I had come to the point when I realized it was unlikely that my film career was going to move beyond a certain level of role. And I was - because I had graphic instances of it - handicapped by the success of Star Trek. A director would say 'I don't want Jean-Luc Picard in my movie' - and this was compounded by X-Men as well.

I certainly wanted to maintain some sense of mystery about Picard and that's why we never allowed certain situations to fully evolve like the relationship between Picard and Beverly Crusher.