Patrick Stewart explains why he nearly turned down the new Picard series

By: H&I Staff     Posted: February 1, 2019, 11:25AM Tags: Tags: News

Star Trek: Enterprise wrapped up its missions in 2005. Somehow, fans had to wait 13 years for a new Star Trek television series, placated only by a trilogy of cinematic Kirk-and-Spock reboots. Now, Star Trek is back in a big way. The franchise is seemingly making up for lost time. Discovery was merely the seed of a blooming family tree of new Trek shows. There are no fewer than five in the works.

Five! There's the comedic animated series, Star Trek: Lower Decks, from the writers of Rick and Morty. Michelle Yeoh will helm a Discovery spin-off. There's a show set at Starfleet Academy and a series centered around Khan reportedly in the works. Oh, and the newly cast Captain Pike and Spock are rumored to get a series.

But perhaps no Trek series is more anticipated than Picard, or whatever it ends up being called (perhaps Reliant or Destiny). And that is because it is the only upcoming Trek series to feature the return of a Trek legend. Patrick Stewart — arguably the most beloved of all captains amongst die-hard fans, yes, including Kirk — returns to the role that launched his venerable screen career.

And it almost didn't happen. Stewart had every intention to turn down the role.

"I agreed to a meeting with the people who were going to produce this new version of Star Trek only because I wanted to seriously and respectfully explain to them why I was turning the project down," Stewart said in an interview with Yahoo. "I heard just enough to realize this was something very unusual, and I was intrigued. What I was afraid of was… this was going to be jokey, and I didn’t want to do that. I asked a lot of questions and the answers were all very satisfying."

The idea behind the series was fascinating enough to immediately change his mind. And that has us very intrigued. Here's what little we know: the plot takes place after the destruction of the Romulan Empire and Picard's life is on the rocks.

"They are writing a 10-hour movie," Stewart continued.

Despite that, there are still inklings of a second season or sequel.

"We’re hoping for more than one season," Stewart admitted.

Make it so.

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