Star Trek: Why Gene Roddenberry Disliked Patrick Stewart As Picard
Gene Roddenberry is responsible for one of the biggest science fiction shows to hit the small screen. Even today, his is legacy continuously expanded through new shows such as Strange New Worlds and Picard (which has just had its season three trailer released). Despite him creating the entire franchise, Roddenberry has had a few questionable moments of the years. During The Next Generation,, he made executive decisions and went over the writers' heads to include various elements, and take out a lot more. One such decision, which was thankfully overruled and ignored, was that Patrick Stewart should not play Picard. Today, this sounds like a ridiculous concept for a man whose face has become synonymous with the entire franchise.
Obviously not knowing how influential Stewart would become, and the great things he and his English classical background would bring to the show, Roddenberry was not keen on him after his audition. There was nothing wrong with his acting. Stewart was classically trained, with a vast amount of acting experience and a gravitas that only comes with projecting Shakespeare at theater. The issue, then, was that Roddenberry not only had a very particular vision for the universe of Star Trek, but also for the characters found within it.
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Roddenberry's clear vision built upon what he had created and set up in The Original Series. But thankfully, at the time of creating TNG, his influence over the show had diminished somewhat. He was still a vital part of the production, writing, and overall decision-making, but he did not hold total sway over who got cast. It was because of this that Stewart was cast as Picard, overruling
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