Patrick Stewart Didn’t Want To Work With His Star Trek Costars Ever Again
Star Trek: Picard Sthird and final season performed wonderfully with both the critics and the audiences, as it reunited the old TNG cast and provided the fandom with a satisfying conclusion to The Next Generation’s story. However, it would appear that Patrick Stewart, the actor behind the role of one of the best-known Star Trek captains, took some convincing. At first, Stewart openly opposed the idea of reuniting the TNG cast.
Initially, Patrick Stewart was very muchg against reuniting with the rest of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast for Star Trek: Picard.
According to SuperHeroHype, Terry Matalas, the executive producer and showrunner on the second and third seasons of Star Trek: Picard, said that his first instinct was to bring back all the actors from The Next Generation after he joined the show. However, his idea didn’t sit well with Patrick Stewart. But things changed along the way.
As per Matalas, Patrick Stewart eventually warmed up to the idea; following a series of appearances of the old cast — including Data, Riker, and Troi — Stewart eventually agreed to a reunion of the old cast in Picard. The reunion was a success amongst the fandom and brought one of the most satisfying conclusions to the Star Trek series, leading to Season 3 being widely considered the best of them all.
Patrick Stewart later explained his reservations about the final season. While admitting that he was moved by the reunion with his former colleagues, he also believes that the reunions are antithetical to the series.
However, since the initial premise of the show was against a reunion, which went against the fandom’s wishes, it isn’t all that surprising that the first two seasons of Star Trek: Picard were under performers despite Patrick Stewart’s return as the iconic captain. So, it’s safe to assume that the fandom wanted a reunion from the get-go, and the success of the final season reflects that perfectly.
[F]ollowing a series of appearances of the old cast – including Data, Riker, and Troi – Stewart eventually agreed to a reunion of the old cast in Picard.
To further cement this argument, we’ll go on to say that no television show changes its entire concept if that concept is working, which ultimately wasn’t the case with Patrick Stewart’s Star Trek: Picard. Stephen Amell’s Arrow suffered a similar fate; the masked hero wasn’t supposed to have any superpowered adversaries, and the first season of the show suffered for it. Then came Season 2, and we got Wilson Slade, the Mirakuru, and a whole slew of super-soldiers terrorizing Starling/Star City.
Star Trek: Picard did change its concept, and for the better. Patrick Stewart later explained his reservations about the final season. While admitting that he was moved by the reunion with his former colleagues, he also believes that the reunions are antithetical to the series.
And there’s a certain validity to his concerns. While the self-referential nature of some IPs could theoretically work towards the improvement of the franchise, that wouldn’t be the case with Picard, both as a Star Trek series and as one of the most iconic captains in the series’ history.
Patrick Stewart’s Star Trek: Picard is currently available to stream on Paramount+.
