Patrick Stewart admits the first season of Star Trek: Picard was a period of adjustment for him. Stewart originated the role of starship captain Jean-Luc Picard in the 1987-1994 series Star Trek: The Next Generation. For several years after, Stewart continued to play Picard across several other projects within the franchise, with his final performance (at the time) coming in the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis. To this day, Picard remains among fans' top Star Trek characters and has even become something of a meme in the process.
Fans were overjoyed to learn Stewart would once again play Picard for a new CBS All Access Star Trek series, and after two years of waiting, Star Trek: Picard arrived earlier this year. Picking up with Picard in the latter years of his life, the series sought to both tell a new story while including plenty of nostalgia for returning fans. Overall, the reception to the first season of Picard was positive, though some fans had issues with the pacing and certain story developments. Nevertheless, Picard will return for a second season.
During the recent Star Trek Universe Comic-Con@Home panel, Stewart spoke about how the first season of Picard went for him. Unsurprisingly, Stewart had a bit of an adjustment period to get through when it came to his new cast and crew members. As he explained:
For me, however, it was a case of, 'I'm sorry, what's your name? You are who? And you're playing what?' Because we had a brand new team. So, for me, a lot of the first half of the first season was literally about getting to know the people that I was working with.
Stewart's The Next Generation co-star Marina Sirtis also teased him for not remembering people's names, which he took in stride, saying, "I learned their first names!" It's understandable that being surrounded by new co-workers would make for quite the adjustment, though it's safe to say there were other pieces Stewart struggled with. The actor previously spoke about the decision to have Picard swear in the series, which came as quite a shock. Still, it'll be interesting to see how Stewart's performance changes (if at all) going into Picard season 2 now that he's become accustomed to this new series.
At the same time, Picard season 2 promises to hold even more shake-ups for the character thanks to how things went down in the final episodes. All throughout season 1, Picard was grappling with a fatal illness that ended up killing him near the end. However, Picard's consciousness was then transferred into a new synthetic body (the "golem"), which will allow him to live on for even more adventures. This presents both a new situation for Picard the character, as well as Stewart the actor. Now that the initial growing pains are out of the way, perhaps Picard can truly flourish in its second go-around.
Source: Star Trek Universe/Comic-Con@Home