Patrick Stewart’s New Memoir Reveals He Stormed Off The Set Of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Because There Was “Too Much Goofing Around”: “I Didn’t Enjoy Being Laughed At”

Patrick Stewart found it difficult transitioning from the Royal Shakespeare Company to the USS Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and is now pulling back the curtain on some behind-the-scenes drama he caused.

In an exclusive excerpt obtained by The Hollywood Reporter from his new book Making It So: A Memoir (which was released today), the English actor behind Enterprise captain Jean-Luc Picard noted that he “could be a severe bastard” when it came to dealing with his cast mates’ teasing and relaxed attitude.

“My castmates doubled over in laughter when they flubbed multiple takes and, in rehearsals, they sometimes ad-libbed things that weren’t in the script to make their lines funnier,” he wrote.

He then explained that his “experiences at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre had been intense and serious,”which caused him to grow “angry with the conduct of [his] peers” on the set of TNG while filming Season 1.

“And that’s when I called that meeting in which I lectured the cast for goofing off and responded to Denise Crosby’s, ‘We’ve got to have some fun sometimes, Patrick’ comment by saying, ‘We are not here, Denise, to have fun,'” he recalled.

While he admitted that “in retrospect, everyone, [him] included, finds this story hilarious,” it took some time for him to get to this point, as he “didn’t enjoy being laughed at.”

“I stormed off the set and into my trailer, slamming the door,” he revealed, noting that he was “so scared and outside of [his] comfort zone.”

However, his castmates Jonathan Frakes (Commander William Riker) and Brent Spiner met him at his trailer to make things right, with Spiner saying, “everything’s okay.”

“People respect you, but I think you misjudged the situation here,” he remembered Spiner telling him.

“He and Jonathan acknowledged that yes, there was too much goofing around and that it needed to be dialed back,” Stewart wrote. “But they also made it clear how off-putting it was — and not a case study in good leadership — for me to try to resolve the matter by lecturing and scolding the cast.”

He continued, “I had failed to read the room, imposing RSC behavior on people accustomed to the ways of episodic television — which was, after all, what we were shooting.”

Star Trek: The Next Generation is streaming on Pluto TV and Paramount+. Listen to Stewart narrate the excerpt from his memoir, which is out now, here.