Gosh, what a brutal few days for the Star Trek fan community. Mere days after the passing of Walter Koenig, we have to say goodbye to Sir Patrick Stewart – Star Trek’s Captain Picard.
This one hits close to home for me. It was in the early 1990s that a young Dennis first encountered Star Trek: The Next Generation – falling in love with a fictional universe and a wonderful cast of characters. Patrick Stewart’s Captain Picard was at the centre of that series, and it’s not unfair to say that without his calm, level-headed approach to the captaincy, TNG would’ve been a completely different kind of show. I first joined the Star Trek fan community because of The Next Generation, and because of the kind of captain that Jean-Luc Picard was. Sir Patrick Stewart brought that to the screen in an incredibly convincing way… and news of his passing is very sad.
Sir Patrick Stewart trained as a stage actor before making the move to Hollywood, and first cut his teeth on the stage in Manchester, before later moving to Shakespearean roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Between the 1960s and 2011, Stewart appeared on the stage in more than a dozen Shakespeare productions, as well as other plays. His first major roles in Hollywood productions came in the 1980s, with Excalibur and Dune being two of the more noteable. He was cast as Captain Picard in early 1987, ahead of full production on The Next Generation beginning later that year.
Outside of Star Trek, viewers might remember Sir Patrick Stewart from his role in the X-Men series of films, which were later rolled into the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe. He also appeared in the 1999 adaptation of A Christmas Carol, which is a favourite of mine, he had a voice role in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which was remastered last year, and has had a recurring role on American Dad as the head of the C.I.A.
Sir Patrick Stewart returned to the role of Jean-Luc Picard in 2020 for Star Trek: Picard – a spin-off/sequel series focusing on the iconic character. And he’s also returned to his Marvel role in recent years, too.
A long career featuring some truly beloved and iconic roles is a sentence any actor would love to see written about them, and those words are never truer than they are for Sir Patrick Stewart. He may not have started out intending to be a space-man or a comic book hero, but those iconic roles have quite literally inspired generations of fans of sci-fi, fantasy, and beyond – and he leaves behind an impressive legacy as a result.
I never had the good fortune to meet Sir Patrick Stewart, so I can’t share any fun little story or tidbit that you won’t have already seen elsewhere online. But I can tell you that the show he led had a profound impact on my life. In the early ’90s, as I was managing school and social life and adolescence as an awkward, nerdy little kid, Star Trek: The Next Generation was my happy place, my “comfort show.” Captain Picard and his crew provided an escape from the real world, encouragement, and a glimpse at a completely different way of life. I took inspiration from The Next Generation as I was growing up… and I like to think that I took on board some of Captain Picard’s lessons, too.
Just the other day, when Walter Koenig passed away, I said that it’s easy to just imagine that these people – the stars of Star Trek – who have been present for basically our entire lives… always will be. Even as time marches on and people get older, their passings can still hit hard. And – like many other Trekkies, I guess – I’m feeling that double this week. Even more so, perhaps, because Sir Patrick Stewart had seemed to be so active and involved until very recently; he’s scheduled to appear in the latest Marvel’s Avengers film later this year.
If you’re a regular reader, and you followed along with my Star Trek: Picard episode reviews a few years back, you’ll know that I wasn’t thrilled with every narrative decision that the series made. But I still remember that incredible feeling of anticipation that I had in late 2019 going into 2020 when Picard’s first season premiere was imminent. This character making a return, some eighteen years after I last saw him… that was something special, and it’s something practically no other character anywhere in fiction has gotten: a true epilogue.
That alone is testament to the incredible personality that Sir Patrick Stewart gave to Captain Picard; that fans were clamouring, all these years later, for the character to return. His performance elevated both The Next Generation and Picard – and the films he was part of, too – genuinely making them better. Even the silliest sci-fi or comic book premise was given genuine gravitas when in Sir Patrick Stewart’s hands, and the role he played in the successes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the X-Men movies, and more should not be overlooked.
With more than 170 TNG episodes, four films, and thirty Picard episodes, it’s impossible to pick a “favourite Captain Picard” episode or moment. There are just too many good, solid, and iconic performances and scenes with this character. Even in supposedly “lesser” episodes, scenes with Picard were usually fantastic. I’m struggling to call to mind a genuinely *bad* one, to tell the truth. Even in storylines I personally didn’t enjoy as much, Sir Patrick Stewart was always giving 100%, his performances were always impressive, and Jean-Luc Picard was always a fun, engaging, and enjoyable character.
A couple of years ago, Sir Patrick Stewart was interviewed on a podcast and teased fans with the possibility of some kind of further Picard project. Obviously, nothing ever came of that, but it’s sad to think that now… nothing ever can. We’ve had our final adventures with Jean-Luc Picard, and even if Star Trek returns to our screens in the years ahead – and I sincerely hope it will – we won’t even get so much as a cameo from Picard any more. I wasn’t necessarily *expecting* something like that. But it was nice to know that it was possible, if that makes sense. And now… it isn’t. We’ve had plenty of fun adventures with Picard and his crews over many years… but I would’ve been down for one more.
Tonight… I think I’m going to watch some of my favourite Picard episodes and stories. I’m not sure which ones just yet; there are so many to choose from. But it feels right to spend a little time with this character now that the man who brought him to life is no longer with us. And I shall raise a glass to Sir Patrick Stewart and to Walter Koenig, the two Star Trek stars we lost this week.
Thank you for joining me. It’s another sad day for the Trekkie community, but I find that there’s value in sharing my thoughts with you; I think we all feel a little less alone in our sadness if we know other people feel the same way. I hope this short piece has been interesting, informative, or helpful for you, as well.
The Star Trek franchise – including all properties discussed above – is the copyright of the Skydance Corporation. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
