Patrick Stewart O captain, my captain How revisiting a character from the future made one of the world’s most iconic actors reflect on the present Words JESS HOLLAND It’s rare in life to get the chance to go back and have another go at our most important moments. For most of us, life goes on and our early endeavours are left behind. Last year, however, acclaimed actor Sir Patrick Stewart was given the opportunity to revisit his own past life and career, as he reprised one of his most celebrated roles, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise, in the Amazon Prime series Star Trek: Picard. For 15 years between 1987 and 2002, Stewart inhabited the role of captain and leader in the series Star Trek: <strong>The</strong> Next Generation and four movies, inspiring viewers with a message of fairness, diplomacy and equality. “As our world goes one step forward and two steps back,” says Stewart of this new iteration of the character, “I think there is much of the man we knew in Next Generation: his modesty, his passion for humankind and for the future of the solar system.” <strong>The</strong> 79-year-old actor tells <strong>The</strong> <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Bulletin</strong> how it feels to reprise this iconic character after 18 years away, and also to return to such a hopeful show in the new alien landscape of <strong>2020</strong>… the red bulletin: When the offer came, did you immediately know you wanted to return? patrick stewart: Not at all. I had never felt so strongly about not doing something in my entire career. When I met with the team of directors and writers, it was just to tell them in person why I wasn’t going to come back. What they pitched to me in that meeting, however, was irresistible. What can we expect from this new chapter, and from your character in particular? We’re living and working in a different world. Picard has walked away from everything and is living with his dog in his château, growing grapes. He’s discontented, angry and guilty; he feels that he failed. After so many years away from the character of Picard, did it take time to find him again? <strong>The</strong> man never left; he never left inside me. We overlap in the things we believe in and the way we see leadership. It was an exhausting and exhilarating experience, but I didn’t find it remotely challenging. What I did find challenging was when my old cast-mates Jonathan [Frakes, who plays Commander Riker] and Brent [Spiner, who plays Lieutenant Commander Data] returned to the set. <strong>The</strong>y teased me quite a lot. Many of the show’s political themes feel more relevant than ever in <strong>2020</strong>. Do you feel that subtext is more important now? Definitely, being political is more important now than ever. It was actually suggested to me last year that I should take American citizenship and run for Senate. That really was a serious proposal. Have you always been so politically engaged? I’ve been a member of the Labour Party for many, many years, although I’m a somewhat doubting one at present. My political history began when I committed my first act of civil disobedience in 1945, however, when I was just five years old. I was parading up and down with my father, who was the Regimental Sergeant Major of the Parachute Regiment, with a placard that read, ‘Vote for Mr Palin’ [the Labour candidate for Wentworth, South Yorkshire]. A policeman came and told me to bugger off, because the police could talk to you like that in the working-class neighbourhood I grew up in. But I said ‘No, I won’t,’ ignored him and carried on. Star Trek has always championed diplomacy and optimism. How was it making this new chapter while living in a time that, for many, feels less hopeful? I believe there is always hope to be found. While things look very dark right now, certainly as far as Europe is concerned, we have to believe in a better future. We must. We reflect the present day in this new series. It was one of the things that we all believed in way back when I first started on the show: a fairer world, a kinder world, a more modest world. That is also what we’ve tried to bring to this new chapter. Star Trek: Picard is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video now SEBASTIAN KIM/AUGUST 22 THE RED BULLETIN
”Someone suggested to me that I should run for Senate” THE RED BULLETIN 23
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