Star Trek: Picard’s Raffi, Michelle Hurd, joins her co-star Evan Evagora in praising Sir Patrick Stewart, not just as an actor, but as a part of a team.

Yesterday, I told you that Evagora, who plays Elnor in the new series, has described how Stewart and director Jonathan Frakes helped set him at ease, as a new actor on set. Now, in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hurd has echoed a similar sentiment.

Unlike Evagora, Hurd is no newcomer to the Hollywood television industry. As a reminder, some of her previous roles going back to the early 1990s include Law & Order S.V.U., the 2010s remake of 90210, and a turn as District Attorney Samantha Reyes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Jessica Jones and Daredevil. So when Hurd says that working with Stewart is like “actor Christmas”, it holds weight. She emphasised Stewart’s focus on the ensemble, rather than on call sheet hierarchy. “As soon as you are working with him,” she said, “he is your scene partner. Your ensemble member; he’s just right there, acting with you. There’s no weird hierarchy there [...] First on the call sheet sets the tone, and he is spoiling the younger actors because what they get to see is ‘our leader’ being kind. And generous and mindful.”

In the same interview, Hurd also spoke of her feelings towards Raffi, Picard’s estranged former colleague and current co-adventurer. “I really like this character,” she said, “because she’s not perfect. [...] But not only am I a woman of color, but I can tell that story about all of us who have struggled similarly. Who have some demons. And, in doing so, show that - not all of us are bad people. We’re all out here trying to do our best. We’re all human beings, with stories worth telling.”

You can watch Michelle Hurd in action as Raffi, and of course, Sir Patrick Stewart as the title character in Star Trek: Picard, now streaming on CBS All Access.