Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Frakes and Patrick Stewart on «Star Trek: The Next Generation. »
Patrick Stewart’s long, storied career has taken him from » Make it so, Number One » to being made into a number two. The long-time Shakespearean actor who inspired many a nerd like me as Captain Picard on » Star Trek: The Next Generation » and Professor Xavier in the » X-Men » movies will soon be portraying Poop in » The Emoji Movie. »
To be clear, Stewart will only be lending his voice to the animated feature. T. J. Miller of » Silicon Valley ,» » Broad City ‘s» Ilana Glazer, Maya Rudolph, Rob Riggle and James Corden are also in the cast of the film, which follows an emoji’s adventure traveling through a teenager’s phone, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Some might say that Stewart’s career has taken him from the most well-regarded, high brow roles in classics like «Hamlet,» through a successful career in science fiction mega-franchises only to come out the other end as a steaming hot pile of… emoji.
But this latest role only reaffirms Stewart’s status as a hero in my eyes. Captain Jean-Luc Picard taught a younger, painfully awkward version of me that a man could be successful and admired in spite of a clearly terrible wardrobe.
Stewart will continue to be my captain even as he trades a barstool in Ten Forward for a turn as a stool. Anyone with such an above average sense of humor and a below average ego has figured something out about life.
«The Emoji Movie» is set to hit theaters August 4.<\/p>\n