Patrick Stewart on his legacy and final season of ‘Star Trek: Picard’ | USA TODAY

With "Star Trek: Picard" coming to a close in its third and final season, Patrick Stewart discusses his legacy and time playing the iconic character.

RELATED: William Shatner joins Blue Origin's second crew for space flight

In his seven-decade career, Patrick Stewart has starred as Scrooge and Macbeth on Broadway, from the tragic King Lear to King Richard in Mel Brooks' 1993 farce "Robin Hood: Men in Tights."

Of course, there's Professor Charles Xavier in the "X-Men" film series and even the glorious turd of a movie role, Poop Emoji in 2017's "The Emoji Movie."

But mostly, when his global legions of fans think of Stewart, he's bellowing "Engage!" as USS Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the iconic "Star Trek: The Next Generation" role that made him a household name in 1987 at 46 and carried through seven indelible seasons, more than 170 episodes and four movies.

Stewart, 82, returns to his retired Starfleet commander in the third and final season of the Paramount+ series "Star Trek: Picard" (streaming weekly on Thursdays).

After retiring to his wine vineyard, Picard is pulled back for a secret mission, posing as a visiting dignitary aboard the USS Titan.

Stewart tells USA TODAY he's proud to return to the role that's had the greatest impact on his formidable career. "There's never been anything to compete with 'Star Trek,' in terms of interest in my work," says Stewart. "'X-Men,' yes. But it didn't have the exposure of 'Star Trek' for seven years. That's a lot.

» Subscribe to USA TODAY:
» Watch more on this and other topics from USA TODAY:
» USA TODAY delivers current local and national news, sports, entertainment, finance, technology, and more through award-winning journalism, photos, videos and VR.

#startrek #patrickstewart