Patrick Stewart has reflected on his decades-long acting career, including working with a young Tom Hardy on Star Trek: Nemesis.
The veteran actor, 83, first joined the popular sci-fi franchise as Captain Jean Luc Picard in the 1987 debut episode of the seven-season series Star Trek: The Next Generation. He’s since reprised his role in several different Star Trek movies and TV shows and most recently fronted the series Star Trek: Picard.
Reminiscing about his iconic role in his first memoir, Making It So – released on Tuesday (3 October) – Stewart recalled shooting the “particularly weak” 2002 film, Nemesis.
“I didn’t have a single exciting scene to play,” Stewart wrote, according to Insider, “and the actor who portrayed the movie’s villain, Shinzon, was an odd, solitary young man from London. His name was Tom Hardy”.
Hardy, 46, made his first and only Star Trek appearance in Nemesis, aged 24, when he played Picard’s villainous clone Shinzon.
“Tom wouldn’t engage with any of us on a social level,” Stewart said. “Never said, ‘Good morning,’ never said, ‘Goodnight,’ and spent the hours he wasn't needed on set in his trailer with his girlfriend.”
Clarifying that Hardy “was by no means hostile”, Stewart added: “It was just challenging to establish any rapport with him.”
The X-Men actor further admitted that he didn’t ever expect to hear of Hardy again.
Patrick Stewart and Tom Hardy— (Getty Images)
“On the evening Tom wrapped his role, he characteristically left without ceremony or niceties, simply walking out of the door,” Stewart remembered. “As it closed, I said quietly to Brent [Spiner] and Jonathan [Frakes], ‘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,” he added.
The Independent has contacted Hardy’s representative for comment.
Hardy, of course, has gone on to become a huge name in Hollywood, starring in several high-profile titles, such as Peaky Blinders, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises and Venom, among numerous others.
Stewart wrapped the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard in April. Picking up 18 years after the events of Nemesis, the show focuses on retired admiral Jean-Luc Picard. As he’s still mourning the death of Lieutenant Commander Data (Brent Spiner), he is also preparing to step into the next chapter of his life.
Making It So: A Memoir is out now.
