# Sirtis says Star Trek cast helped Stewart relax and feel free

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/we-freed-patrick-stewart-star-treks-marina-sirtis-on-breaking-in-her-beloved-but-very-serious-co-star/
- Published: 2026-10-31T13:00:45+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-31T13:32:20+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/oct/31/patrick-stewart-star-trek-marina-sirtis-picard-shakespearean
- Topics: Americas, Art, Business, Celebrity, Companies, Culture, Entertainment, World

## Key points

- Sirtis says the cast helped Stewart loosen up on Star Trek.
- She credits his performance with giving the series greater depth.
- Stewart supported her during grief and advocated for her character.

## Summary

Marina Sirtis says she was initially intimidated by Patrick Stewart’s serious approach when they joined Star Trek: The Next Generation, but the younger cast helped him relax. She believes they gave him a freedom he had not felt before, while learning from his professionalism and talent; Stewart, in turn, brought Shakespearean gravitas to the series and helped give the franchise greater depth.

Sirtis recalls that Stewart’s friends feared the role could damage his career, but it became a major success, and he handled fame modestly. She says they shared difficult childhood experiences and that, after her husband died shortly before the pandemic, Stewart invited her to a socially distanced lunch while she was grieving alone in Los Angeles. He also asked for a film scene to be rewritten so Sirtis’s character could be present, saying he needed to meet her eyes to reach the emotions the scene required.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.