Later this month,Patrick Stewartwill return to the role that made him a household name.Star Trek: Picardwill launch on CBS All Access and see Jean-Luc Picard on a new adventure, but in a new interview withVariety, Stewart notes that the show will be far cry fromStar Trek: The Next Generation. He tells Variety that one of the pleasures of doingLoganwas returning to a character that was so different from where they started:
“Hugh and I were so thrilled when the last thing we did for ‘X-Men’ was ‘Logan,’” he says. “It was the best ‘X-Men’ experience we both had, because we were the same characters but their world had been blown apart.” He adds, “‘Next Generation’ didn’t end like that. In fact, our last movie, ‘Nemesis,’ was pretty weak.”
It’s a little rich for Stewart to knockNemesisconsidering that one of the most widely mocked sequences, the dune buggy chase,was his idea.
But for the new direction ofPicard, Stewart doesn’t see the optimism ofThe Next GenerationorThe Original Seriesfor that matter:
“In a way, the world of ‘Next Generation’ had been too perfect and too protected,” he says. “It was the Enterprise. It was a safe world of respect and communication and care and, sometimes, fun.” In “Picard,” the Federation — a union of planets bonded by shared democratic values — has taken an isolationist turn. The new show, Stewart says, “was me responding to the world of Brexit and Trump and feeling, ‘Why hasn’t the Federation changed? Why hasn’t Starfleet changed?’ Maybe they’re not as reliable and trustworthy as we all thought.”
I get where Stewart is coming from. The world is in a dark place, but it’s not like everything was sunshine and rainbows in the mid-60s whenGene RoddenberrycreatedStar Trek, nor was it all perfect in the 1980s-90s ofThe Next Generation.
I still want to givePicarda chance, but the “We can’t trust the Federation!” noise was already done in the atrociousStar Trek: Insurrection. I’m always wary of a cynicalStar Trek. I think that cynicism in science fiction has its place, andTrekcan go to some dark places (seeDeep Space Nine), but the core ofTrekis optimism and I’m curious ifPicardcan retain that hope.
