Patrick Stewart interview: ‘Star Trek: Picard’

“We are in in the middle of this pandemic, but still season two of ‘Picard’ is going forward!” Patrick Stewart declares in his chat with Gold Derby. “I’ve got the first five scripts of the show and different drafts of those scripts. I spend hours every day with them.”

But while Stewart is preparing to resume the role as starship captain that he’s portrayed for more than 30 years in various “Star Trek” incarnations (TV series, movies, video games), no start-up date has yet been determined for the cameras to roll again at CBS All Access, so he stays busy at home writing his memoirs (he’s penned 250 pages, but is only halfway through his life), watching “Schitt’s Creek,” reciting Shakespeare sonnets to an appreciative internet audience and pursuing one of his favorite hobbies.

“I do jigsaw puzzles,” he notes. “That’s one of my passions. I finished the Last Supper two nights ago and it was one of the best moments of my life!” He chuckles, but then gets serious.

“But all the while inside, I know I have to work. That’s what I’m here for. That’s my job. I want a script in my hand. I want actors in front of me.”

While Stewart has free time for passive reflection, we ask him why the whole “Star Trek” franchise has been so unflappingly popular over many decades.

He credit its “unflagging optimism and imagining a better future in all of the ‘Star Trek’ versions.”