There are many famous “Star Trek” fans, with one of the most vocal being James McAvoy, who has a long-running passion for “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.
McAvoy got to step into the shoes of that show’s leading man, Patrick Stewart, when he took on the role of a younger version of Stewart’s Professor Charles X. Xavier in the “X-Men” films.
Turns out though, at one time, he had serious eyes on playing Stewart’s iconic Trek role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and actually pitched a project involving Picard’s days before the U.S.S. Enterprise.
Appearing on Happy Sad Confused podcast recently, and joking that “all I really want to do in my career is play young versions of Patrick [Stewart],” he subsequently revealed that they nearly made the project “Mutiny on the Stargazer” as a limited series:
“That was a whole idea I had I pitched to the Star Trek people as well, and we nearly did it…I had this whole story of a young Picard that I love. I pitched, it was like a one-off standalone season … when he took over as captain of the Stargazer and what actually happened, and the secret he’s been holding his entire career. I just pitched it to them, talking to them, and they were into it, but we had logistical issues that meant we couldn’t do it. But I love that story that I just got to bed and think about it at night”
Events of what happened on Picard’s stint on the Stargazer are referenced throughout the ‘Next Generation’ series, most notably in the first season episode “The Battle”.
In the same interview, McAvoy cites as personally preferring “X-Men: First Class” over “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” even as he says the latter is one of the greatest superhero films made.
