Gates McFadden Says Patrick Stewart’s Picard Gave the World Hope

Star Trek News · Edition of Tuesday 3 November 2026 · covering 27 October–3 November

Gates McFadden has written a moving tribute to Sir Patrick Stewart, saying his Captain Picard gave people hope around the world, and tonight London’s West End will dim its lights in his memory. Elsewhere this week, every Star Trek film has gone free to stream in the US for November, and IDW is collecting its Starfleet Academy comic ahead of the show’s final season.

The Star Trek News That Matters

Update: Gates McFadden leads the Star Trek tributes to Sir Patrick Stewart, as the West End dims its lights tonight

• What is new: Since our tribute to Sir Patrick last week, Gates McFadden, Dr Beverly Crusher for more than 30 years, has written a personal tribute for Variety, published on Monday 2 November. StarTrek.com published its own farewell on Friday 30 October
• The Star Trek family: William Shatner said “Captain Picard stood for the best of us, and so did the man who played him”, Wil Wheaton wrote “Godspeed, Captain”, and Jonathan Frakes said there was no one he had acted with or directed more often than his “late great friend”
• Tonight in London: West End theatres will dim their lights for two minutes at 7pm tonight, Tuesday 3 November, the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre announced
• Where to watch in the UK: Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard stream on Paramount+. The Next Generation episode “Attached”, a Picard and Crusher story, is on Sky Mix at 7pm tonight

McFadden’s tribute is about leadership as much as acting. “Not only was he the captain of the Enterprise crew, he seems to have been everyone’s captain because of how he walked in the world,” she wrote. Picard, she said, was “the antithesis of many of our leaders today”, and she ended simply: “Jean-Luc gave us hope.” She also named his Shylock in The Merchant of Venice as perhaps her favourite of his stage performances.

That love of the stage is why tonight matters. Hannah Essex of the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre called him “one of the greatest stage actors this country has ever seen”. The lights go down at exactly the moment “Attached” starts on Sky Mix, which is our Star Trek pick for tonight. His home town of Mirfield has already lit candles and lowered its flag for him, and his final screen role, in Avengers: Doomsday, is still to come in December.

All 13 Star Trek films are free to stream on Pluto TV in the US this November

• New development: From Sunday 1 November, every Star Trek feature film, from Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) to Star Trek Beyond (2016), is streaming free with adverts on Pluto TV in the US, Screen Rant reported
• How long: It is a limited run for November, part of Pluto TV’s celebration of Star Trek’s 60th anniversary
• The films: Six with the original crew, four with The Next Generation crew and three in the Kelvin timeline with Chris Pine
• Where to watch in the UK: The free Pluto TV run has been announced for the US only, and a UK run has not been confirmed. In the UK, the films are available to buy or rent digitally

It is a generous way to mark the anniversary, and it lands in a week when many fans want to see Picard again in First Contact and Generations. It is a pity UK viewers are not included. The films are also the only big-screen Trek for now: Paramount’s next film, from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, is still being written and has no title, cast or release date. If you are starting a rewatch, our Star Trek watch order shows where everything streams in the UK, and the documentary The Sixty-Year Mission tells the story behind it all.

IDW collects Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Lost Contact ahead of the show’s final season

• New development: IDW Publishing will release all five issues of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Lost Contact in one trade paperback on Wednesday 27 January 2027, Collider reported on Monday 2 November
• The story: Cadets Caleb, Genesis, Jay-Den, Kyle and Tarima go on what should be a routine mission to an uninhabited planet, until a disaster cuts them off from their instructors and they meet strange new life
• The team: Written by Layne Morgan (Legacies), with art by newcomer Corali Espuna
• UK release detail: 27 January 2027 is IDW’s date for comic shops. A UK date has not yet been confirmed. Season one of Starfleet Academy streams on Paramount+ in the UK, with the second and final season due in March 2027

The timing makes sense. The collection arrives about six weeks before the Academy’s final term begins on screen, and it is a handy catch-up for anyone who missed the single issues. Karim Diané has already promised the last season won’t tone down its gay storylines, and it joins a busy run of IDW Star Trek comics, including Star Trek: Zero Point and Gates McFadden’s own Star Trek: Crusher.

Which Picard moment will you be watching again this week?