Star Trek executive 'almost cried' during Patrick Stewart reading for new show as Jean-Luc Picard
Stewart is set to reprise the role he famously played in Star Trek: The Next Generation
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Your support makes all the difference.A Star Trek executive has revealed he was nearly brought to tears by Patrick Stewart’s reading for a new show that will see him reprise his role as Jean-Luc Picard.
Alex Kurtzman, a creator, writer and producer of the Star Trek franchise, told a recent Paleyfest panel just how moved he was when he sat down for the reading with Stewart.
The actor, who famously played Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation from the late eighties to the mid nineties, announced in August that he would return as Picard in a new series.
While the show’s title has yet to be unveiled, Kurtzman gave a bit of behind-the-scenes information when he told the panel, according to Deadline: “I had an amazing experience yesterday. I sat at Patrick’s kitchen table and I heard him read the first episode and I almost cried.
“It was quite something. He’s at an amazing place in his life. He’s so excited. It’s going to be a very different show from Discovery. The only way this universe, I think, works correctly is if each show is really different and speaks to a different part of Star Trek.”
Kurtzman is the co-creator of the Star Trek: Discovery series, which began in 2017 and is still ongoing. He also co-wrote the 2009 Star Trek film, and was a writer and a producer on the 2013 Star Trek: Into Darkness.
Stewart said in a statement in August last year that he has always been “very proud” of his role as Picard.
“It is an unexpected but delightful surprise to find myself excited and invigorated to be returning to Jean-Luc Picard and to explore new dimensions within him,” the English actor wrote.
Kurtzman declined to reveal much more information about the forthcoming series, adding only that Stewart is “really excited” and that the cast is ”coming together beautifully”.
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