What 'Star Trek' virtual Comic-Con panel revealed about Sir Patrick Stewart's nicknames

Patrick Stewart has a formal title, Sir, after being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010, but a big revelation from Thursday's online "Star Trek: Picard" panel is that castmates affectionately call him SPS and that he prefers an even more informal nickname.

"Picard" and two other CBS All Access series, "Star Trek: Discovery" and the upcoming animated "Star Trek: Lower Decks" (Aug. 6), presented YouTube panels Thursday, providing familiar names and a venerable brand to help kick off the first full day of Comic-Con – retitled Comic-Con@Home – in a free, online format.

There was a bit of traditional Comic-Con revelation, as CBS All Access released a first-look clip from "Lower Decks" and announced the name and logo of an upcoming animated Nickelodeon series, 2021's "Star Trek: Prodigy," which the streaming service describes as "a group of lawless teens who discover a derelict Starfleet ship and use it to search for adventure, meaning and salvation."

Executive producer Alex Kurtzman also offered an update on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," saying the writers room is open and 10 stories have been broken for the prequel to the original 1960s series that will feature Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), Number One (Rebecca Romijn) and Spock (Ethan Peck).

In the spirit of inclusion, diversity and equality that are at the heart of "Star Trek," Kurtzman and fellow executive producer Heather Kadin highlighted #StarTrekUnited, an effort to bring awareness to Black Lives Matter, the NAACP and other organizations. "Discovery" star Sonequa Martin-Green encouraged donations to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Virtually there: Never been to Comic-Con? Here are the can't-miss panels at this year's free stay-at-home event

Mostly, however, the session was like many Comic-Con panels: a light-hearted reunion of cast members and producers, except this time, separated and online and not crowded together on the stage at the San Diego Convention Center's Hall H.

Here are some highlights:

"Star Trek: Picard"

When the panel moderator, Dominic Patten of Deadline, asked Stewart what it was like to bring back Picard and other characters from "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the esteemed actor mildly disputed the characterization. (The initial video play of the reading was briefly interrupted due to a copyright matter, Deadline reported.)

"We haven't brought it back. It actually never went away," he said of the series, which will shoot Season 2 whenever it can restart production. "Thanks to our brilliant team of writers, we are living in a very different world, a very complex world, a profoundly troubled world, which just might be appropriate for the times we're living in, as well."

Alison Pill, who plays Dr. Agnes Jurati, got the ball rolling with the affectionate SPS nickname, which other "Picard" actors picked up before Marina Sirtis, who returned in Season 1 as "TNG" character Deanna Troi, said they were undoing the "TNG" cast's effort to deflate Stewart's ego.

"Just stop it all, you guys. He's going to be unbearable," said Sirtis, as Stewart smiled in his nearby onscreen box. "You 'Picard' lot, it took us years to train him."

Stewart later revealed he had been given the even more informal name, P-Stew, "very privately by somebody at Second City in Chicago. P-Stew would be my choice."

We'll see which title sticks.

"Star Trek: Discovery"

More than a dozen "Discovery" cast members filled the screen for a socially distanced table reading of the first act of the Season 2 finale, "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2."

During a follow-up Q&A with executive producer Michelle Paradise, Martin-Green speculated on what's to come for Burnham when "Discovery" returns for Season 3.

"A salvation of sorts. We, the crew of 'Star Trek: Discovery' in the finale, are deciding to sacrifice everything that we have for the future. So, there's the obvious hope that the plan works and even logistically that we land where we’re supposed to, that we defeat Control, and that we save the universe," she said. "There’s also a hope of continuing to discover myself as Burnham … unveiling and finding that perfect, sweet balance between all the forces that wage within me."

Peck explained Burnham's influence on Spock, a main character in "Strange New Worlds."

"Spock's interaction with Michael Burnham is essential to transforming Spock from someone who has been born on Vulcan who is half human (but) has been taught to be Vulcan," he said. Michael "gives him the permission to be human and teaches him what it is to be human. It's essential to the development of Spock, as we follow the conflict between his emotion and logic (leading) to when we first see Leonard Nimoy in the original series."

"Star Trek: Lower Decks"

"Lower Decks," the franchise's first comedy series that comes more than 40 years after its first animated show, takes a humorous look at the officers who toil in the less prestigious parts of a starship, far from the shiny captain's bridge.

Executive producer Mike McMahan said the series takes place in the "Next Generation" era, "right after the events of (the 2002 film 'Star Trek: Nemesis') but way before the events of 'Picard.' … We tried to fit it into canon so that it doesn't break anything, but we tried to do something new with it at the same time. We tried to keep it exciting but we also tried to keep all the ethical, science fiction stuff that makes 'Star Trek' 'Star Trek.'"

McMahan pointed to one amusing "Star Trek" anomaly of "two Number Ones under the same roof," as Jerry O'Connell plays the "Lower Decks" Number one, or first officer, and his wife, Rebecca Romijn, portrays Number One on "Discovery" and "Strange New Worlds."

"We're also very good friends with Jonathan Frakes," the Number One from "TNG" whose Will Riker appears on "Picard," O'Connell said. "When the three of us get together, I really should livestream it for everybody."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Star Trek,' Patrick Stewart appear at virtual Comic-Con@Home panel