Sir Patrick Stewart has given a new interview in Esquire that places Star Trek: Picard in some political context, but also explains some personal aspects of Stewart’s world view.

The Esquire piece starts by describing Stewart’s political activities, from as young as the age of 5 when he attended a political event with his father. While Stewart himself is not a political activist as such, in recent years, he has become more vocal about causes he believes in. He fosters pit bulls, for instance - a breed banned in many countries as “dangerous”. He is a patron of the charity International Rescue Committee, which helps people in humanitarian crises. And last November he made waves by saying he was “embarrassed” by Brexit.

When Esquire asked Stewart to comment about a scene early in Picard when his character’s anger towards the Federation resulted in an outburst, Stewart said, “Yes, I was really thrilled by having that to say, because it felt like a way to give Picard a kind of modern voice - not a futuristic voice, but a voice of today.”

He went on to further explain his dissatisfaction with the current state of politics in the United States and in the United Kingdom. But when Esquire asked about how he combats “despair”, Stewart gave a profoundly positive answer. “I don’t feel despair,” he said. “I’ve always been an optimist about the world, and even when things have not been good, when I’ve felt we’re making wrong choices, I have a profound belief that humanity is essentially a responsible and caring species.”

Stewart concluded, “I firmly believe that the world Gene Roddenberry created is a world we can still aspire to.”