Star Trek's Patrick Stewart Cements His Legacy at Chinese Theater

Patrick Stewart commemorated his return as Star Trek: The Next Generation's Jean-Luc Picard by making his mark on the famous cement outside of the TCL Chinese Theatre. Ahead of the Hollywood premiere of Star Trek: Picard on Monday, Stewart was honored with a ceremony during which he signed his name and dipped his hands into the cement outside of the Chinese Theatre. His Star Trek: The Next Generation co-stars LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis, and Gates McFadden were in attendance for the event, as well as executive producer Rick Berman. Spiner and Sirtis reunite with Stewart in Picard, reprising their respective Next Generation roles as Data and Deanna Troi.

"I'm still not really believing any of it," Stewart said (via local CBS affiliate CBSLA). "Any moment now somebody will say, `Patrick, Patrick, get up, you're dreaming again."

Stewart played Picard through seven seasons of The Next Generation and four Star Trek films: Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis. Stewart is also known in Hollywood for playing Professor X in five films in the X-Men movies franchise: X-Men, X2: X-Men United, The Last Stand, Days of Future Past, and Logan.

In Picard, Stewart continues the story of the Enterprise captain 20 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. The CBS All Access series has already been renewed for its second season.

"The energy and excitement around the premiere of Star Trek: Picard has reached a magnitude greater than all of us at CBS All Access could have hoped for," said Julie McNamara, Executive Vice President, Original Content, CBS All Access in a press release. "We're thrilled to announce plans for a second season before the series' debut, and we are confident that Star Trek fans and new viewers alike will be captured by the stellar cast and creative team's meticulously crafted story when it premieres on Jan. 23."

Stewart's final outing as Professor X in Logan helped convince him to return as Picard, something he'd been determined not to do for many years. "Hugh [Jackman] and I were so thrilled when the last thing we did for X-Men was Logan," he says. "It was the best X-Men experience we both had, because we were the same characters but their world had been blown apart... Next Generation didn't end like that. In fact, our last movie, Nemesis, was pretty weak."

Star Trek: Picard premieres on CBS All Access on January 23rd.