Patrick Stewart Thought Tom Hardy Would Never Be Successful After They First Worked Together

Sir Patrick Stewart has earned his place among Hollywood's iconic talents with over seven decades of experience as an actor. To many, he's Captain Jean-Luc Picard from the Star Trek universe. But when he got to work with Tom Hardy, then an up-and-coming actor, in the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis, the veteran didn't exactly walk away impressed.

"Nemesis, which came out in 2002, was particularly weak," Stewart wrote in his new memoir Making It So. "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."

In the movie, Shinzon is a clone of Stewart's Picard. But despite this plot point, he and Hardy didn't exactly have a close working relationship.

"Tom wouldn't engage with any of us on a social level," Stewart wrote. "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," he clarified. "It was just challenging to establish any rapport with him."

That cold relationship continued up through the end of filming. Needless to say, Stewart wasn't impressed by what he saw, and thought Hardy's star would quickly burn out.

"On the evening Tom wrapped his role, he characteristically left without ceremony or niceties, simply walking out of the door," Stewart remembered. "As it closed, I said quietly to Brent [Spiner] and Jonathan [Frakes], 'And there goes someone I think we shall never hear of again.'"

Of course, Stewart would go on to eat his words. Hardy has since starred in hit movies like Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Dunkirk, and earned an Oscar nomination for his role in The Revenant. "It gives me nothing but pleasure that Tom has proven me so wrong," he admitted.

Hopefully, if they get the chance to work together again, they'll have a much smoother experience with each other behind the scenes.