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Posted in: Star Trek, TV | Tagged: Making It So, patrick stewart, Picard, Star Trek Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Patrick Stewart on How Close Picard Came to Having Hair
Sir Patrick Stewart reflects on having his hairpiece flown out for his audition as Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
One of the biggest appeals of attending fan conventions is hearing stories from the presiding guests, and some of the most intriguing comes from the realm of Star Trek. When The Next Generation premiered in 1987, there was serious pressure for the spinoff to succeed as the franchise's first spinoff from The Original Series – treading into the uncertain frontier of syndicated television, not to mention the early on-set issues. Some of those stories are popping up again with star Sir Patrick Stewart's latest memoir Making It So. There's no secret creator Gene Roddenberry wasn't initially a fan of Stewart's casting because of all things, the actor's baldness, and it wasn't until the intervention of his longtime collaborator in TOS executive producer Robert Justman who vouched for the British actor that finally won him over. At the very least, Stewart wore a wig as Captain Jean-Luc Picard to his audition.
Screengrab: ©1990 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
When Star Trek: The Next Generation Almost Featured Picard with Hair
"Right as I was boarding my plane at Heathrow, my London agent called Sheila at home and notified her that the Paramount people had been in touch, asking if I owned a hairpiece and, if I did, if could I bring it to the audition?" Stewart wrote in an excerpt via Insider. "Sheila diligently retrieved my 'audition wig' from its space in my wardrobe and boxed it up, whereupon a British Airways representative collected it and placed it on a later flight to Los Angeles. I do not know if my hairpiece flew first class. But by Sunday, it had arrived, and I drove back to LAX to retrieve it. It was packed in my briefcase when I drove to the Paramount Studios lot on Monday morning."
After the hairstylist removed his hairpiece, Stewart initially assumed the worst. "Shit, here comes the bad news," he wrote. "But all they did was thank me once more, wish me a good day, and take off. When the door closed, Joy began jumping up and down gleefully. 'You know why they did that?' she said. 'They wanted to see what you looked like without the hairpiece. And I think they liked what they saw!'" The rest is history as Stewart, who initially doubted TNG would last beyond a season, would proceed to do six more and four feature films before the Paramount+ spinoff Picard that wrapped after three seasons. Making It So is available.
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