Star Trek’s Ed Speleers Struggled Emotionally During His Picard Audition – Looper

Only after Ed Speleers was offered the part of Jack Crusher did the character’s full bio — and significance to the plot of Season 3 of “Picard” — become apparent. As fans of “Picard” will know by now, Jack isn’t just Beverly Crusher’s son, but the son of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, played, of course, by Patrick Stewart, the one actor without whom the show doesn’t happen. Jack is, it turns out, the offspring of the long, will-they-won’t-they romantic relationship between Captain Picard and Dr. Crusher on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” 

After accepting the part, Speleers was informed of this bit of background. “So I was like, ‘Oh, okay. That’s news.'” Meeting with showrunner Terry Matalas, Speleers was given the full scope of who his character is and the role he would be playing over the course of the season. Not only is the relationship between Picard and Jack quite awkward, even adversarial, but he is also the reason that the admiral is willing to risk the lives of all the crew of the U.S.S. Titan, rather than hand him over to the bounty hunters on the Shrike. 

It’s little wonder that the role has gotten inside Speleers like few others he’s played. “So, it just got hold of me in a way that perhaps other parts haven’t,” he said, “and it meant so much to me, and my young family.”