Patrick Stewart says his agent thought 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' would only last 6 months: 'You cannot revive an iconic show'

• Patrick Stewart told "The Late Late Show" that he didn't think he would be in "Star Trek" for long.
• He said his agent told him that "Star Trek: The Next Generation" would only last six months.

The "Star Trek" legend Sir Patrick Stewart said that he originally thought he would be playing Jean-Luc Picard for six months when he took on the role.

Stewart has played the character in numerous series and movies across 35 years, beginning with the 1987 series "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

Since 2020, the 82-year-old actor has starred in his own spinoff show featuring a much older Picard, which just aired its third and final season.

Stewart told "The Late Late Show with James Corden" on Wednesday that he was reluctant to star in "The Next Generation" because he had to sign a six-year contract.

"I couldn't accept what it was I'd taken on," Stewart said. "I had one or two connections in TV and I said, 'What should I do? I just learned that I had to sign a six-year contract.' There was a list of plays I had to do. Shakespeare lined up and I said, 'I can't do this.'"

The English actor continued: "My agent said, 'Look, you know you cannot revive an iconic show. You cannot. It's not going to work, so just come over here. Do a dozen episodes, maybe less, and make some money for the first time in your life and go home.' That was the prediction for me — six months, no more."

During an appearance on "The Graham Norton Show" in 2020, the "X-Men" star said that he was going to turn down the opportunity to reprise his role in "Picard" because he had publicly said he wouldn't return as the character.

"I took the meeting with four very, very distinguished people, and I didn't want to just say, 'No, pass.' I don't do that anymore. So I went to the meeting in order to explain to them face-to-face why I couldn't do it... and then," Stewart said, implying that they were able to persuade him to change his mind.

On "The Late Late Show," Stewart said that real-life plane captains began inviting him into the cockpit on flights after he became famous for playing a spaceship captain.

"At the beginning, I was continually being invited onto the flight deck once the plane was in the air and flying," Stewart said. "It happened once that I was at the controls and you're not going to believe this… I was on the flight deck of Concorde and what I did was press the two middle buttons of the four buttons that activated the engines into supersonic."

The British Airways Concorde is a Franco-British supersonic plane from the 20th century.

All three seasons of "Star Trek: Picard" are available to stream on Paramount+.