Filming on Paramount+ drama Star Trek: Picard has been shut down since Monday following a sizable COVID-19 outbreak. Sources say more than 50 members of the large production tested positive on Monday, which was the first day of work after the Christmas break. The Patrick Stewart-led series has one of television’s biggest crews, numbering more than 450 staffers. The infections impacted multiple zones, including cast in zone A.
CBS’s streaming service, CBS All Access, credits a trio of high-profile events — including the premiere of its new Star Trek series, Star Trek: Picard, as well as the 62nd annual Grammy Awards, not to mention a busy month of football — with helping it to achieve a new record for subscriber sign-ups in a given month. The company says January 2020 surpassed the service’s previous record in February 2019 for subscriber sign-ups. In addition, last week was the second-best sign-up week ever.
As the overseer of the Star Trek television properties for ViacomCBS Inc., producer Alex Kurtzman is charged with updating the space drama for a new generation without alienating its hard-core fans. But he knows there is much more at stake: ViacomCBS is counting on the franchise to help its streaming service, CBS All Access, hold its own against a field of larger rivals in Hollywood.
Exclusives
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon is taking the captain’s chair on CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Picard. Chabon, who’s been part of the show’s creative team since Picard was announced, has been named showrunner of the upcoming series.
