Spoilers New Picard TV Series and Litverse Continuity (may contain TV show spoilers)

[Avro Arrow]

Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere. This came up in my news feed yesterday, and I just thought I'd share. It's an article about an interview with @Dayton Ward , and the article discusses the future of the "relaunch" novels. It mentions that the writers have a plan, which we knew before, but this one does seem to say a little more:

Of course, we were hampered by a lack of information for a great deal of time and now that we have a direction, there are plans afoot to continue the book line and see what happens from there. Hopefully, we'll get to a point here in the coming months where we'll be able to talk more about it, but yes, we have not abandoned the novel line as it currently exists. We do have plans for it.

Presumably, the novel line was always going to continue, but the interesting part seems to be the "as it currently exists". The article author interprets this as:

Plans are in place to see the relaunch timeline continue alongside Picard.

But Dayton didn't explicitly say that, he just talked about Picard having an impact on the books, and they were working out how to carry the books forward. "Not abandoning" the novel line doesn't necessarily mean they are keeping it in the same continuity... "as it currently exists" might imply that; it could also refer to something else entirely, such as the rate of releases.

If the "relaunch timeline" really was continuing alongside Picard, that would be great news to me. But I also hadn't really held out any hope of this happening. Do you think the article author is just reading too much into the reply?

Here's the full article:
https://comicbook.com/startrek/2020/02/24/star-trek-relaunch-timeline-novels-future-dayton-ward/

 

[JoeZhang]

I'm always wary of that sort of article as that line "Plans are in place to see the relaunch timeline continue alongside Picard." is that a direction confirmation or the writer inferring?

 

[Enterprise1701]

The interview wording implies otherwise, but I am inclined to dismiss this as wishful thinking. Excepting The Old Republic, Disney did not continue Legends upon revamping Star Wars.

 

[Damian]

Interesting. Now that's 2 authors who have indicated that the relaunches may not be as DOA as we had thought. I think it's safe to assume Dayton is referring to the relaunches continuing to some degree in their present form. I don't think he's employing any hidden meanings or anything. I think he knew what he was being asked and answered that. And we have heard that David Mack is working on another Data/Lal story and while I thought maybe that might be a tie in to Picard, I don't see how that's really possible in light of what we know about Picard at the moment. It's more likely going to be a TNG novel.

Honestly, the more I see and hear about Picard, and after reading "The Last Best Hope" the less likely I think the relaunches will try to tie into Picard in any great fashion if they continue. Picard is in a completely different continuity--there is almost no areas where they can coexist. There was no Borg invasion, Picard is unmarried without a son, he was made an Admiral what, 2 years after Nemesis, and by 2387, where the books are now, Picard resigned from Starfleet for 2 years now. And there are real questions about whether there will be a destruction of Romulus in the relaunches (either by the Romulan Star or another star as depicted in the Countdown Comics) because we are in 2387 and as of yet there are no signs of any issues. At this point it would have to be artificial and fast acting (Picard does seem to allude to the supernova being artificial in nature so that could be one potential tie in--just via different methods). The only way for the relaunches to tie into Picard is for a complete reset--in which case it'd be kind of like what's the point then?

This does increase my optimism that we still may yet see further relaunch novels. David Mack indicated in an interview re: "Collateral Damage" that discussions were taking place, and he indicated some plan, and now Dayton Ward has said much the same thing. I do think that has some significance, esp. at this late date now. The only fly in the ointment is Kirsten Beyer has indicated her upcoming Voyager novel will conclude the Voyager end of the relaunches. So that sort of indicates to me that if the relaunches continue it will probably be focused on TNG. I'm not holding out much hope for further DS9 or Voyager novels in the future (though perhaps DS9 storylines and characters might show up now and again so who knows).

And even if it were focused on TNG that would still be a bit surprising. S&S has never really released books that are inconsistent with a current running show, outside a few limited exceptions. They'd have to think there was a market for them, even a niche market, making it worth their while.

I have to say it'd be nice to see also. Where Picard starts off is sort of depressing. He's not living the life he dreamt of, he's jaded now for good reason, and he's in a place where he's no longer making a difference (at least at the start). In TNG novels it's basically the complete opposite. He's still captain of the Enterprise, exploring, doing what he does best, and making a difference. Two different lives. Now I have to think Picard will eventually get him back to that point, but at its start it's a very different life for him.

 

[Damian]

I think the key is he said "they have not abandoned the novel line as it currently exists". I think he knew what he was talking about. I think the questions would be how much. That is, will it just be TNG books from here on out (which would be my guess because at least those have a cursory link to Picard as far as Picard is the also lead character in TNG). Perhaps "Titan"--or at least the Titan may show up in future TNG novels as I figure we haven't seen the last of Admiral Riker. I wouldn't rule out DS9 or Voyager characters or storylines making an appearance, but if I had to guess I think the story would still be TNG centered.

But what do I know? I thought the relaunches were DOA the day the first Picard episode aired. Perhaps stories of their demise were premature

 

[ryan123450]

I don’t, and have never, expected the Litverse continuity to continue long term in the face of its’ now non-canonical nature. And this is coming from someone who has whole heartedly believed all the clues we’ve been given for many months that the Litverse story isn’t over. But I’m 100% expecting all these clues are pointing to a finale. Hopefully a huge one.

