Patrick Stewart's 5 Best Non-Star Trek Performances, Ranked

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For millions of fans around the world, Patrick Stewart will always be Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise on "Star Trek: The Next Generation." But the esteemed English actor, who passed away at the age of 86, leaves behind a legacy bigger than hundreds of hours of brilliant and beautiful science fiction. Stewart's career is one with many stories: a veteran of the stage, who became a reliable character actor, who became an unlikely leading man, who became an equally unlikely comedic powerhouse, who became a symbol of gravitas whose presence could lend credence and weight to any project. 

So filling a list with his best work outside of Picard is a deceptively tricky task. How does one even begin to choose? 

While we will never forget his greatest "Star Trek" moments, Patrick Stewart was the rare actor who was an icon across genres, with multiple characters that will forever occupy the corners of our mind. This list is not a comprehensive look at his work outside of the Enterprise, but it is a reminder of his multitudes, and his lasting contributions to art and culture. 

5. American Dad

Patrick Stewart is often thought of as a pretty serious actor. And why not? He's great at it. He's a big reason why the "X-Men" movies were so pivotal within the superhero genre, as he brought a real gravitas to the role of Charles Xavier. But when Stewart got the chance to be funny, he was extremely funny. That was never more apparent than when he was on "American Dad."

The animated show proved that Stewart was an underrated comedic genius. As Avery Bullock, the Deputy Director of the CIA, this classically trained actor got to cut loose, saying and doing some of the most absurd things imaginable. That makes sense, given that this show hails from the mind of "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane. It's one thing to have MacFarlane say crazy stuff as Stan or Roger. It's another thing to get Patrick f*****g Stewart to say lines like "We're doing cocaine and shooting guns," or "I tapped her like a pony keg, knocked her around so much I lost my security deposit."

Stewart didn't disguise his voice and Avery even looks a great deal like him. The real genius of it all is that we know damn well who is behind the character. Stewart seemed to know that and played it up, going extra hard on the most insane lines.

We were lucky enough to get 125 episodes of this show featuring Avery Bullock. Of those 125 episodes, Stewart was arguably the best part of most of them. He fully committed to the bit, every time. (Ryan Scott)

4. A Christmas Carol

Patrick Stewart won a great deal of acclaim for his one-man performance of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," which enjoyed successful runs on both Broadway and West End stages. Naturally, when the opportunity came to bring his Ebenezer Scrooge to the screen in a made-for-TV Hallmark movie in 1999, he dove in with the level of commitment and conviction you'd expect from such a committed actor. 

Unfortunately, the resulting film is far from the best adaptation of the classic story and you'll rarely find it recommended above other versions. But you don't watch this movie because it's the best take on Dickens — you watch it because you get to see the great Patrick Stewart play Scrooge. This may be a Hallmark movie, and that phrase should tell you a lot about its production quality, but Stewart brings every ounce of ferocity and (eventually) joy necessary to sell the character's yuletide transformation. As you watch it, you catch a small glimpse of the magic that made his one-man show such a sensation, and you can imagine him bringing that same gravitas to every other character. (Jacob Hall) 

3. Hamlet

Patrick Stewart was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company long before Hollywood came knocking. And while he was rightfully celebrated for his work in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "X-Men," Stewart's original home was on the stage, bringing life to the words of William Shakespeare. And while theater is ephemeral by its very nature, we are lucky that some of his work was filmed for future generations. 

While his menacing work in "Macbeth" is also exceptional (and the filmed version worth your time), most fans will point to Stewart's take on the usurper Claudius in "Hamlet" as an example of the actor at his best. While the original West End production came packaged with a powerful gimmick — David Tennant playing the title role meant the show was also a "Doctor Who"/"Star Trek" crossover of sorts — the beautiful result was that a bunch of geeks were exposed to some legendary Shakespeare. The filmed version, which originally aired on BBC Two in 2009, reveals why the show was such a big deal. 

What's most striking is how generous Stewart's performance as Claudius is, and how low-key. While Tennant plays Hamlet as a man on the verge of madness, a walking anxiety attack, Stewart is restrained and put-together, a sober-minded mastermind at odds with his nephew in every possible way. It's a performance that enhances Hamlet and never battles him for the spotlight. When the stoic facade does crumble, and Claudius confronts his sins, the patient slow burn of the performance pays off with astonishing gravity. (Jacob Hall) 

2. Green Room

Patrick Stewart was primarily known for playing stoic, heroic figures like Captain Jean-Luc Picard in multiple "Star Trek" projects and Professor Charles Xavier in the "X-Men" films. Yet one of his very best performances is one of his rare villainous turns. In Jeremy Saulnier's brutal punk rockers vs. neo-Nazis thriller "Green Room," Stewart plays Darcy Banker, the business-oriented skinhead Nazi leader at the center of the film's conflict, which sees a punk garage band trapped in a club surrounded by white supremacist skinheads ready to kill them.

While it would've been very easy for Stewart to play the character as an over-the-top, mustache-twirling baddie, the actor brings a chilling calmness to the part, making his villain sound almost reasonable, even kind of likable ... until he reveals just how deadly he really is. It's a subtle, scary performance made all the more memorable by the fact that we didn't often see Stewart play such evil characters. (Chris Evangelista)

1. Logan

"Someone will come along," Hugh Jackman's Wolverine unconvincingly states when they happen upon a young mutant in need early in James Mangold's "Logan." "Someone has come along," the elderly Charles Xavier responds, with the quiet conviction of someone with a lifetime of experience. Here's only one of the many grace notes afforded to the late, great Patrick Stewart throughout the 2017 neo-Western — perhaps the pinnacle of comic book movie storytelling for taking an X-Men character who looms inescapably large in our pop culture and bringing him down to earth.

The fact that Stewart plays this with the age-old weariness of a man who sees the end of the road rushing towards him will hit even harder now than it did upon release. Yes, this is as surly and decrepit and bitter as we've ever seen Professor X before, side effects of the neurological disease ravaging his super-powered mind. But Stewart, immensely gifted performer that he was, seems to relish every opportunity he has to disarm viewers and inject his quintessential sense of kindness, empathy, and paternal love.

Whether it be a light-hearted dinner conversation among newfound friends or the years of regret pouring out through tears as he emotionally connects with Logan one last time, Stewart plays to the rafters in as powerful, heartbreaking, yet sincere a performance as we've ever seen from him outside of "Star Trek." This film simply wouldn't work without Stewart at the top of his game. We're lucky to have seen it. (Jeremy Mathai)