Sir Patrick Stewart might be about to make a sensational return to the Star Trek franchise and reprise his iconic role of Captain Picard, if new reports are to be believed.

The Hollywood Reporter claimed on Tuesday (June 19th) that Stewart is participating in a brand new Star Trek television series in development at CBS, which follows the news that ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ showrunner Alex Kurtzman has signed a new production deal with the network that lasts for the next five years.

The rumoured new project is just one of several ideas for Star Trek series, mini-series and even animations potentially under development with Kurtzman, who is being paid $5 million per year to maintain and expand the franchise.

Patrick StewartPatrick Stewart played Captain Jean-Luc Picard for seven years

However, the same reports do emphasise for mega-fans that the idea is in extremely early development at the moment, and may not happen at all.

77 year old Stewart, of course, played the USS Enterprise’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard in 178 episodes of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ between 1987 and 1994. He last played the role in 2002’s massive movie Star Trek: Nemesis, a spin-off from the TV series.

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He did recently tease the possibility of a comeback to the franchise when asked about whether he was a fan of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’.

“You mean the series, not the movie, because there is a new movie due out very soon,” Stewart told Red Carpet News earlier this year. “No, I haven't [seen it], but I may have good cause to look at it very soon.”

Back in December 2017, he did also suggest that he’d only consider coming back to Star Trek if its producers came to him with a “brilliant” idea.

“One thing that might interest me would be to bring all the existing casts of Star Trek from the last 50 years together for one big story,” he said.

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