And since the main story event we’ve all be waiting for that such a finale would supposedly cover, the destruction of Romulus, involves time travel, I’m hopeful that this supposed finale will involve some kind of in-universe temporal reset that leads us to this new canonical continuity.

I think (and have thought) all the evidence is pointing in this direction. Today is just more reinforcement. I can’t wait to hear more in the coming months.

 

[Dayton Ward]

I've been saying we've had our eye on things since Picard was announced back in 2018, waiting to see how the show developed and inform us so far as future directions and possibilities, but do you listen? NooooooOOOOOOoooooo..........

 

[Damian]

Brain and brain, what is brain?

What can I say? We're a bunch of skeptics. Star Trek agnostics I guess.

Does anyone have any Dr. Pepper?

 

[DEWLine]

I'm of the mind that we have room for both 'verses, alongside the Mirrorverse(s), the Kelvinverse(s)...
I look forward to seeing what comes next.

 

[JoeZhang]

Where is the room?

TOS 5yr novels will continue
Discovery novels
Picard novels
Section 31 novels
Unknown series 1
Unknown series 2
Possible lower decks

That is already a lot of slots with effectively free marketing and shows to tie to.

 

[Brendan Moody]

I very much appreciate Dayton’s effort to keep people updated on the situation, saying as much as he can while acknowledging that there’s not much he can say yet. I would encourage people not to draw inferences about what the plans he alludes to might look like; that’s an easy way to set yourself up for disappointment by assuming that what you want is what they’re working toward, and that it’ll come to fruition in a form that will please you. There are quite a few different basic approaches I can imagine, each of which might be pursued to different degrees and with different levels of intensity.

 

[ryan123450]

I've been saying we've had our eye on things since Picard was announced back in 2018, waiting to see how the show developed and inform us so far as future directions and possibilities, but do you listen? NooooooOOOOOOoooooo..........

I did! I did!

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Where is the room?

TOS 5yr novels will continue
Discovery novels
Picard novels
Section 31 novels
Unknown series 1
Unknown series 2
Possible lower decks

That is already a lot of slots with effectively free marketing and shows to tie to.

There’s time - Section 31 isn’t due to even start filming until May and expected to go through to November, so the first tie-in probably isn’t due until early 2021, the “unknown series” are still in such early development we don’t know anything other than they’re planned, there’s no guarantee Lower Decks is getting novel tie-ins... Obviously, the questions will come into play when there’s more production happening, but for now? There’s no crisis. Hell, this is like when the novels went from two per month to one - with all the novel-original series, there was panic there would be no more room for them, and that didn’t happen, we still got the original lines continuing.

Right now, there’s room - “as they currently exist” leaves room for, for example, a chance to build to a proper finale to the twenty years of continuity. It also leaves the door open for other options. We’re getting vagueness because they’re still mapping things out. But this is confirmation that they are talking and planning and showing consideration. Isn’t that the important part, that they understand that these stories, the twenty years of novel continuity, matter to fans and so are trying to set up a plan that is respectful of that?

 

[Damian]

Honestly I'd be content if they did some grand finale, closing out the major story threads for TNG and DS9 (I figure Beyer has Voyager covered--but Hell, I'd be happy to include them too).

Of course, I'd love to see the litverse continue indefinitely, even if it were just one or two books a year (and there's always e-books--they don't have to do print, though I prefer print personally). But if they do have to end it'd be nice if we could do it 'right', with an epic saga of some sort.

We'll see what they have in mind I guess. We really don't know.

 

[DrCorby]

I've been saying we've had our eye on things since Picard was announced back in 2018, waiting to see how the show developed and inform us so far as future directions and possibilities, but do you listen? NooooooOOOOOOoooooo..........

"It's so simple, a child could do it!" /McCoy

 

[Unimatrix Q]

By the way, i really hope, if the Litverse, as we know it continues, that the new novels incorporate the new stuff about the Romulans and their culture, and maybe about other species and planets from Picard. This stuff is far too interesting to ignore!

 

[Reanok]

I'm glad the Star trek novels novels will continue like Tos and TNG . I hoe we can get some Ds9 novels alongside with the Picard books coming out thast Dayton mentions in the news article.

 

[JD]

The only fly in the ointment is Kirsten Beyer has indicated her upcoming Voyager novel will conclude the Voyager end of the relaunches.

Not really, all she said was that her series was ending. There was nothing in what she said that ruled out a new author taking over and taking things in a new direction, like she did after Christie Golden stopped writing them.

From a purely creative standpoint, I think continuing the Novelverse continuity is a good idea. It gives the authors more freedom since they are actually able the stories forward, rather than just being limited to stand alone prequel stories like they have been with Picard and Discovery. As much as I like the serialized stories in Discovery and Picard, it does limit what the tie-ins can do a lot more than the mission of the week stories we used to get in the old shows.
Obviously they're going to want to do tie-ins for the new series alongside them.

 

[F. King Daniel]

"The Impossible Box" lifted the Romulan-secret-names-for-loved-ones thing from Diane Duane's Rihannsu novels.

 

[Leto_II]

This episode also established that the Borg encroached into the regions near Kazon-space (awfully close to the Ocampa homeworld) at some point between mid-to-late-2371 and 2399, when they assimilated the Sikarians and their technology.