next Generation actors with Michael Dorn as Worf, Gates McFadden as Dr.

Star Trek: Picard premiered last week – but it seems a season 4 is possible.The Star Trek spin-off was first announced back in 2018 with season 1 being released in 2020, with a second season airing in 2022.A third season was “informally” green lit back in 2020, so it could be filmed back-to-back with season 2 before Sir Patrick Stewart officially confirmed the season in 2021, with filming wrapping in March 2022. Paramount confirmed that Star Trek: Picard season 3 would be the last though.Star Trek: Picard is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video, with new episodes available every Friday.

Gerald Fried, a composer for some of television’s biggest moments in the 1960s, died Friday at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Bridgeport, CT of pneumonia at age 95.

Jon Burlingame editor Composer Gerald Fried, who won an Emmy for the landmark miniseries “Roots” and whose 1960s scores, from “Star Trek” to “Gilligan’s Island,” left an indelible impression on a generation of TV watchers, died of pneumonia Friday at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Bridgeport, Ct. He was 95. His wide-ranging career included scoring five early Stanley Kubrick films, including “Paths of Glory” and “The Killing”; receiving the only Oscar nomination ever given for a documentary score, 1975’s “Birds Do It, Bees Do It”; and earning five other Emmy nominations for music in specials, TV movies and miniseries. The prolific Fried scored approximately 40 films, some three dozen TV-movies and miniseries, and episodes of another 40 TV series during a career that spanned more than six decades.

"Live long and prosper." "Star Trek" fans can bask in nostalgia, as the cast of the iconic science fiction series has reunited. After more than two decades, "Star Trek: Nemesis" actors, including Gates McFadden, LeVar Burton, Jonathan Frakes and Patrick Stewart, revealed the decision to reprise their famous roles and what it was like working together on the spacecraft again on "Star Trek: Picard." Stewart, who’s known for his role as Jean Luc Picard in the "Star Trek" franchise, gave fans a preview of what they can expect in the current series. "Well, a lot of it is based on disappointment, frustration.