Patrick Stewart, the veteran actor known for portraying the role of Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek franchise, has had a great rapport with his co-stars. Being friendly and humorous in nature, there have been very few instances where Stewart might have lost his cool.
During the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, however, Patrick Stewart and the cast members had a rough start. From getting to know each other to producers allegedly trying to take control of the series, there was a lot of chaos, and Stewart was allegedly blamed for the removal of one actress from the series!
Sir Patrick Stewart And Gates McFadden: A Bad Match?
Gates McFadden portrayed the role of Dr. Beverly Crusher in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Being the chief medical officer on board the U.S.S. Enterprise-D, McFadden was quite an important character, but chaos behind the scenes had already started to affect the series.
As per a report by SlashFilm, McFadden was hated by one of the series producers Maurice Hurley. When the first season ended, Hurley became the showrunner of the series and immediately fired McFadden from the role, replacing her character with Dr. Kate Pulaski.
Fans weren’t exactly fond of Pulaski and in the third season, Gates McFadden was brought back to reprise her role of Dr. Beverly Crusher. Susan Sackett, the personal assistant of showrunner Gene Roddenberry, revealed that Patrick Stewart and McFadden allegedly did not like each other.
I don’t think she and Patrick worked well together. It was mainly his request. There were some acting conflicts. Some actors work better with other actors.
The blame was shifted on Patrick Stewart but reports stated otherwise. Fans felt that Stewart and McFadden had better on-screen chemistry than some of the other pairs on the show. It was indeed a controversial coincidence that as soon as Hurley became the showrunner, McFadden was fired.
Then they tried Diana Muldaur, but she couldn’t remember her lines because she had a lot of technical things to say, so they brought back Gates. Gene had worked with Muldaur, so he was fond of her and thought she’d do a good job, but this wasn’t the right role for her.
Despite these accusations and blame games, Gates McFadden was brought back for her role as Dr. Beverly Crusher and the world returned to normal. Things did seem weird since Stewart didn’t have much to say about the whole ordeal.
The case was reopened when an executive producer from the show contradicted the claims made by Susan Sackett. As per the executive producer, Hurley had reasons to hate both Gates McFadden and her character, and somehow convinced Gene Roddenberry to fire her!
Executive Producer Rick Berman Defended Patrick Stewart
As mentioned earlier, the first few seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation were quite chaotic. After the blame was put on Patrick Stewart’s alleged incompatibility with Gates McFadden, the case went cold for a while.
Rick Berman, who was an executive producer on Star Trek: The Next Generation, revealed that the accusations were totally false and untrue. In an interview (via SlashFilm), Berman stated that Stewart had nothing to do with it and Maurice Hurley just wanted to showcase his power!
Patrick had absolutely nothing to do with it. He [Hurley] didn’t like her acting and he didn’t like her.
Whatever the case may be, the end result was that Gates McFadden was gracefully brought back to the series, and the 1987 show went on to receive worldwide fame and acclaim for being just plain awesome.
Star Trek: The Next Generation received a rating of 8.7/10 on IMDB and a whopping 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. The show ran from 1987 to 1994 and was heavily praised by fans and critics alike.
With 7 seasons to its name, Star Trek: The Next Generation is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.
