In little more than a couple of weeks, Patrick Stewart will once again step into Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s shoes for the first time in nearly two decades. It’s been a while since Stewart left the Star Trek franchise following the disappointing results of Star Trek: Nemesis. In a recent interview with Variety, the 79-year-old actor explained how starring in 2017’s Logan helped him reconsider his decision to portray the Starfleet’s leader once again.
“Hugh and I were so thrilled when the last thing we did for X-Men was Logan,” he said. “It was the best X-Men experience we both had, because we were the same characters but their world had been blown apart. Next Generation didn’t end like that. In fact, our last movie, Nemesis, was pretty weak.”
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Convincing Stewart to return to the Final Frontier was no easy job though. The British actor confessed that, initially, he refused the Picard producers.
“I explained to them all those elements of Next Generation which belong in Next Generation, and why I didn’t want to go near them again,” he added. “But they talked about it in such an interesting way. And they talked for a long time.”
To persuade the British actor, executive producer Alex Kurtzman had to send him a pitch of his story for Picard. In the upcoming series, Picard retired from Starfleet and is living in near-isolation haunted by the death of Data. Additionally, the destruction of the planet Romulus triggered a refugee crisis. But soon enough Jean-Luc Picard’s days of retirement will be over, and he will be called to action once again. This time, though, he won’t be able to count on a more isolationist Starfleet.
Star Trek: Picard will hit CBS All Access on January 23. Are you glad that Patrick Stewart reconsidered his decision and will reprise his role as Jean-Luc Picard? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
