Patrick Stewart Led the Enterprise and the X-Men. His Final Film Opens December 18. Here Is Where to Stream Him.

Patrick Stewart, who died Wednesday, October 28, at his home in Los Angeles at 86, was a Shakespearean who became one of the most trusted voices in science fiction. He commanded the Enterprise for seven seasons and four films as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and he led the X-Men as Charles Xavier for more than two decades. The statement announcing his death said he had Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia, and that his wife, Sunny, was beside him.

He was born on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 and stayed until 1982, appearing in more than 60 of its productions. He was knighted in 2010 for services to drama. The statement put it simply: "His sonorous voice and singular talent will forever be synonymous with indelible performances in every genre."

There is one more performance to come. His final film role, as Xavier in Avengers: Doomsday, reaches US theaters on December 18. Here are his essential roles, with a full where-to-stream list at the end.

The Shakespearean at the movies: Excalibur and Dune

Film came second to the stage. John Boorman cast him as Leondegrance, Guinevere's father, in Excalibur (1981). Three years later David Lynch made him Gurney Halleck in Dune (1984), the Atreides weapons master who charges into battle carrying a pug. The pug is nowhere in Frank Herbert's novel, and it became a cult favorite anyway.

There is a small rhyme in the calendar: Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Three opens on December 18 too, the same day as Stewart's last film.

Make your tier list right here

Five Star Trek films, head-to-head. Tap the one you prefer and we will build your order, then label it S through D.

Which do you prefer?

Star Trek: First Contact 1996

VS

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan 1982

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The captain: The Next Generation and First Contact

Producer Robert H. Justman saw him at a literary reading at UCLA, and a bald stage actor from Yorkshire, 47 when the show premiered, became the captain of the new Star Trek. When a reporter joked that baldness would surely be cured by the 24th century, Gene Roddenberry answered: "In the 24th century, they wouldn't care." Star Trek: The Next Generation ran from 1987 to 1994, and Stewart gave the franchise a captain who reached for diplomacy before the phasers and made it look like strength.

Of his four films, Star Trek: First Contact (1996) is the one to watch. Jonathan Frakes directs, the Borg come back for the man they once assimilated, and Picard's calm finally cracks. His most quoted line, "The line must be drawn here!", comes in the scene where Alfre Woodard's Lily Sloane compares his war on the Borg to Ahab's hunt for the whale. Two years later Stewart played Ahab himself in the 1998 Moby Dick miniseries and was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

First Contact sits in S tier on our Star Trek movies ranked list. Generations lands in C, and Insurrection and Nemesis in D. He came back for three seasons of Star Trek: Picard from 2020 to 2023, the last of which reunited the Next Generation crew.

The professor: X-Men to Logan

He hesitated before signing on to a second franchise, but the chance to work with Bryan Singer won him over, and X-Men (2000) made him Charles Xavier. X2 (2003) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), in which he shares the role with James McAvoy, both sit in S tier on our X-Men movies ranked list.

The best of them is Logan (2017). James Mangold gives him a Charles past 90, hidden away in an abandoned smelting plant, whose seizures can freeze a room, and Stewart plays him funny, frightened and furious at once, opposite Hugh Jackman. He said it would be his last time in the role.

It was not. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) brought him into the MCU as another universe's Xavier, and Marvel confirmed in 2025 that Avengers: Doomsday would bring his original Xavier back alongside Ian McKellen's Magneto. He appears in the D23 trailer. Marvel's statement called him "a singular talent, a generous collaborator, and a true gentleman."

The surprises: Mel Brooks, a punk-rock siege and a pharaoh

He was funnier than his résumé suggests. Mel Brooks gave him the closing cameo as King Richard in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993). He voiced CIA boss Avery Bullock on American Dad! starting in 2005, narrated Seth MacFarlane's Ted (2012), and gave DreamWorks' The Prince of Egypt (1998) its Pharaoh Seti.

Then there is Green Room (2016). In Jeremy Saulnier's thriller he plays Darcy, the owner of a skinhead bar where a touring punk band walks in on a killing, and he is frightening precisely because he never seems to hurry. It is the best argument that he could have played villains for a living.

The last work

His final year was busy. In Bait, Riz Ahmed's Prime Video comedy, which premiered March 25, he voices a severed pig's head that Ahmed's struggling actor treats as confidant and critic. In The Sheep Detectives, which opened May 8, he voices Sir Ritchfield, one of a flock that turns detective after a mysterious incident on their farm, with Hugh Jackman as the shepherd who reads them detective novels.

Then comes Avengers: Doomsday, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. It opens in the UK on December 16 and in the US on December 18. See where its predecessors land on our Marvel movies ranked list.

Where to stream Patrick Stewart right now

US availability as of October 30, 2026, per JustWatch data on TMDB. Deals change often, so check before you settle in.

• Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard: Paramount+ (The Next Generation is also free with ads on Pluto TV)
• Star Trek: Generations, First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis: Paramount+ (Generations and First Contact are also free on Kanopy with a library card)
• X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Logan and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Disney+
• Green Room and The Prince of Egypt: Netflix
• The Sheep Detectives and Bait: Prime Video
• American Dad!: Hulu
• Robin Hood: Men in Tights: AMC+
• Dune (1984): free with ads on Tubi
• Excalibur (1981): free with ads on YouTube
• Ted (2012): digital rental only

Rank him yourself

Is Picard his greatest role, or is it the professor? Add the ones you have seen to a list on Shortlist and rank them head to head, two at a time, until the order sorts itself out. Our movie tier list guide shows how, and our TV show tier list has a spot waiting for The Next Generation.

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