Patrick Stewart teases Picard: “The world of Next Generation doesn’t exist anymore”

Star Trek: Picard will make its highly anticipated debut on CBS All Access later this month. Star Patrick Stewart spoke with Variety about why he decided to return to the world of Star Trek after his last appearance as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis, and how this show will be different.

The actor also discussed how he landed the role of Picard on The Next Generation back in the ’80s, and how Trek creator Gene Roddenberry wasn’t, at first, a fan of his. In fact, he went so far as to circulate a memo at Paramount that read, “I do not want to hear Patrick Stewart’s name mentioned ever again in connection with Next Generation.”

Stewart didn’t particularly want the role, either, but decided to take it when Paramount offered him “more money than I’d ever seen in my life.” Plus, his agent guaranteed the show “would tank” and he’d be back in London in no time. Seven seasons and four movies later, and Patrick Stewart was a Star Trek icon. “I felt like Sting,” he said of his popularity at his very first Star Trek convention.

Star Trek: Picard finds the former captain of the USS Enterprise on his French vineyard some 20 years after the events of Nemesis. He’s still grieving the loss of his dear friend Data, and is remains troubled by the destruction of the Romulan homeworld. Then a mysterious young woman turns up to ask him for help.

Initially, Stewart had no plan to return to Trek, but he decided to take a meeting with showrunner Alex Kurtzman and writers Michael Chabon and Akiva Goldsman in 2017 as a courtesy. “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. But they talked about it in such an interesting way. And they talked for a long time.”

Stewart told them no, but then quickly changed his mind, and asked Kurtzman to put his ideas in writing. And the rest is history, or will be soon, anyway.

It sounds like a big part of what attracted Stewart to Picard (where he’s also an executive producer, by the way) was the prospect of it being different from The Next Generation, which held fast to Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a future where conflict was solved through reason and negotiation, if it happened at all. Stewart, who isn’t shy about his giving his opinion about some of the political upheavals that have happened over the past several years, doesn’t sound like he subscribes to that vision anymore.

Stewart does say the show is “remaining very faithful to Gene Roddenberry’s notion of what the future might be like,” but there are changes. “In a way, the world of ‘Next Generation’ had been too perfect and too protected,” he said. “It was the Enterprise. It was a safe world of respect and communication and care and, sometimes, fun.” But in Picard, the Federation has taken an isolationist turn. With this show, Stewart is “responding to the world of Brexit and Trump and feeling, ‘Why hasn’t the Federation changed? Why hasn’t Starfleet changed?’ Maybe they’re not as reliable and trustworthy as we all thought.”

"I think what we’re trying to say is important. The world of ‘Next Generation’ doesn’t exist anymore. It’s different. Nothing is really safe. Nothing is really secure."

Star Trek: Picard premieres on January 23.

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