Sir Patrick Stewart, the Royal Shakespeare Company veteran who became Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Charles Xavier for millions of fans, has died. He was 86.
Stewart died on Wednesday, October 28, at his home in Los Angeles, following “a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia,” his longtime spokesperson Kelly Bush Novak said, according to the Associated Press. The news was announced on Thursday in a statement shared on his official Instagram account.
“We announce with great sorrow the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart yesterday at his home in Los Angeles, in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny,” the statement reads. It adds that he “has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter, and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all.”
The statement remembers “a son of Mirfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire” whose career spanned six decades across the stage, film and television, and closes with a line from his memoir about Picard: “In the end, he feels the call of home, as do I.”
Patrick Stewart’s video game roles
Players heard that voice far more often than many realize. Stewart lent it to games for three decades, and a few of those roles became part of gaming history:
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006): Emperor Uriel Septim VII, whose death in the opening prison escape sets the whole story in motion. His performance won him a Spike TV Video Game Award, and his original recordings returned in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered in 2025.
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (2010) and Lords of Shadow 2 (2014): Zobek, the Brotherhood of Light knight who also narrates the first game.
- Star Trek games: Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation: A Final Unity, Star Trek: Armada and Armada II, Star Trek: Invasion, Bridge Commander, Starfleet Command III, Elite Force II and Star Trek: Legacy, among others.
- X-Men games: Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men: Next Dimension, X2: Wolverine’s Revenge, X-Men Legends, X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse and X-Men: The Official Game.
- Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone (2004): the wizard Khelben “Blackstaff” Arunsun.
He also narrated LEGO Universe, The Sims Medieval and My Memory of Us, and voiced characters in Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos and Shadow Point.
A voice that gave games weight
For a generation of RPG players, Stewart was the first voice they heard in Cyrodiil. Uriel Septim is on screen for only a few minutes, but the gravity Stewart brought to those lines is a big reason the opening of Oblivion is still quoted twenty years later. In Lords of Shadow, his narration framed the whole adventure.
Stewart never treated games as a side gig. He brought the same care to a Starfleet briefing in a strategy game as he did to Shakespeare, and players noticed. Game Beacon sends its condolences to his wife Sunny, his family, friends and colleagues.
Sources: the statement on Patrick Stewart’s official Instagram account, the Associated Press, BBC News and NBC News. Game credits: MobyGames and GameFAQs credit listings. Featured photo: Patrick Stewart at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, placed on a blurred background.
