When TV Guide Magazine, TV Insider’s print partner, talked with Sir Patrick Stewart for Star Trek‘s 60th anniversary earlier this year, no one could have predicted it would be one of his final interviews. The beloved Next Generation and Picard star died on October 28 at the age of 86. In our talk with him, published just before his 86th birthday in July 2026, Stewart said he would never retire from acting. “I’ll always and forever be an actor,” he said.
Stewart’s final interview can be read here and in TV Guide Magazine’s Star Trek: The Captains Special Issue.
In discussion with Ian Spelling, Stewart was reflecting on his recent slate of work, which included narrating a Shakespeare sonnets project, voiceover, and reprising his iconic X-Men role of Professor Charles Xavier in Avengers: Doomsday. The Marvel movie, in theaters December 18, is now his final film. Stewart told us that while he was working less frequently, it didn’t mean he was stepping away from the business.
“As any actor my age will tell you, there are fewer and fewer available roles as we get older,” Stewart said. “That being said, I still continue to receive interesting offers and I love being challenged by new work, like voicing a pig’s head in Riz Ahmed‘s brilliant new series Bait. I can’t imagine ever officially ‘retiring.’ I’ll always and forever be an actor.”
Stewart also named what he believed to be the most important role of his decades-long career: Star Trek‘s Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
TV Guide Magazine
“Without question, Jean-Luc is the most significant role of my career,” Stewart told us. “And I will be forever grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of what is now such a historic franchise.”
The X-Men star said that the “enduring power of Star Trek and its values continues to reach new generations.” Because of that, he said, “I’ll always cheer on new series and new adaptations of this story.”
“Having fresh voices to tell these new stories is critical,” Stewart noted, “and I’m thrilled any time I get to meet a new member of the Star Trek ‘tribe.’”
Stewart’s death was announced by his longtime spokesperson, Kelly Bush Novak, on October 29. She said that he died after “a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.”
“He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter, and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all,” Bush Novak said. “We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace.”
His death was announced on Stewart’s official Instagram page. The caption said, “In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund and Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources.”
Stewart is survived by his wife, Sunny Ozell, and his two children, Daniel and Sophie Stewart, whom he shared with his first wife, Sheila Falconer.
