Picard's Ed Speleers Says Being In The Star Trek Universe Is 'Dangerous' For Him
It's an unfortunate fact, but despite claims of featuring a post-scarcity utopia, the world of "Star Trek" has always been a dangerous place. Even before the high-octane, naughty-language fields of endless death that debuted in the Alex Kurtzman era, inhabitants could find themselves assimilated by the Borg in "Next Generation," or caught up in the Dominion War of "Deep Space Nine," or accidentally turn on the holodeck in a week when the writers felt like being little stinkers and having a simulated Huckleberry Finn try to take over Voyager, or whatever.
Today's "Trek" feels more treacherous than ever. So far, "Star Trek: Picard" has featured a menagerie of hazards, from gruesome disrupter deaths to hospital bed poisonings, and an estimated 200% uptick in sword-based decapitations as compared to the source material. But the biggest threat to the crew might not be explosive decompression or cyborg fascists — it might just be the looming shadow of indolence.
At least that's what "Picard's" Ed Speleers is worried about: The potential for laziness that comes with an admittedly well-earned sense of accomplishment.
Picard's Ed Speleers isn't getting comfortable
Ed Speleers, who plays Jack (spoilers) Crusher on "Star Trek: Picard," has more than paid his dues as an actor. As a young man, he had the carrot of a "Harry Potter"-adjacent franchise dangled in front of him when he was cast as the titular character in "Eragon," only to have it snatched away when the movie, you know, turned out to be "Eragon." There's a decent lesson in this for any performer: Don't let yourself get comfortable. You never know what's going to work.
It's a lesson that doesn't seem to have been lost on Speleers, who discussed his approach to being cast on "Picard" in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. "I'm still having that moment, I think," he said. "I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that I've actually been in 'Star Trek,' which is a dangerous thing to me, because it means I could just become very lazy and rest on my laurels and be like, 'Oh, I've been on Star Trek. That's great.'"
In other words? Just because you get a dream gig doesn't mean you shouldn't boldly go and update your LinkedIn on a regular basis.