Captain Jean-Luc Picard is easily Patrick Stewart‘s most iconic role. It put the classically trained Shakespearean actor on the Hollywood map as he helmed the Enterprise on the beloved ’90s staple Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, at least one friend advised Stewart to turn down the hit television series, and the actor hasn’t let the friend forget it about since. That pal? Sir Ian McKellen, of course.
In a passage from his new memoir, Making It So, Stewart reveals that McKellen was strongly against him taking the Picard role. McKellen would physically stop Stewart if he had to.
“When I told him I was going to sign the contract, he almost bodily prevented me from doing so,” Stewart wrote via Insider. “‘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!'”
While Stewart trusted the advice of McKellen more than anyone, he ultimately accepted the role because chances like this don’t happen often.
“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,” Stewart wrote. Despite not listening to his counsel, McKellen still gave Stewart a big hug and wished him the best even though he reacted to the decision like Stewart was “enlisting the army.”
Now, obviously, Stewart’s decision was the right one as he went on to make TV history. As for McKellen, he’s eaten crow as any good friend would do.
“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 wrote. “More than once, in fact – primarily because I like making him say those words.”
(Via Insider)
