After Saturday’s bombshell announcement that Star Trek: The Next Generation star Patrick Stewart is returning to the Trek franchise in a new television series, fans around the world began to celebrate the revival of Captain Jean-Luc Picard after nearly two decades.
At the Las Vegas Star Trek convention where this news was made, we caught up with Star Trek: Discovery stars Wilson Cruz and Anthony Rapp to get their take on this monumental moment in franchise history.
WILSON CRUZ: I mean, he’s literally one of the reasons why I’m as big of a fan of “Star Trek” as I am. I was a huge “Next Generation” fan and I had a crush on both of them — him and Jonathan Frakes — who, by the way, I did have a conversation with both of them backstage and the sixteen-year-old me was palpitating. (Laughs)
I think what’s exciting is that we’re going to learn more about this indelible character, right? And he’s such an amazing actor that it’s just going to be amazing. I can’t wait. I’m hoping there’s like a part for Hugh [Culber] in it somewhere! Some crossover, I mean, come on! We’re in the same universe. It could happen!
ANTHONY RAPP: It was really thrilling to be in the room and witness that. I mean, there’s so many things I could say about it, but, you know, he’s an incredibly accomplished actor; he’s been working for decades; he’s been around the world, around the block; he’s had all kinds of experiences and all kinds of success — he doesn’t NEED to be doing this.
And for him, it was so clear to me watching him, how much this meant to him. And that somebody who’s had all that experience after all these years can still be moved by the response of the audience and still be excited and inspired to be working on something like this is really inspiring to me.
You can check out the full comments from the Discovery stars in our video interview above — and watch for longer conversations with Wilson Cruz and Anthony Rapp in additional interviews coming later this week!
This family. An amazing group of people full of artistry, courage, love, and passion for bringing stories in the Trek universe to life. #StarTrek #stlv @startrekcbs @StarTrek pic.twitter.com/yiHc9fFkdy
— Anthony Rapp on Mastodon @albinokid@nerdculture.de (@albinokid) August 5, 2018
We’ve got lots more to come from the five-day Star Trek convention out of Las Vegas, including more interviews, panel reports, and merchandise news, so keep coming back to TrekCore to catch it all!