Truth be told, I don’t think Star Trek Nemesis is anyone’s favorite Star Trek movie. With a 36% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the 2002 film, which involves the crew trying to take over a Captain Picard clone called Shizon, is equally reviled among both franchise fans and critics.
In the past, the Star Trek film has been called out by several members of Star Trek The Next Generation cast. LeVar Burton admitted that Nemesis “sucked,” while Jonathan Frakes said in an interview with TrekMovie that he wished the original Star Trek characters got more screen time over Star Trek villain Shizon.
All in all, it’s clear Nemesis is far from the best movie in the Star Trek franchise. In fact, if you compared it to all the Star Trek movies in order, it’s probably the worst. And it looks like Jean-Luc Picard himself agrees with the sentiment, as he opened up about the film in his new memoir.
“Nemesis, which came out in 2002, was particularly weak,” Stewart writes in his book, which is entitled Making it So, per an excerpt from Insider. “I didn’t have a single exciting scene to play, and the actor who portrayed the movie’s villain, Shinzon, was an odd, solitary young man from London. His name was Tom Hardy.
According to the legendary Star Trek captain, it was difficult to build up a rapport with Hardy beyond the cameras. “Tom wouldn’t engage with any of us on a social level,” he explained. “Never said, ‘Good morning,’ never said, ‘Goodnight,’ and spent the hours he wasn’t needed on set in his trailer with his girlfriend. He was by no means hostile — it was just challenging to establish any rapport with him.”
As filming on the far-from-best science fiction movie came to an end, Stewart made a stark prediction about where Hardy’s career would go next — although he conceded he was more than a little off the mark.
“On the evening Tom wrapped his role, he characteristically left without ceremony or niceties, simply walking out of the door,” Stewart wrote. “As it closed, I said quietly to Brent and Jonathan, ‘And there goes someone I think we shall never hear of again.’ It gives me nothing but pleasure that Tom has proven me so wrong.”