“I think I stole them”: Marina Sirtis Stole 2 Star Trek Props, One of Which She Ended up Wearing 18 Years Later in ‘Picard’

One of the very few franchises that have been able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Star Wars since the dawn of the modern science fiction era in cinema is Star Trek and it has been a battle worthy of being dubbed as the Space Race of Hollywood. However, where Star Wars has remained at the top of its game since the advent of A New Hope, the same cannot be said for its contemporary show, The Next Generation.

Despite the investment of fans in the iconic 1987 series that ran for 7 years till 1994, the celebration of the 26-year-late reunion of the original cast in Star Trek: Picard in 2020 had some unexpected results. The cast of the original series, who then came to the rescue, then makes up for a nice story worthy of being regaled for future generations of Trekkies.

Star Trek: Nemesis Comes to the Rescue of Star Trek: Picard

Fans will do very well to remember that Sir Patrick Stewart reunited with his old castmates in Picard after 26 long years. In that time, while Stewart built on his portfolio with a pronounced presence in the X-Men films, the other Next Generation actors, such as Marina Sirtis, languished on the outskirts of Hollywood.

As such, every opportunity to revive their old roles in the Star Trek universe, not only brought back a spark of life into the dreary pace of their lives but also gave them a sense of renewed purpose.

For Sirtis, that purpose took on another meaning entirely after she literally saved the day due to a prop she stole from the sets of Star Trek: Nemesis 18 years ago. As Sirtis recalled, the costume department on Star Trek: Picard was completely unprepared regarding her props before filming was scheduled to begin, and to make a whole new set of wigs and costumes for Sirtis would have been a burden that could have significantly delayed production.

In a January 2020 interview with TrekCore, Sirtis admitted:

I called and I said, ‘You do know that I wore a wig and black contact lenses.’ They went, ‘What?’ I was like, ‘Do you know what? I think I stole them so I think I have them. So let’s just get the contact lenses cleaned because they’ve been sitting in a lens case for 15 years, and I have the wig – [both] that I wore in Nemesis.’

I’m a bit of a tea leaf as they say in England. I’ll have that, thank you very much, which was really good that I did. Trust me, they wouldn’t have had time to make a $10,000 wig. I was in England doing a play anyway. I wrapped on Saturday and was at Universal on Monday having traveled from England on Sunday. I wasn’t even here. It would’ve been like wig, contact lenses, what? It was lucky that I did pilfer them.

Although Marina Sirtisʼs timely pilfering did save the day 18 years later, stealing a piece of prop from movie sets has become a common ritual among actors and actresses. From iconic costumes to vintage cars, celebrities have been known to carry home an object which their on-screen character is closely associated with as a token of appreciation for their work on the show or film.

Marina Sirtis Compares Herself to Carrie Fisher in Star Wars

The legacy that was established by Carrie Fisher due to her Star Wars arc is one that can neither be imitated nor replicated even under the most controlled environments. As such, Fisher remains one of the most enigmatic and admired actresses of her generation and beyond for revolutionizing not only the genre of science fiction but also the portrayal of women in a different light in cinema.

Marina Sirtis, in a similar fashion, feels almost equal to Carrie Fisher due to their shared experience of reprising their most iconic roles in their 60s. Sirtis thus recalls her return to the sets of Picard, saying:

As Carrie said when she went back to Star Wars, I remember seeing her on the Today show. The interviewer said to her, ‘Was it a difficult choice to resuscitate Princess Leia?’ Carrie said, ‘I’m a 60-year-old actress in Hollywood. People aren’t exactly throwing scripts at me’ which is kind of the place I’m in.

Marina Sirtis who played the role of Counselor Deanna Troi appeared in four additional Star Trek films, including Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) after her initial arc in The Next Generation. Star Trek: Picard, the latest of the bunch, ran for 3 years from 2020 to 2023.

Star Trek: Nemesis and Star Trek: Picard are available for streaming on Max and Paramount+ respectively.