Stewart On Working With The TNG Gang Again

Prior to tonight's release of the first Trek X footage,, Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) today revealed how it feels to be working with the Next Generation cast again.

"It has a slightly unnerving feeling, in a kind of Rip Van Winkle way; we've been asleep and suddenly woken up and nothing has changed," Stewart told Entertainment Tonight Online. "But the relationship between this whole group of people has simply deepened and strengthened over the years. That's the principle delight in being back - the ensemble work that goes on in these movies."

When asked about the ship involved in the film, the actor smiled as he explained why the crew are now based aboard the Enterprise-E. "The D of course no longer exists because Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) drove it. I mean I said to her 'Look, here are the keys, you know just take it easy.' But..." Stewart gestured with his hand to show the ship crashing to the ground, complete with realistic noises and sighed ruefully. But it seems one run of bad luck won't be enough to keep Troi from the helm, as the actor let slip that she will get to fly the ship in the new movie.

Aside from the ship, every Trek movie needs a villain. And in the tenth Trek film, Stewart explained that the Romulans will be significant. "The Romulans have been historically the bad guys in the Star Trek franchise; there've been others - Cardassians, Klingons - they were the bad guys once upon a time; but the Romulans have always been a major threat," he said. "For a while of course it was the Borg, we dealt with them. The Romulans have been a historical threat to the Federation for, 35 years. Must be more. However, if possible they are not the major threat in this movie, but they certainly are in the air."

Meanwhile, early reports from the Slanted Fedora convention in Boston this weekend claim that Kate Mulgrew (Kathry Janeway) mentioned she had finished filming her cameo in the movie before the convention.

More from Stewart, including a video clip featuring the actor can be found here at ET Online. The first footage from the movie will air as part of Entertainment Tonight this evening (story).

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