Trivia / Star Trek: Picard - Firewall

• Bonus Material: Mack has put together a Spotify Playlist as a soundtrack from his time writing the novel.
• Development Hell: Mack's stated he pitched the idea for a Seven-centric prequel after first hearing the mention of the Fenris Rangers during Season One. However, permission was not given by CBS Licensing at the time for reasons outlined in the What Could Have Been section.
• Troubled Production: While he was excited to tackle the project, Mack has also admitted the actual production process wasn't ideal. Since Firewall was pitched and approved as Season Three of Picard was winding down, he had a reduced window for completing the manuscript compared to normal tie-ins. Writing was also further hit by a death in the family and then Mack and his wife both contracting COVID (and in Mack's case ending up in the ER). Completion of the book ultimately came down to the wire, with Mack only putting the finishing touches on the manuscript with 36 hours left on the clock before the editorial deadline.
  • Ironically, Mack admits the post-production was the inverse. The actual editing of the manuscript by contrast went smoothly with only a few minor notes and tweaks.
• What Could Have Been: As detailed on the Trivia page for Star Trek: Picard - The Dark Veil, James Swallow (like Mack) originally pitched his Riker/Troi/Titan novel as a Seven-centric Picard prequel. He and Picard co-creator Kirsten Beyer developed the idea, but Beyer ultimately axed it. Given the rich potential of that particular story, Beyer felt there was a good chance the show would tackle it instead and Swallow agreed. The green light was not given until after Picard ended its run (and of course, David Mack ultimately got custodianship of the project instead of Swallow).