Posted in: Movies, Paramount Pictures, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: patrick stewart, star trek, Star Trek Picard, Star Trek: Nemesis, Star Trek: The Next Generation, tom hardy

Star Trek: Patrick Stewart Glad Tom Hardy Has "Proven Me So Wrong"

While promoting his memoir, Sir Patrick Stewart shared his thoughts on Shinzon actor Tom Hardy from 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis.

Sir Patrick Stewart can have a good laugh nowadays when it comes to his time on Star Trek: The Next Generation. From his near-meltdown on the set during the filming of season one, the veteran actor on stage and screen wrapped his 10th and possibly final season as his first major signature role as Jean-Luc Picard, having finished his run on the legacy spinoff series Picard on Paramount+ ending with season three that featured a reunion of his TNG cast. While promoting his latest memoir, Making It So, Jean-Luc's signature catchphrase, Stewart reflected on the fourth and final TNG film in 2002's Nemesis, which saw a young up-and-coming talent in Tom Hardy play the antagonist, his younger clone in the Reman, Shinzon.

Patrick Stewart Reflects Tom Hardy's Behavior on Star Trek: Nemesis Set

"And 'Nemesis,' which came out in 2002, was particularly weak," Stewart wrote (via Insider). "I didn't have a single exciting scene to play, and the actor who portrayed the movie's villain, Shinzon, was an odd, solitary young man from London. His name was Tom Hardy." The actor didn't think much of his co-star's decision to distance himself away from the cast on set. "Tom wouldn't engage with any of us on a social level. Never said, 'Good morning,' never said, 'Goodnight,' and spent the hours he wasn't needed on set in his trailer with his girlfriend. He was by no means hostile — it was just challenging to establish any rapport with him."

The maligned Nemesis marked the unexpected end of the TNG era due to its box-office performance. Worf (Michael Dorn) would normally share time on Deep Space Nine as the films always found a convenient way for the character to be rewritten back into the TNG narrative despite his reassignment. By the time of Nemesis, DS9 already ended. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Troi (Marina Sirtis) would also get married and would mark the last time all the major cast reunited on screen with Wil Wheaton's (Wesley Crusher) brief cameo. The major casualty was the death of Data (Brent Spiner), but the crew's discovery of another doppelganger in B4 lessens the impact a bit.

While Stewart was in the middle of another blossoming Marvel franchise in Fox's X-Men, he didn't know much of Hardy's future. "On the evening Tom wrapped his role, he characteristically left without ceremony or niceties, simply walking out of the door," he wrote. "As it closed, I said quietly to Brent and Jonathan, 'And there goes someone I think we shall never hear of again.' It gives me nothing but pleasure that Tom has proven me so wrong." Hardy's work elevated in part from his frequent collaborations with director Christopher Nolan vaulted him to superstardom that includes leading 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road, 2012's The Dark Knight Rises, and even led the Sony Marvel Venom film franchise. Making It So is available at stores.

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