Star Trek: Picard Made Patrick Stewart 'Uncomfortable' In Certain Moments
After decades of playing the same character, one might wonder if Patrick Stewart has ever grown tired of pretending to be Jean-Luc Picard, the Starfleetiest Starfleet officer that ever was. After all, he's played Picard in seven seasons of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," four movies, and three seasons of "Star Trek: Picard." That's a lot of time playing the same guy and it could be tiring, no matter how interesting a character Jean-Luc might be. Stewart recently sat down with the Los Angeles Times to discuss the end of the third season of "Star Trek: Picard" and how the character has influenced his life, and he shared that while occasionally things grew repetitive during the 1990s heyday of "The Next Generation," he had entirely different concerns while making "Picard."
Stewart's greatest concern was making sure that the show's third season, which reunited Picard with most of his crew from "The Next Generation," didn't feel like a "reunion show." He didn't want it to feel like a campy cash-grab because the characters and the series really meant something to him, and he didn't want to cheapen any of that with "Picard."
A bit of discomfort while filming
When talking to the Los Angeles Times, Stewart said that the character of Picard was the "biggest thing to ever happen to him," but that didn't mean that he didn't occasionally grow bored with the role:
"[...]I have to admit that when we got into Season 5, 6 and 7 [of "The Next Generation"], there were days I wished I could be doing something different — when you do 178 episodes there's bound to be repetition. And there were some things about 'Picard' I was uncomfortable with, when I thought it was nudging its way toward being a reunion show. But there were not many. And the way the show has been directed, and lit, and staged, it's so impressive. So many times I feel I'm watching a movie and not a TV series."
178 episodes is a lot of time to spend pretending to be anyone, and some of the episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" had similar plots or premises that could feel repetitive to an actor. When it comes to the second part of Stewart's statement, it's not hard to see which scenes might have made him uncomfortable in "Picard." He's right about its cinematic quality (it's really the "Next Generation" movie we deserved but never got), and also its tendency towards blatant fanservice.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Reunion
Season 3 of "Star Trek: Picard" was a joy that reunited the "Next Generation" cast and gave audiences closure that the movies never did, but there was also some fanservice that felt a little too on-the-nose. There were plenty of moments that walked the thin line between feeling nostalgic and overly sentimental, though the penultimate episode was the most guilty of all. "Star Trek: Picard" brought back beloved characters and performers, resurrected old storylines from "Next Generation" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," and even restored the long-lost Enterprise-D. Sometimes it was a fun romp down memory lane, and sometimes it was like being bludgeoned to death by Member Berries. If Stewart was truly dedicated to keeping the show from feeling like a legacy reunion, then those moments were certain to rub him the wrong way.
Thankfully, the good of "Picard" far outweighed the bad, and the series was a delightful goodbye to a cast of characters that many of us have loved for more than 20 years. Who could possibly ask for more?