Stephen Williams (Watchmen, Lost) will direct and executive produce the first four episodes. Hanelle Culpepper (Star Trek Picard, Kung Fu) will direct the final four episodes.

“Kevin Hart’s career is one defined by courageous creative risks and Wesley Snipes is a legendary talent – together they are truly a dream team,” Newman said. “I am absolutely thrilled to be working with these two. As always, I am grateful to Netflix for their continued support, as well as to Charles Murray, Stephen Williams, and Hanelle Culpepper for their creative partnership.”

“Forget Me Not” is just the kind of solid mid-season Discovery episode you want to have…quiet character beats were well played by director Hanelle Culpepper, without descending into the indulgent melodrama Discovery too often leans on.

“I wanted it to feel inspired by where Picard was on his emotional journey. He was living in a vineyard; he felt trapped. So I wanted to have a little bit more of a static frame, and then go handheld once his world is rocked [in the pilot]. We switch to handheld cameras pretty much as much as possible after that. It’s “Star Trek,” we have to get those big, cinematic shots with drones and cranes and stuff, but we always wanted to not forget that it’s really a character-driven series with Picard at the heart.”

“Picard” is the first “Trek” series in decades to advance the story forward (as opposed to prequels that explore events that took place long before “The Next Generation”), and it has quite an awards legacy to live up to.

“Picard” director Hanelle M. Culpepper understands that mindset: “I’m prepared and have a story reason for any change I make. I try to knock it out of the park with any job I take, so I’m never the excuse someone uses not to hire a person of color or a woman as a director.”