A new brief video interview was posted today that will cause some speculation about Sir Patrick Stewart and Star Trek: Discovery. At a theater event in London last month, Stewart was asked he had seen Discovery yet, and the actor gave an intriguing answer, saying:

You mean the series and not the movie, because there is a new movie due out very soon. No, I haven’t, but I may have good cause to look at it very soon.

The Star Trek: The Next Generation vet also ended that statement with a sly smile, only adding to the intrigue.

So, why would Stewart have good reason to look at Star Trek: Discovery soon? Red Carpet News titled their video “Patrick Stewart Hints At Star Trek: Discovery Role,” which is possible in theory. However, that may be a bit of a stretch. While the showrunners for Discovery have talked about cementing the series to the canon of Star Trek, bringing in Patrick Stewart to play Jean Luc Picard seems to be a bit of stunt casting overkill for a season that already kicks off with a storyline tied to the original USS Enterprise and hints of Spock being involved.

Patrick Stewart did say last year he would be willing to play Picard again for Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek film project. And while he did talk about movies in the above quote to Red Carpet news, he notably differentiated that from the TV series (Discovery). So, even if Stewart were involved with the Tarantino Trek project, it is hard to see what it would have to do with a new reason to watch Discovery.

Is this all about Sirtis?

So, if Stewart isn’t acting in season two of Discovery, why the cryptic comment? One possibility could be Stewart being behind the camera. He did direct five episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but he hasn’t been active in directing for the last two decades, so helming an episode seems unlikely.

The simplest explanation for Stewart’s new interest in Discovery would be some other personal connection to the show for season two. We know that the second and tenth episodes of the season are being directed by Stewart’s TNG co-star Jonathan Frakes. While that could be of interest to Stewart, Frakes directed an episode in the first season, so that isn’t something new.

Another possibility is that Stewart is looking forward to seeing a fellow TNG co-star appear in Discovery. We do know that Marina Sirtis traveled to Toronto (to shoot on an unnamed project) while Frakes was filming season two’s second episode in May. Ten days before Stewart’s interview with Red Carpet News, Sirtis was spotted visiting the Discovery set, and Frakes shared the moment on Twitter (see below). This visit sent us speculating for possible roles Sirits could play, if she wasn’t just there to say “Hi” to an old friend. Patrick Stewart’s comment about having a special reason to check out Discovery will only add more fuel to that speculative fire.

Then again, maybe Discovery is just on Stewart’s list of things to binge.

Watch the video of Stewart

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on Space and streams on CraveTV. It is available on Netflix everywhere else.

Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.