Patrick Stewart is on a press tour for his new movie The Kid Who Would Be King, and along the way he shared some more thoughts on his return to the Star Trek franchise, the first we’ve heard directly from the actor on the subject since last August.
Speaking today with Yahoo! Entertainment, Stewart spoke at length about how he became drawn back into the world of Jean-Luc Picard, which is “not quite the world we left him in,” the actor teased.
“It was a difficult decision, because I loved being Picard and working on that series for seven years – it was a great experience with a wonderful cast and production team. I mean, there have been so many proposals. “We’d like to have you in uniform [for some] comedy shows,” and I’ve always said “Nope, nope, no, I’m done.”
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, respectfully, explain to them why I was turning the project down. But in that first meeting, which only lasted an hour and a half or so, I heard just enough to realize this was something very unusual, and I was intrigued.
I said, “Will you ask [the writers] to put something on paper,” as these different story ideas were coming up, so I could really have time to look about and study what they wanted to do — will they did and I think I got 16 pages.
To say I was hooked [right away] wouldn’t be quite true, but I was extremely interested, but I still wanted to know more. What I was afraid of, is that in some way, this is going to be jokey. And I don’t want to do that. I respect the work on ‘Next Generation,’ and also it changed my life in every way.
And I said, “You know what? I think I’m up for this.” But I asked a lot of questions, and they answers were all very satisfying. I was struck by how clever these people were that I was talking to, who can tell a narrative very well, and seem to be tuned into what an actor might need to hear.
So I signed on. I’ve been in the writers room for a total of three weeks over the last couple of months, the work that’s being done is extraordinary — basically, I just sit and listen. These clever guys, ideas going backwards and forwards… and what we have coming up is exciting.
It’s exciting for me because it excites me as an actor. Oh the story, is great… but it references the present day, at times, and that’s all I can say. I’m not saying we’re in the present day, we’re not, but the world we find Jean-Luc Picard in is not quite the world that we left him in.”
In addition to his comments in the above video interview, Yahoo! also shared some additional quotes from their time interviewing the actor, where Stewart confirms that the show will lean heavily into today’s Star Trek serialized storytelling currently being illustrated by the team at Star Trek: Discovery, calling the writers plan “a 10-hour movie.
Tantalizingly, while nothing past a first year has been announced so far, this is certainly still more than a one-year opportunity for him:
“We’re hoping for more than one season.”
Since it was first announced last summer, only tiny bits of story have been released for our speculative consideration, including the fact that the destruction of Romulus in the 2009 Star Trek film will play into the backstory of the show — so we’re still operating with ears open hoping to learn more soon.