Star Trek: Picard, the upcoming streaming series featuring Star Trek: The Next Generation character Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) won’t hit CBS All-Access until 2020, but two prequel projects for the show will be released first!

First up will be a deluxe 3-issue comic book miniseries from IDW Publishing, to be followed up by a novel from Simon & Schuster Gallery Books, both of which will center around events that take place before the beginning of the Star Trek: Picard streaming series.

Starting in November, IDW will release Star Trek: Picard – Countdown, written by Mike Johnson and series Supervising Producer Kirsten Beyer. Per IDW, “This countdown event centers around a mission that would go on to change the life of beloved Star Trek captain Jean-Luc Picard – widely considered to be one of the most popular and recognizable characters in all of science fiction.” The miniseries will conclude in January 2020.

Then in February 2020, Gallery Books will release The Last Best Hope, a novel written by Una McCormack that will, according to the publisher, “lead directly into the show and continue to introduce fans to brand new characters featured in the series.” McCormack has written 8 previous Star Trek novels including The Lotus Flower (part of The Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Hollow Men, Enigma Tales, The Way to the Stars, and the New York Times bestseller The Fall: The Crimson Shadow.

Both prequels are being created in conjunction with CBS Consumer Products and will be relevant to the new Star Trek spin-off series, which takes place 20 years after the events of the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis. It revolves around retired Federation officer Jean-Luc Picard, who is living out his retirement on Earth and is affected by the destruction of the planet Romulus referenced in 2009 big-screen reboot Star Trek. When a young girl with a dangerous secret arrives at his doorstep, the former captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise starship heads back into space, but, according to executive producer Alex Kurtzman, “not in a way that anyone expects.”

Along with the aforementioned new characters, played by Santiago Cabrera, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora, Alison Pill, Harry Treadaway, and Isa Briones, the series will see the return of other TNG alumni: Brent Spiner as Data, Marina Sirtis as Troi, and Jonathan Frakes as Riker (he’ll also direct a few episodes), with Jeri Ryan reprising her role as the Borg Seven of Nine from the television series Star Trek: Voyager.

Other tie-ins and promotions for the show include a Chateau Picard wine and the upcoming release of a Picard-centric movie and TV episodes 6-disc Blu-ray box set, which will be packaged with an exclusive 16-page comic book called Star Trek: Sky’s The Limit from IDW Publishing, featuring an original, never-before-seen storyline inspired by the long-running scifi franchise. And I’m sure they’ll be more before the year is out — and I’m up for all of it!!!

Star Trek: Picard Season 1 will have 10 episodes, and CBS All Access will exclusively premiere the first episode sometime in early 2020.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram!