Where to Watch 12 of Patrick Stewart’s Greatest Performances

We lost one of the good ones this week in the late Sir Patrick Stewart. Most actors would do just about anything for one breakout role to define their careers, but Stewart somehow clinched a pair: Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor X — two of the most famous characters, well, ever. And despite returning to those parts repeatedly, Stewart refused to be defined only by them, often returning to the stage, where he took on some of the most-played characters in theater history and made them his own. Who else could embody Ebenezer Scrooge, Captain Ahab, and MacBeth with the gravitas he brought to them? And it’s important to note how much Stewart used his incredible pop culture power for good, actively fighting against domestic violence so no one would have to witness what he did as a child. Honor his memory by revisiting some of his most remarkable roles.

Dune (1984)

If you only know the story of Paul Atreides through the Timothée Chalamet version, you should check out the first time Hollywood tried to adapt the work of Frank Herbert, through the inimitable vision of David Lynch. Now, it’s not exactly known for its greatness. But it’s definitely unforgettable, a movie so bizarre that they actually handed out cheat sheets in theaters to help viewers try to track the characters. Stewart plays Gurney Halleck, a loyal aide to Leto Atreides and trainer of Paul (the part played by Josh Brolin the Chalamet films). For many people, it was the first time they saw Stewart on screen, a key stepping stone on his path to captaining a certain Federation starship a few years later. ➽ Streaming on VOD.

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-2023)

There was little reason to believe that the goodwill that had been built up through reruns of Star Trek and what became a shockingly robust blockbuster franchise in the ’80s would transfer to a new version with a new cast, but The Next Generation made good on the legacy of Gene Roddenberry’s series. It aired for over 175 episodes and launched its characters into four feature films (and even a reboot series around Picard himself in the 2020s). Literally none of that would happen without Patrick Stewart at the helm. He brings equal gravity and humanity to one of the most beloved characters of all time, finding both the qualities of leadership and vulnerability in every episode. Make it so. ➽ Streaming for free on Pluto.

L.A. Story (1991)

You think you can have zee duck? It’s little more than a cameo in Steve Martin’s love letter to the City of Angels, but Patrick Stewart makes it memorable as the maître d’ of L’idiot, a place that serves a side of pretension with every entrée. Stewart completely understands the assignment: skewering L.A. snobbery, especially in the culinary scene, and getting big laughs while he does it. It’s a perfect bit of casting, one that leans into Stewart’s refined elegance in a way that weaponizes his voice and dignity for comedy. ➽ Streaming on VOD.

Jeffrey (1995)

The great writer Paul Rudnick adapted his play of the same name for this 1996 romantic comedy about queer characters at the height of the AIDS epidemic, which wasn’t exactly a common subject matter on screens in the ’90s. Steven Weber plays the title character, a gay man trying to navigate love in a time when death and sex were tragically intertwined. Stewart is Sterling, a friend of the title character who becomes the emotional support for Jeffrey through this journey. It’s a part that exemplifies what always felt like the innate goodness at the center of Stewart’s persona, on-screen and off. ➽ Streaming for free on YouTube.

Moby Dick (1998)

Patrick Stewart clearly wanted to try his hand at as many legendary characters as possible, and he added Herman Meville’s Captain Ahab to the list in this miniseries that aired on the USA Network in the late ’90s. He’s the main draw, but it’s worth noting that a legend named Gregory Peck plays Father Mapple and Henry Thomas takes on Ishmael in this remarkably impressive TV production. It was nominated for five Emmys, including Outstanding Miniseries and Outstanding Lead Actor for Stewart. ➽ Streaming for free on The Roku Channel and Tubi.

A Christmas Carol (1999)

Patrick Stewart would regularly return to the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, including writing a one-man show version of the story, in which he played over 40 roles. That take on it appeared on Broadway in three separate runs in the ’90s — and would be revived later. TNT didn’t have the nerve to film that ambitious version of the Dickens classic, but they knew that no one would be better for the part when they commissioned this TV movie that aired in December 1999. Stewart stars as Scrooge opposite Richard E. Grant as Bob Cratchit and the legend Joel Grey as the Spirit of Christmas Present. ➽ Streaming on VOD.

