Jean-Luc is preparing to launch his next mission in the Star Trek universe early next year.

Star Trek producers Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin have confirmed to Trek Movie that they expect to begin production on the new Picard series in April 2019. They did not say when they expect the series to premiere.

The writer's room for the Picard series has been at work for about a month now. Picard himself, Patrick Stewart, shared a photo from the room on the first day of work, stating that “The journey has begun.”

The new Picard series was announced by Stewart himself with a surprise appearance at Star Trek Las Vegas. The series is expected to take place about two decades after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis.

“I was startled, stunned, and utterly disbelieving because never for one moment had I imagined this succession of audition at Paramount would ever lead to anything at all, and here, now, I was,” Stewart told the crowd, reflecting on being cast as Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. “What I didn't’ know either was I was on the very, very brink, the edge of something that would touch every corner of my life. Every single corner. Of course career, emotional, domestic, home, everything was going to be affected by it.

“He may not be a captain anymore. He may not be the Jean-Luc that you recognize and know so well. It may be a very different individual. Someone who has been changed by his experiences. 20 years will have passed...We have no scripts as yet, we’re just talking, talking, talking storylines. It will be, I promise you, I guarantee it, something very, very different, but it will come to you with the same passion and determination and love of the material and love of our followers and our fans exactly as we had it before.”

Stewart also released a statement about the new series on social media.

“I will always be very proud to have been a part of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but when we wrapped that final movie in the spring of 2002, I truly felt my time with Star Trek had run its natural course,” Stewart wrote. “It is, therefore, an unexpected but delightful surprise to find myself excited and invigorated to be returning to Jean-Luc Picard and to explore new dimensions within him. Seeking out new life for him, when I thought that life was over."

Are you excited for Picard’s return on CBS All Access? Let us know in the comments!