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Ian McKellen confesses he advised Patrick Stewart not to take Star Trek role

Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart at the UK premiere of 'Star Trek: Picard' in January 2020: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images
Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart at the UK premiere of 'Star Trek: Picard' in January 2020: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images

Ian McKellen has revealed he once advised Patrick Stewart not to take up the Star Trek role that made him an international star.

Stewart was primarily known as a London theatre actor when he was offered the part of Jean-Luc Picard, the captain of the USS Enterprise, in the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Speaking to The Guardian, for a celebration of Stewart’s life and career as he turns 80 years old, McKellen said he once insisted that the offer was a “risk”.

“He’s long forgiven me my advice not to risk a solid career on the British stage by falling for an uncertain future in Star Trek,” McKellen said. “How he got that job is a prime example of how luck can be a lady and it will be a riveting chapter in the memoir he must write.”

Stewart ended up playing Jean-Luc Picard for seven seasons of The Next Generation, before reprising the role in four feature films. This year he has returned to the role for the CBS/Amazon series Star Trek: Picard.

Stewart previously spoke about McKellen’s advice during an interview with This Morning in January.

“He was in Los Angeles at the time and I told him I had been offered this role in this series and he seriously warned me not to take the job because it wouldn’t be good for my career,” Stewart said. “That I was doing quite well in London in the theatre and I shouldn’t abandon myself to this. He has since admitted that he might have been wrong.”

McKellen and Stewart have been close friends for decades, working together on stage (in productions such as Waiting for Godot), on film (via the X-Men franchise) and on television.

In 2013, McKellen officiated the marriage of Stewart and his wife Sunny Ozell.