(upbeat energetic music)
- Thank you for not trying to talk me out of all this.
- (laughs) Believe me, I know better.
- [Hector] What would you say is the biggest difference
between the last time fans saw these characters
and when they see them again in "Picard."
Other than, you know, I blew up.
- Right, you know--
- 15 pounds.
(everyone laughs)
- Well, I don't appear to be dead anymore.
(Marina laughs)
- [Brent] That probably the biggest difference.
- [Hector] Were you surprised with what the writers
and producers came up with?
- To be honest, it's the fans
that speculate about what's happened to the characters.
You know, once we wrapped, done.
- And it's been a number of years.
So, you know, been speculating about other things.
- I'm surprised she's not under the grass,
my character.
Or your character especially.
I mean, at least
we didn't have to all come on with our walkers.
(Hector laughs)
- [Hector] I would love to know, how did you find
your new voices?
Jonathan, you gave some great advice.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, you already heard this, I was terrified.
Because when the first script came out,
that was the one thing that hung me up the most,
was the voice,
I could not hear Seven's voice anywhere in this.
And I was really starting to panic.
He had already finished shooting his first episode.
So he had already gone through all this himself.
And so he was a perfect resource for me.
- [Johnathan] I said have a couple of drinks,
you'll be fine.
(Johnathan and Jeri laughs)
- He came over and I made lunch,
and we read through the scenes for a couple hours,
and he finally after like two hours,
just said, "Okay, how about this, try this."
And he threw out this very simple thing.
And I said okay, how about if
it's conscious choice on her part.
She makes a decision to sound and be as human as possible,
because story points we can't tell you.
- [Hector] Story points, yeah.
- Story point.
- And that was just like a light switch going off.
That's what I needed to make it make sense
for me as an actor.
- It was tricky 'cause you know the last time you saw me,
you were much more human the last time they saw you.
In my earlier incarnation,
I relied a lot on my costume to give me that.
So, I just went really deep inside,
and tried to find who I was today
and how that translated to that.
But being on set, and being there the first day,
with all the homework I had done, it just clicked.
- The ethos reminds the same.
I mean, Picard is still Picard, without a doubt.
But, actually, with doubts.
(laughs) I would say, Picard, with doubts.
And is kinda struggling with mortality
and struggling with things we don't really don't get to see
that much on television generally.
We don't get to see people dealing with age
over this long term a story.
And that's really exciting.
So it's just kinda this revisiting a darker picture.
There's still elements to Utopia.
But Utopia's no place.
- [Hector] Your first day back filming
"Star Trek: Picard."
Your first day, filming your first scene,
what kind of memories
or feelings surfaced from the first time
you played these characters on "The Next Generation"?
- Bloody hell, I have to suck my stomach in again all day.
(Brent laughs)
- [Brent] I gotta wear this stuff again,
can't they CGI the makeup?
Why do I have to do this?
- [Hector] So, I just said a second ago,
I'm a huge Trekkie.
I also love
all of the extra stuff involved in the franchise.
The novels, the comic books.
A question to you, did you guys look at any of those
pieces of works?
Something like "Star Trek: Countdown" which I loved.
As sort of like a springboard
for what the story could be in "Picard."
- Well, we did, because Kirsten Beyer,
who has written many of the novels,
and has been our queen of all of those things,
actually overseas all of them,
as one of the co-creators of "Picard".
So, having her voice involved,
I mean, I think it all started with an idea
maybe the two of you had for doing a short.
- Yeah, but even with "Countdown", Mike Johnson,
who did the "Nero Countdown"
before we launched the 2009 movie,
is now the person who wrote the "Picard Countdown."
So he's been in the family for a long time,
and there's real continuity there, which is awesome
and I think we look at it all as a great opportunity
to build in the continuity of these particular timelines.
There's really no form that we can't expand the story in.
- [Hector] Hugh and Seven have had
such huge impacts on "Star Trek" fans.
They're very important characters
to so many, so many people.
What is the one thing
that you're most excited for those fans to see
in "Star Trek: Picard"?
- Hmm - Oh wow.
- That's a really good question.
- Do you know I've never had that question.
That was really impressive.
Let's think, she's not in a cat suit that's pretty cool.
(Hector and Jeri laugh)
- I'm excited for them to see my reunion with Picard, yeah.
- [Jeri and Hector] Yes.
- [Hector] Those pictures just came out.
- [Jeri] It's gonna be so cool.
- That picture and I've been waiting for that to come out
'cause I've been dying to post something about that day
because it was pretty epic for me.
And I'm really excited about that particular episode,
in which we, well, we meet up.
- [Hector] That reunion, yeah, you guys can't say anything.
- It's gonna be, gonna be
very emotional. - It's beautiful.
It's beautiful.
(intense energetic music)
(cheerful music)