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'In a sense I feel I have been preparing to shoot Star Trek: Picard for over 30 years,' confides Sir Patrick Stewart. 'There was a quality, a feeling I had about him from the very beginning which was unlike any acting experience I’ve had before. Believe me, the very last thing I felt I wanted or needed was to return to Star Trek.'

But return he has. The eagerly awaited Amazon Original follows on from events in 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis, the last feature film to feature the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, with Jean-Luc retired, but events unfold that see him once again thrust back into action.

'What we really wanted to do was to respect the interstitial period of time, we didn’t want to pick up on the heels of Next Gen,' explains executive producer Akiva Goldsman, speaking at the London premiere of the show. 'We wanted to acknowledge that for the character, and Sir Patrick, that 20 years have passed. The plans we make rarely line up with the outcome. Much as Jean-Luc might have left the last Star Trek movie going one way, life took a different set of turns.'

Star Trek Picard offers plenty of pleasures for fans of the Enterprise NCC-1701-D, including the return of fan-favourite characters and classic adversaries such as the Borg. But this isn’t exactly the Trek of old.

'Sir Patrick threw down a gauntlet right at the start, and he was right to do so,' says Star Trek creative veteran Alex Kurtzman. 'We could not do what has been done before, this couldn’t be Season 8 of ST: TNG. It had to be the next chapter of this man’s life.'

Explains Stewart: 'When these people came to me to pitch an idea, I was ready with my speech of refusal. Indeed I insisted through my representative that I would meet them face to face so I could tell them why it was "No". I did my best, but then Alex and Akiva and Kirsten (Beyer) asked if they could talk through their ideas, and they got my attention.'

I was hooked, he smiles wryly.

'What they were writing about was an image of Jean-Luc and the world of Star Trek that I thought couldn’t be possible; it rewrote the rules of what Star Trek is and isn’t. These guys were breaking the rules again and again. With increasing excitement I signed on.'

Kurtzman elaborates: 'Jean-Luc is living with regret and a loss that’s profound. The idea is that he has this opportunity to right wrongs that he was a part of, that he gets a second chance to make amends. It’s a beautiful story, told from his point of view. Jean-Luc is 92 years old in Starfleet years. How many shows allow you to tell a story from the point of view of someone looking back on their life?'

HCC was invited to a preview of the opening episode of Star Trek: Picard at its premiere at London’s ODEON Luxe Leicester Square, and we left eager to see more. With spectacular cinematic visuals, and a fresh take on the Trek universe, it’s not to be missed.

The show, starring Stewart, Isa Briones, Michelle Hurd, Jeri Ryan, Evan Evagora, Harry Treadaway and Jonathan Del Aeco lands on Amazon Prime Video on January 24. Each episode will be available on Prime Video within 24 hours of its US premiere.