STAR Trek: Nemesis is Patrick Stewart's third big screen adventure as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Star-ship - and it could well be his last.
From the outset of shooting, Patrick and the rest of the Next Generation crew knew it was possibly their final voyage, and it made for some emotional moments, admits the 62-year-old English actor.
"I shot one of the final scenes where the entire crew is going their separate ways after 16 years together and Riker (Jonathan Frakes) says to me, 'Serving you has been an honour captain,' and I broke down crying," says Patrick.
"I felt like such a fool but my emotions overwhelmed me. Saying goodbye when we wrapped this film was agony for me."
If this is the last, it will be a good way of bowing out, he says: "It would be, in most respects, an ideal way to close this particular story line and group of It is certainly a dramatic and intense story."
Nemesis is more of a personal journey for Picard who must face up to his own evil clone in order to save the universe. "It's also about long-time enemies fighting together against lone hostile forces, which is very applicable to current affairs," Patrick says about the post September 11 world.
But despondent fans shouldn't take out their hankies too soon. Though the Star Trek franchise may well have reached its final frontier if Nemesis does not fare well at the box office - after the lacklustre returns for the last Star Trek film Insurrection four years ago - there is hope.
"If there's interest in doing another, then Nemesis offers a wonderful opportunity for a quite startling sequel," says Patrick. "There is a sequel to this just waiting to be made."
He says he would genuinely miss doing the series. "Mostly I'd miss the comradeship that has grown over all these years of working together. We're not just a crew, we've really become a family."