X-Men (2000-2026)

Bryan Singer’s 2000 X-Men defined more pop culture than it gets credit for today. Long before Nolan and Coogler, it was a film that refused to talk down to viewers because it was a “comic book movie,” and one of the ways it found that authority was through casting. A lot of ink has been spilled about Hugh Jackman’s role in the films, but they wouldn’t be the same without Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen. The Shakespearean actors’ performances brought a weight to X-Men that served as a model for the whole comic-book movie genre. Stewart’s whole arc as Professor X is a gift, but one of his best turns came late in the series, in James Mangold’s 2017 entry Logan, a movie that reckons with the very idea that this run was going to end. His final film role and final turn in the franchise will be this year’s Avengers: Doomsday. Over the last quarter-century, when movie and comic fans thought of this character, they saw him. ➽ Streaming on Disney+.

American Dad! (2005)

Sir Patrick Stewart was that he clearly had a sense of humor about his own persona. Whether he was narrating Ted or doing one of many animated family roles, he knew how to use that deep voice to get a laugh. He once claimed Beavis and Butt-Head was one of his favorite shows, which makes the fact that he did over 100 episodes of Seth MacFarlane’s animated hit even more logical. From American Dad!’s first season through its most recent twenty-second, Stewart voiced Avery Bullock, the deputy director of the CIA and a man with a questionable moral compass. Stewart knew it wasn’t just his authoritative voice that would make his casting funny but the fact that so many people would associate it with a very different kind of leadership than that of the, well, problematic Avery Bullock. ➽ Streaming on Hulu.

Hamlet (2009)

What if we told you that one of the best Hamlet performances ever put on film came from none other than David Tennant, star of Doctor Who and Broadchurch? Tennant’s Hamlet is raw and vulnerable, and his performance is anchored and complemented perfectly by Stewart as both King Claudius and the ghost of Hamlet’s father. This is basically a filmed version of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s stage production that aired on BBC Two in late 2009. It can be a little hard to find almost two decades later, but it’s absolutely worth seeking out as it’s one of the best Shakespeare productions of its era. ➽ Streaming on VOD.

Macbeth  (2010)

Some may not know how important the stage was to Sir Patrick Stewart. He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and trained at the legendary Old Vic Theatre School. He played many of the major roles written by the Bard, including King Lear, Othello, and Shylock. Any good theatre nut will tell you that the top of the mountain for a Shakespearean actor is Macbeth, and we’re lucky that his version was filmed for PBS Masterpiece, available to watch right now. This one landed him a Tony nomination. ➽ Available on DVD.

Green Room (2015)

Professor X can’t be a Nazi! One of Stewart’s best screen performances came in this terrifying 2015 thriller from Jeremy Saulnier about a punk band that finds itself prisoners of a group of neo-Nazi skinheads after a show goes very, very wrong. Stewart leans into the persona he had developed as an on-screen leader and off-screen gentleman to play wildly against type, nailing every chilling beat of this efficient sociopath, someone who accepts violence as a means to an end. It’s arguably his best film performance, indicative of the underrated range he had for people who only knew him as Xavier or Picard. ➽ Streaming on Netflix.

The Sheep Detectives (2026)

Kyle Balda’s adaptation of Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann is maybe the best family film of 2026. It’s a clever mix of Agatha Christie and Babe, a story of a flock of sheep who try to solve the murder of their shepherd. And now it has added poignancy as the last film released during Stewart’s lifetime. Stewart doesn’t have a huge role, but he’s perfectly voice-cast as Sir Richfield, an elderly Boreray Blackface ram, using that wonderful voice to shape his character from the minute he starts speaking. He will be missed. ➽ Streaming on Prime Video.