Captain Jean-Luc Picard (/ʒɑːnˌluːk pᵻˌkɑːrd/) is a fictional character in the Star Trek: The Next Generation franchise. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis. He also made a cameo appearance in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which began its seven-year run during the sixth season of TNG. He is portrayed by actor Patrick Stewart.

Casting and design

After the success of the contemporary Star Trek feature films, a new television series featuring a new cast was announced on October 10, 1986.Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry named Picard for one or both of the twin brothers Auguste Piccard and Jean Felix Piccard, 20th-century Swiss scientists.

Patrick Stewart, who has a background of theatre at the Royal Shakespeare Company, was initially considered for the role of Data. Roddenberry did not want to cast Stewart as Picard, since he had envisioned an actor who was "masculine, virile, and had a lot of hair". Roddenberry's first choice was Stephen Macht, and it took "weeks of discussion" with Robert H. Justman, Rick Berman, and the casting director to convince him that "Stewart was the one they had been looking for to sit in the captain's chair"; Roddenberry agreed after auditioning every other candidate for the role. Stewart himself was uncertain why the producers would cast "a middle-aged bald English Shakespearean actor" as captain of the Enterprise. He had his toupee delivered from London to meet with Paramount executives but Roddenberry ordered Stewart to remove the "awful looking" hairpiece. His stentorian voice impressed the executives, who immediately approved the casting. Roddenberry sent Stewart C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels, saying the Picard character was based on Hornblower, but Stewart was already familiar with Hornblower, having read the books as a teenager.