Updated

Updated · The Guardian · Oct 31

Marina Sirtis Mourns Patrick Stewart, Says Star Trek Was Transformed by His Gravitas for 7 Seasons

Updated

Updated · The Guardian · Oct 31

Marina Sirtis Mourns Patrick Stewart, Says Star Trek Was Transformed by His Gravitas for 7 Seasons

Q: What unseen moment made Patrick Stewart ask writers to replace Data with Deanna Troi in a crucial Star Trek scene?

It was an emotionally charged performance Patrick Stewart had just given in the film scene about Picard’s grief over his family, and he felt he needed to play the follow-up opposite Marina Sirtis’s Deanna Troi rather than Brent Spiner’s Data. Sirtis’s account points to the key reason: Stewart told the writers he needed to “look into her eyes” for the moment to work. In other words, after portraying Picard’s deep personal loss, he believed the next scene required a human, empathic exchange with Troi, not an interaction with Data. The anecdote has long been associated with *Star Trek Generations*, in which Picard learns that his brother and nephew have died in a fire. In the original setup, the scene was reportedly written for Data, but Stewart pushed for it to be rewritten so Troi would be there instead. Sirtis cited that as an example of both his instinct for emotional truth and his support for her as a fellow actor. So the “unseen moment” behind the rewrite was Stewart recognizing, after playing Picard’s raw grief, that the scene needed Troi’s presence and Sirtis’s eyes to carry the emotion convincingly.

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 31

Marina Sirtis said she stayed close to Patrick Stewart until his recent death and was saddened she never got to say goodbye as his health made phone calls difficult.
A month before Covid hit, Stewart invited Sirtis—newly widowed and isolated in Los Angeles—to socially distanced lunches, which she cited as proof of his kindness and loyalty.
Sirtis said Stewart’s seriousness initially intimidated the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast, but they loosened him up while learning from his professionalism and "insane talent."
Seven seasons on The Next Generation helped recast Stewart from an "unknown Shakespearean actor" into the captain who, in Sirtis’s view, gave Star Trek new depth and gravitas.
Their bond extended beyond the set: Stewart pushed to rewrite a film scene so Sirtis could play opposite him, and the pair even turned a 2018 Tottenham-Huddersfield match into a "Star Trek derby."