'Picard' blasts off on its last mission

When Patrick Stewart was first offered the role of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in a "Star Trek" adventure, he had no clue what that was. He had to ask his children.

"I had to turn to my kids ... and say, 'Kids, kids. I think you watch "Star Trek." Tell me about it. What was it? Did you like it? Was it any good at all?' And, of course, they raved about it."

His agent told him that "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry wanted to set up a meeting. The agent was very impressed by the request, but it meant little to Stewart.

"I did not even recall the name Gene Roddenberry," he said. "So I had a lot to catch up on."

It was 1987 when he seized command of the USS Enterprise for "Star Trek: The Next Generation." And now he's back at it on "Star Trek: Picard," which has returned to Paramount Plus for its third and final season.

Stewart wasn't sure that he wanted to return to the character for this final season.

"The most important thing for me was that it should not just simply look like a three-series reunion, because that would just simply be stepping back," he said.

"I felt it very important that we put a lot of distance between 'Next Generation' and what we are seeking to do here in this," he said at the time.

That attitude hasn't changed.

"I had lived nearly 35 years since I first put on the captain's uniform," he said. "And there is no doubt that in that time, the world has changed. But I have changed, too. I'm not the same person that I was then.

"And I wanted the series to show the impact of those years that had passed and how much one might change — and whether fears become greater or less. Right now, about the condition of the world, my fears are high and full of anxiety. So I wanted that to be incorporated."

The fears and anxieties of today might be part of the substructure of Season 3, but the series remains true to the original "Star Trek" ethos, said executive producer Alex Kurtzman.

Stewart, 82, said he doesn't mind portraying an aging Picard.

As actors, "we are essentially always examining the inside of ourselves. We ask questions not only about the character, but what's in here," he said, pointing to his heart.

"Acting is the only way I've discovered to fully express myself. ... As a very inarticulate teenager, I found that acting gave me an opportunity to say things about myself, about the world and about my life which I know I could not have said myself."

Stewart credits the positive values of the "Star Trek" saga for its success.