Stewart: doing Star Trek: Picard was one of the smartest things I ever did

Sir Patrick Stewart as Star Trek: Picard

Sir Patrick Stewart has appeared on fellow Star Trek: Picard actor Jonathan Del Arco’s podcast, Hollywood Caucus. Started back in January with an inaugural episode featuring Jeri Ryan, Hollywood Caucus is billed as a podcast that drills down on the intersection between entertainment and politics. On the show, Stewart and Del Arco obviously discussed politics, but they also discussed some of Stewart’s feelings on wrapping up the first season of Picard, and TrekMovie helpfully summarized some of what they discussed.

Much was made - early in Picard’s production - of the fact that Stewart initially had no intention of coming back to his iconic Star Trek: The Next Generation role. But now that the first season is complete, Stewart told Del Arco that doing it was one of the smartest things he ever did.  “I thought when we wrapped [Star Trek: Nemesis] that I didn’t want to do more because I thought I said everything that was to be said about Jean-Luc Picard and his crew,” Stewart explained. “But here they were offering me a completely different narrative, even a completely different person [...] He was sad, he was disappointed, he was angry, he was even potentially a little dangerous, I think. And he had made mistakes. [...] So, yes, I signed up for it and it is one of the smartest things I ever did. [...] Every day that I work there is exciting and interesting and fun because of the quality of people I am working with.”

Stewart was also worried that audiences would have moved on from his character. Later, he told Del Arco, “I didn’t expect [the outpouring of love]. That is actually the one element I was most uncomfortable about, that the feeling might be, ‘Oh we know who they are, we have seen that, we have had enough of Picard, let’s move on to something completely new.’ And it didn’t happen like that at all; on the contrary.”

You can read more of TrekMovie’s summary of the interview at TrekMovie.com, and then also be sure to check out Jonathan Del Arco’s Hollywood Caucus, wherever you get your podcasts.