There is little doubt that Star Trek: Insurrection remains one of the most poorly-arted movies across the entire Star Trek franchise. The movie currently has a 6.4 IMDB rating and a 55% Tomatometer score, and fans consistently view it amongst the most irrelevant projects that have featured in the franchise.
Boasting little narrative depth or progress, Insurrection was more akin to a longer television episode, and may as well have resulted in a catastrophic loss for the franchise in itself. Both Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart, the faces behind the iconic characters of Data and Captain Jean-Luc Picard, considered quitting during the filming of Insurrection.
Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner considered quitting their characters during filming of Star Trek: Insurrection
Both Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart went on to play their roles for multiple projects after Insurrection. However, Spinner already had a problem because the original script saw Data being killed off, which was later changed. Still, the actor did not believe that the movie was ready to enter production, and needed more thinking before being worked on:
There was a germ of an interesting idea that didn’t get realized. It just wasn’t ready to make. There may have been a very good film potentially there, but it was rushed into production.
Furthermore, the actor later claimed that it was Michael Piller, who he described as a ‘great writer,’ whose passion to write a Star Trek film ultimately allowed INsurrection to even exist:
I didn’t care for ‘Insurrection. I just didn’t think it was a very interesting story and it didn’t show us at our best. We were just very lucky that an A-list writer also happened to be a Star Trek fan and really wanted to write a Star Trek movie.
The movie itself saw Data initially malfunctioning while on a mission to observe the people of Ba’ku. Later revealed to be a plot by the nomadic interstellar power, Son’a, to displace the people of their former planet, from where they had been exiled in the 23rd century. Star Trek: Insurrection was set in 2375 and garnered $112.5 million worldwide, against a budget of $70 million. (Box Office Mojo)
Patrick Stewart initially wanted Star Trek: First Contact to be the final time he played Jean-Luc Picard
Of course, Stewart has been involved with The Star Trek franchise as recently as Picard in 2020, a series he acted as an executive producer for as well. However, he initially wanted to conclude with the 1996 movie, Star Trek: FIrst Contact, which released in 1996 and received a 93% Tomatometer score. (Rotten Tomatoes)
The actor claimed that he considered quitting after reading the script of Insurrection initially, and was disappointed to star in it:
But I would have done it with a certain amount of disappointment. A feeling that we had gone out with a bit of a whimper, and perhaps wished that ‘First Contact’ had been the end.
He later explained his mindset: (Looper)
When ‘Star Trek: First Contact’ came out, I was convinced that we were on the threshold of establishing a potent movie franchise. Unfortunately, the two films that followed it, ‘Star Trek: Insurrection’ and ‘Star Trek: Nemesis,’ were both a letdown. And ‘Nemesis,’ which came out in 2002, was particularly weak. I didn’t have a single exciting scene to play.
Of course, Stewart eventually ended on a high with Star Trek: Piccard, which is available to be streamed on Prime Video.
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