Category: Star Trek (franchise)

Actor Walter Koenig, best known for portraying Ensign Pavel Chekov in the original Star Trek series, dies at the age of 90. Already a busy young actor at the time he debuted in the second season of Star Trek, Koenig had already crossed paths with that show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, in an episode of Roddenberry’s prior military series, The Lieutenant, in 1964. Following his work on Star Trek’s second and third seasons, Koenig continued acting, but also took up writing, penning an episode of the 1970s animated Star Trek (while being the only main/recurring cast member not to reprise their role). Alongside his return to the role of Chekov in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, he released a first-person chronicle of the movie’s production, Chekov’s Enterprise; his first novel, Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot, followed in 1988. In the 1990s, he took on a recurring villainous role in Babylon 5, that of Psi Cop Bester, who made numerous appearances throughout the show’s five seasons (and nearly returned in the spinoff series Crusade). He would appear as Chekov through Star Trek: Generations, though he later made a few appearances in fan productions and played a surprise voice role in the final episode of Star Trek: Picard, all while appearing at conventions and in documentaries covering the Star Trek phenomenon.

Once billed by the American entertainment press as an “unknown British Shakespearean actor” when he was cast as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, actor Patrick Stewart dies at the age of 86. Prior to his starring role in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Next Generation theatrical movies, and Star Trek: Picard, Stewart had enjoyed an illustrious career on the British stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company since the 1960s, with his on-screen appearances dating back to roughly the same time, often in BBC presentations of stage plays, followed by appearances in prestigious productions such as I, Claudius and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in the 1970s. The 80s brought big-screen appearances in such films as Excalibur, David Lynch’s Dune, and Lifeforce, culminating in a stay in L.A. where he was spotted by producer Bob Justman, who was at the time assisting Gene Roddenberry in the pre-production of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The authority Stewart lent to Picard helped to legitimize the new Star Trek series and its subsequent spinoff movies. In the 1990s, Stewart landed the role of Professor Charles Xavier in the first X-Men movie, acting opposite his old friend Ian McKellen as Magneto and once again making the idea of a Marvel Comics-based movie franchise viable. Movie roles and even returns to television (Blunt Talk, Extras, The Eleventh Hour) followed, as did an eventual return to the Star Trek universe for three seasons of Star Trek: Picard. All the while, he used his visibility and his following to boost domestic violence awareness and prevention, among other causes. He received a knighthood in 2010.