Sir Patrick Stewart is an iconic and integral part of the Star Trek franchise as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and first took on the role way back in 1987's Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Since then, he's returned in multiple TV shows and movies, including three seasons of Paramount+'s Picard. The series recently concluded, but fans remain eager for more and, thanks to Stewart's incredible work on screen, he's become one of the sci-fi franchise's most popular characters (arguably topping Captain James T. Kirk).
When he was cast, Stewart was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and had just won a Laurence Olivier Award for starring in a West End production of Antony and Cleopatra. Now, he's revealed that his longtime friend and colleague, Sir Ian McKellen, strongly advised him against exploring strange new worlds.
"When I told him I was going to sign the contract, he almost bodily prevented me from doing so," he recalls in his memoir Making It So (via SFFGazette.com). "'No!' he said. 'No, you must not do that. You must not. You have too much important theater work to do. You can’t throw that away to do TV. You can’t. No!""
"There are few people, particularly with regard to acting, whose counsel I trust more than Ian’s. But this time I had to tell him that I felt theater would return to my life whenever I was ready for it, whereas an offer of the lead role in an American TV series might never come again."
The legendary actor goes on to say that McKellen "shook his head sadly" when Stewart informed him he was going against his advice by joining the Star Trek franchise, but confirms his longtime friend then "wished me good luck and gave me a big hug."
"In the years since, we have become dear pals and 'X-Men' colleagues, and Ian has acknowledged that he was wrong and I was right," Stewart concludes. "More than once, in fact – primarily because I like making him say those words."
It is somewhat ironic that McKellen would go on to star in The Lord of the Rings and X-Men, though we'd imagine he was encouraged to do so after seeing the sort of success Stewart found with Star Trek (the money probably didn't hurt either).
Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was the series McKellen tried to convince Stewart not to star in, ultimately ran for seven seasons and 178 episodes.
Making It So: A Memoir is now available in bookstores.