It was an amazing surprise for Star Trek fans last summer when Patrick Stewart revealed that he was returning to the sci-fi universe to bring back his iconic captain of the Enterprise-D, Jean-Luc Picard. Partly, it came as a shock because Stewart had said before that he’d put the character behind him, as he’d played Picard for so many years. Specifically, from 1987 to 2002, encompassing The Next Generation and its various movie spinoffs.
So, how was Stewart coaxed back into the captain’s chair, then? Well, it was all to do with the story for the new show that’ll put Picard back in the spotlight. Alex Kurtzman, executive producer of both Star Trek: Discovery and the Picard series, revealed to Variety that he and his team pitched their idea to the British thespian and then had to wait over an agonizing weekend to find out his answer. Thankfully, he was impressed and Stewart agreed to do it.
“We proposed it to him, he sat there and listening very thoughtfully as he does, said, ‘Thank you, let me think about it. We thought we failed. But on Monday his agent called and said, ‘He’s interested and he’d like to know more and can you write down what you had.’”
In a separate interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kurtzman explained what happened next. The writers then presented a huge 34-page pitch to Stewart which encompassed everything they wanted to achieve from the new series. This wowed the actor on the spot, though he put his own stipulation forward that the show be memorable and something the fans won’t be expecting.
Recent story details have revealed that the project will be set following the destruction of Romulus, the event that kicked off the 2009 rebooted Star Trek movie. Apparently, this and the ensuing dissolution of the Romulus Empire will radically alter Picard’s life. Exactly how, we don’t know, but we certainly look forward to finding out.