Sir Patrick Stewart has played some iconic characters but maybe none more so than Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise who appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
That’s why when the news that he would be returning to the role for a brand new series, fans were beyond excited and Stewart says he was surprised how excited he is too.
Stewart says that “under pain of severe retribution” he cannot give any plot details away about the new series but he did reveal a little about its production dates and location.
The septuagenarian can next be seen in The Kid Who Would Be King, Joe Cornish’s sophomore feature that is a modern retelling of the Arthurian legend. In the film, he plays Merlin while Angus Imrie plays the younger version.
He is, of course, talking about Celia Imrie who he last appeared on screen with, in the 1990 adaptation of A Christmas Carol, though it wasn’t until production began on the movie that Angus was introduced to his mother’s pal.
“We hadn’t started shooting and Patrick had just got involved which, as you can imagine for everyone involved in the film but particularly for me to be able to share a role with him, was so fantastic,” Imrie said.
“One of the things in my career that I have enjoyed about being an actor is when those opportunities come along to do something you haven’t done before,” he said.
“In recent years I seem to be finishing a scene and saying to people, ‘I’ve never done that before, that was the first time on camera I’ve ever done that,’ most of them I can’t even repeat in public.
So now that Angus has played a younger version of Patrick could he play a young Jean-Luc Picard?
“That would be a spin-off,” said Stewart.
The Kid Who Would Be King is in cinemas this Friday, 15 February.
Star Trek Picard spin-off is "ambitious" and like a "10-episode movie"