McFadden, Goldberg Remember Sir Patrick Stewart; Top Picard Moments

Posted in: Star Trek, TV | Tagged: star trek

McFadden, Goldberg Remember Sir Patrick Stewart; Top Picard Moments

Gates McFadden and Whoopi Goldberg on what Sir Patrick Stewart meant to them; Star Trek releases a look at Picard's greatest moments.

Published Wed, 04 Nov 2026 09:37:08 -0600
by Tom Chang
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Article Summary

• Star Trek honors Jean-Luc Picard with A Captain’s Legacy, a tribute video spanning TNG, Picard, and four films.
• Key Picard moments include Yesterday’s Enterprise, The Inner Light, Nemesis, and First Contact’s furious Borg reckoning.
• Gates McFadden remembers Sir Patrick Stewart as a principled leader whose Picard gave fans hope and heroism.
• Whoopi Goldberg salutes Stewart’s range, kindness, and lasting Picard legacy, calling the Star Trek icon irreplaceable.

When Sir Patrick Stewart was cast as Captain Jean-Luc Picard for Star Trek's first spinoff in The Next Generation, there were naturally doubts from fans and especially from within, as creator Gene Roddenberry wasn't initially sold on the classically trained product of the Royal Shakespeare Company, but executive producer Robert Justman, who Roddenberry worked with since The Original Series, doubled down as the British actor ended up playing his French captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise set 75 years after its predecessor. The rest, they say, is history. With Stewart's passing on October 28th, Star Trek released "A Captain's Legacy: Celebrating Sir Patrick Stewart," a near-half-hour compilation of his greatest performances across 10 seasons of television from TNG and Picard, and the four Paramount films Generations (1994), First Contact (1996), Insurrection (1998), and Nemesis (2002), reminding fans and the world how he was more than ready to sit in the captain's chair, delivering the intensity to match his bravado and gravitas needed.

Star Trek Celebrates Sir Patrick Stewart with a Tribute Video

Separated into chapters, the Picard compilation begins with season 3's Yesterday's Enterprise, where the captain prepares the crew in an alternate timeline to send the Enterprise-C back into a time rift to meet their destiny. The next is during Nemesis when Picard appeals to his clone, Shinzon's (Tom Hardy) sense of empathy to see if he can become a better man than his upbringing allows him to be. The next scene is a direct contrast to the calm and collected self during First Contact, where Picard flies into a vengeful rage against the Borg, the ones who robbed him of his individuality after being assimilated during season 3's The Best of Both Worlds, declaring, "I'll make them pay for what they've done" after already smashing his starship display case with the butt of his phaser rifle. After Lily (Alfre Woodard) states the obvious but calls him Ahab before walking off, Picard cites a passage from Moby Dick as his wisdom finds its way back. The next scene is from season 5 episode 25's Inner Light, Stewart's personal favorite TNG episode, where Picard is zapped with an alien probe to live out his life as someone else for an entire lifetime to what amounts to minutes on the Enterprise as he, as Kamin, tells his daughter Meribor (Jennifer Nash) the importance of living in the now, rather than worry about the future as their planet faces certain doom.

Adding to the round of tributes, TNG and Picard co-star Gates McFadden, who played Commander/Admiral Dr. Beverly Crusher, penned one for Variety in which she noted that one of the things she enjoyed about Stewart was the way he tackled death on stage and how it helped her visualize doing what he loved. He helped instill hope in others through Star Trek.

What struck me as I scrolled through the hundreds of tributes was how much we humans desire good leaders. How, if we respect someone, we will work hard for them because of their principles. We follow them, emulate them because they enlighten us. They give us hope. Their dedication to fairness and righteousness inspires us. We begin to believe there may be solutions to seemingly impossible problems. That was Jean-Luc Picard and the modus operandi of the crew who supported him. Of course, the vision itself was the collective vision of Gene Roddenberry and all the writers and producers of "Star Trek," but Patrick fulfilled that collective dream, our collective dream, by the way he acted the character of Picard and by how he carried himself in public. Patrick understood the need people have for heroes.

Whoopi Goldberg, who played the sagely near-immortal El-Aurian, Guinan, paid tribute on the ABC talk show The View, "On Friday, we lost a wonderful actor and great human being, this week, my friend, Sir Patrick Stewart. He passed away. We go way back, and I adored him. As a performer, he could do everything. He could do drama, science fiction, comedy, and of course, Shakespeare. We're going to miss his talent, miss his friendship, his kindness, and his humor. He is, in a word, irreplaceable…" before reflecting on the time on The View in 2020 when Stewart offered Goldberg an opportunity to reprise her role for Star Trek: Picard season 2, which she accepted. For more on Star Trek's highlights of Stewart, you can check out the entire video. You can also check out the other tributes here and here.

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