Summary

Patrick Stewart thought Tom Hardy was an odd and solitary presence on the set of Star Trek: Nemesis, and didn’t think he fit in with the rest of the cast. Despite the disappointment of Star Trek: Nemesis, Tom Hardy went on to become a highly respected and successful actor in movies like Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. Patrick Stewart acknowledges Tom Hardy’s talent and success, even though he once thought they would never hear of him again after working on Star Trek: Nemesis.

Patrick Stewart shared his impressions of working with Tom Hardy, whom he recalled as “odd” and “solitary” on the set of Star Trek: Nemesis. Hardy played the villainous Shinzon, the evil clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, in the final Star Trek: The Next Generation movie, which was a bomb critically, at the box office, and with Star Trek fans. It seems Hardy left quite an impression on Patrick Stewart, who successfully reprised Admiral Jean-Luc Picard for 3 seasons of Star Trek: Picard nearly two decades after Nemesis’ failure.

Insider published an excerpt from Patrick Stewart’s autobiography, “Making It So: A Memoir”, where he spoke candidly about working with Tom Hardy in Star Trek: Nemesis, which ended the Star Trek: The Next Generation movie franchise. Read the excerpt below:

And ‘Nemesis,’ which came out in 2002, was particularly weak,” Stewart wrote. “I didn’t have a single exciting scene to play, and the actor who portrayed the movie’s villain, Shinzon, was an odd, solitary young man from London. His name was Tom Hardy.”
“Tom wouldn’t engage with any of us on a social level,” Stewart wrote. “Never said, ‘Good morning,’ never said, ‘Goodnight,’ and spent the hours he wasn’t needed on set in his trailer with his girlfriend.”
“He was by no means hostile — it was just challenging to establish any rapport with him,” the “X-Men” actor went on to write.
“On the evening Tom wrapped his role, he characteristically left without ceremony or niceties, simply walking out of the door,” Stewart writes. “As it closed, I said quietly to Brent and Jonathan, ‘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.”

Related: 8 Ways Star Trek Has Made Sure Nemesis No Longer Matters

Tom Hardy’s Evil Picard Clone Shinzon In Star Trek: Nemesis Explained

Tom Hardy’s role of Shinzon was an attempt by Star Trek: Nemesis to create a villain for Captain Picard to equal the enmity between Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Shinzon was a clone of Picard made by the Romulans, who discarded their creation and left him to die on the moon of Remus. But thanks to his innate leadership abilities inherited from Picard’s DNA, Shinzon rallied the Remans behind him. Together, they overthrew the Romulan government before Praetor Shinzon set his sights on destroying Picard and the United Federation of Planets. Shinzon hasn’t been referenced in a Star Trek TV show or movie since he perished at the end of Star Trek: Nemesis.

Tom Hardy was a young actor and a rising star when he took on the role of Captain Picard’s evil young clone. Despite Star Trek: Nemesis’ failure, and Patrick Stewart’s prediction that they “shall never hear of him again,” Hardy became a respected and in-demand actor thanks to leading roles in Inception, Mad Max: Fury Road, and as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. According to Patrick Stewart, Hardy was an outsider who didn’t gel with the close-knit cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but Star Trek: Nemesis also didn’t dim Tom Hardy’s star and his talent overcame his role in the biggest disappointment of the Star Trek movie franchise.

“Making It So: A Memoir” by Patrick Stewart is available in bookstores now.

Source: Insider