Star Trek: The Next Generations played a massive role in making Sir Patrick Stewart the star he is today. The role of Jean-Luc Picard established the X-Men star as a prominent face in modern pop culture. However, when Stewart was first slated to take over the lead role from the iconic William Shatner, it was met with skepticism from the Trekkies and even his The Next Generation co-actor.
Initially, the Trekkies were not ready to accept that their favorite Captain Kirk would be replaced in the new series. But it is interesting how another The Next Generation actor Michael Dorn was not convinced with Patrick Stewart taking over the popular franchise.
What did Michael Dorn say about Sir Patrick Stewart’s Star Trek casting?
William Shatner‘s performance as James Tiberius Kirk is hailed as iconic and is still discussed among pop culture enthusiasts. When Sir Patrick Stewart was cast to replace the stalwart, he was not a renowned personality. An old Los Angeles Times report even mentioned him as an “unknown British Shakespearean actor”.
While the chatter around Patrick Stewart‘s casting was prevalent among the masses, Star Trek: TNG actor Michael Dorn was also skeptical about Picard. Dorn, who played Wolf in The Next Generation, admitted in an interview with Hero Complex (via Giant Freakin Robot) that he initially hated the idea of Picard taking over Kirk until he finally worked with Stewart in the show.
I was skeptical when I met Patrick [Stewart] and saw him. I thought, ‘Well, this isn’t Kirk. This isn’t even near Kirk.’ But once I started acting with Patrick I knew immediately it was the perfect decision.
Like all the fans, it did not take long for Michael Dorn to understand that Patrick Stewart was a worthy successor to Shatner. After playing the role of Wolf in Star Trek: TNG and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Dorn reunited with the Logan actor in the third season of the Star Trek: Picard series after 2 decades.
Initially, Patrick Stewart had a problem with his Star Trek co-actors
Just like the fans did not have a good time accepting the transition from Shatner’s Captain Kirk to Stewart’s Picard, the latter also had a hard time adjusting to the atmosphere of the set. While Patrick Stewart had a disciplined theater background, his co-actors were not very serious on the set. Initially, this often led two parties to clash.
Sir Patrick Stewart wrote in his novel Making It So: A Memoir that once he was so infuriated with his non-serious co-actors that he gave them a good lecture. As per Entertainment Weekly, the English actor’s “intense and serious” experiences at the Royal Shakespeare Company did not let him be as free in his job as his other co-actors.
On the TNG set, I grew angry with the conduct of my peers, and that’s when I called that meeting in which I lectured the cast for goofing off and responded to Denise Crosby’s, ‘We’ve got to have some fun sometimes, Patrick,’ comment by saying, ‘We are not here, Denise, to have fun.’
Unfortunately, the lecture did not work for the now 83-year-old and only led him to leave the set feeling humiliated. But eventually, everything was sorted out and he realized that he “had failed to read the room” and should not have behaved the way he did.
As the seven seasons of TNG went on, Sir Patrick Stewart’s relationship with his co-stars kept improving, and they turned into excellent friends by the end.
Star Trek: The Next Generation can be streamed on Paramount+.
