Has ‘Picard’ Finally Started Filming?

Production on Star Trek: Picard season two has already been delayed several times because of the coronavirus pandemic. The initial plan was to begin production over the summer after the first season aired. This date got pushed back to January, then pushed back to February 1st.

However, when February arrived, Picard actress Jeri Ryan confirmed via Twitter that production had been delayed yet again. Since the most recent delay, the cast and crew have stayed quiet about when production might start, until yesterday.

Showrunner’s Social Media Gaffe

On Tuesday, Terry Matalas, Picard’s new showrunner, tweeted a GIF from season one of Picard in which Patrick Stewart was seen saying, “I don’t want the game to end.” Matalas added the caption, “Day One of many…” Fans inferred that “Day one” referred to the first day of shooting on the second season of the show. The tweet was soon taken down. However, ScreenRant managed to get a screenshot before it was gone.

The tweet was replaced by one indicating that the previous tweet had been “redacted by Section 31,” a clever reference to the Starfleet black ops group infamous for their involvement in massive cover-ups. In the replies to that tweet, several fans joked about how Section 31 likes to rewrite history. Many others joked that the damage had been done since they’d seen too much already.

When one fan replied that they were taking back their expression of excitement about the news, Matalas gave a tongue-in-cheek response. His caption hinted that while he wasn’t supposed to talk about it, production was, in fact, underway.

When CBS All Access officially announced the second season of Picard back in January of 2020, they also announced that Matalas would be coming on as an executive producer for Picard. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Matalas was tapped to fill the showrunner spot that will be vacated by current showrunner Michael Chabon at some point this year. Chabon and his wife are working on a new project with CBS, which necessitated his departure from season 2 of Picard.

‘Picard’ Actors Quiet About Production

Ryan has been one of the best sources for information about production on Picard over the past several months. The actress, who is very active on Twitter, often responds to questions from fans about the shows. Confirmation of all the production delays so far have come from Ryan replying to fan questions on Twitter.

However, Ryan has been notably quiet about production in the past week. Her Twitter feed has been dominated by retweets about Trump’s impeachment trial, the pandemic response, and U.S. politics. The only fan tweet Ryan has responded to in the past few days was a request for birthday wishes.

So, though Ryan is usually a reliable source of insider info, she’s been tight-lipped this week.

None of Ryan’s Picard costars are as active on social media. Every once in a while, they’ll post something about the show, but they certainly don’t give insider information the way Ryan does, likely because they’re just not on social media as much.

As of Wednesday morning, none of the other Picard stars have posted anything hinting that they’re on set.

READ NEXT: Patrick Stewart Reveals Which Scene From ‘Picard’ was his ‘Happiest Day’ on Set