Patrick Stewart says he made three demands before agreeing to return as Star Trek’s Picard

‘I had a list,’ British actor said

Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart has revealed he made some demands before returning as Jean-Luc Picard.

The actor has reprised the role for spin-off series Picard, which is returning for a third and final season.

Fans of Star Trek will be particularly excited to see Picard united with characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation, which ran for seven seasons from 1987 to 1994.

However, it turns out that Stewart was more than ready to say goodbye to the character after Picard season two has showrunner Terry Matalas ignored his wishes for the character.

“What I said to Terry in our initial conversations were: ‘OK, if I do this, then this is what I don’t want to do – and I had a list,” the actor told AV Club.

Explaining what was on this list, Stewart continued: “I didn’t want to wear a traditional uniform, or continuously say ‘engage’ or ‘make it so’ for the sake of it.”

He said the idea to see Picard go into detective mode after receiving a message from a missing Dr Beverly Crusher (Next Generation’s Gates McFadden) “opened so many doors to me”.

“We’ve never seen Picard like this before,” Stewart said, adding of the show’s writers: “I have to say, they did extraordinary work.”

Picard was developed by showrunner Alex Kurtzman. Also starring in the final season are Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, Jeri Ryan and Michelle Hurd.

Patrick Stewart as ‘Star Trek’ character Jean-Luc Picard (Paramount Plus)

In 2022, during an appearance at San Diego Comic-Con, Stewart shared a “blunt” answer in response to a question about a possible film focused on his popular Star Trek character.

New episodes of Star Trek: Picard are available to stream every Thursday on Paramount Plus in the US, and Prime Video in the UK.