Star Trek: Picard’s Patrick Stewart reveals why he backtracked on returning to the franchise
SIR Patrick Stewart has opened up about breaking his vow to leave his time on Star Trek behind him.
Amazon Prime TV showed off the first episode of blockbuster sci-fi series Star Trek: Picard yesterday at its star-studded London premiere.
Stewart spoke to Sun Online and other press about how show bosses convinced him to breathe new life into Jean-Luc Picard against all odds.
“I know I’m on the record as having said ‘no, no more Star trek. I said goodbye to that, I’m proud of everything we did but I’m done with it,’” the acting legend began.
“Then [the producers] began talking to me about Star Trek in a way that I never imagined it,” he continued.
“As I reflected I began to realise it was something that I had to do. What a smart decision that was. After wrapping filming I was happy with what we’d done.”
He gushed over the new endeavour as the role of a lifetime and claimed the series was one of the highlights of his esteemed showbiz career.
“I feel I have been preparing to shoot Star Trek: Picard for over 30 years. There was a feeling I had about it from the very beginning which was unlike any acting experience I’ve had before,” he went on.
“When these people came to me and pitched the idea I was ready with my speech of refusal. I planned to meet them face to face and tell them no.
“I did my best but I remember Alex [Kurtzman] saying ‘can I just talk to you a little about what we have in mind?’ They got my attention.”
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Stewart studied the blueprint for the show closely and found himself unable to resist the team’s pitch.
“When the meeting was over I asked them to put on paper the things they said to me as I’d like to look at it again more closely,” he recounted.
“Believe me, the very last thing I felt I wanted or needed was to return to Star Trek. But two days later 35 pages turned up and I read them and I was hooked, because what they were writing about was an image of the future of Jean and the world of Star Trek that I had never envisioned and thought would not even be possible due to the overriding rules of what Star trek is and what it isn’t.
“These guys were breaking those rules gain and again and again – that’s the kind of stuff that interests me. So with increasing excitement I signed on.”
Stewart made his Star Trek debut in 1987 and quickly became a firm favourite with fans.
He stepped back from the show seven years later in 1994.
Star Trek: Picard tracks Jean-Luc being called away from retirement after finding himself caught up in a threat of galactic proportions.
The series will launch on Amazon Prime on January 24.