Sir Patrick Stewart died on October 28, 2026, in Los Angeles, at 86. His family announced the next day that he had been living with Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, and that the illness had been brief. For millions of viewers, he remained Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Charles Xavier: two men who led with their voice rather than their fists.
From a Yorkshire town to the Royal Shakespeare Company
Born in 1940 in Mirfield, Yorkshire, Patrick Stewart was a stage actor first. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 and spent a large part of his career there, from Shakespeare to Pinter. Film found him late, and often in supporting roles: he was Gurney Halleck in David Lynch's Dune in 1984. He was knighted in 2010 for services to drama.
Picard, a captain who preferred to negotiate
In 1987, at 47, he took command of the Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Seven seasons through 1994, four films, then three seasons of Star Trek: Picard between 2020 and 2023. His Picard quoted Shakespeare, preferred Earl Grey to a brawl and looked for a diplomatic way out before raising shields. He gave TV science fiction an adult hero, calm and capable of doubt.
Funko followed him from its very first Star Trek wave in 2015, with Captain Picard (#188). The same wave included Locutus of Borg (#194), Picard assimilated by the Borg in the 1990 two-parter "The Best of Both Worlds," one of the show's high points. Both characters returned to the catalog recently, with Jean-Luc Picard (#1631) in 2024 and a new Locutus of Borg (#1708) in 2025.
Xavier, wisdom in a wheelchair
In 2000, Bryan Singer cast him as Professor Xavier in X-Men, opposite his friend Ian McKellen's Magneto. He returned for the sequels, then for Logan in 2017, playing an aging, ailing Xavier in what remains one of his finest performances. He came back in 2022 for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. His last screen role will once again be Xavier, in Avengers: Doomsday, due December 18, 2026.
For now, that last role exists at Funko only in miniature: the Magneto & Professor X Bitty Pop set, due in December, brings the two characters together at 2.5 centimeters. The standard Professor X Pops in our database all follow the comics version.
A voice above all
Those who never saw him in uniform often heard him. He voiced CIA Deputy Director Avery Bullock on American Dad! for more than fifteen years, and during the 2020 lockdown he read a Shakespeare sonnet every day on social media. That deep, precise voice, trained at the Royal Shakespeare Company, was his signature in every register.
Our take: Locutus, to remember him
If we had to keep only one figure, it would be Locutus of Borg. The uniformed Picard is the expected image. Locutus recalls what Stewart could do that few others could: play a man stripped of himself, then, over the seasons and all the way to Picard, the long rebuilding that follows. It's the thread of his whole last decade, from Logan to Picard: aging, damaged men who keep their dignity.
One piece is missing from the catalog, and it would be the most fitting tribute: a standard Pop of Patrick Stewart's Xavier. His final role deserves more than a set of miniatures. Our thoughts go to his wife Sunny Ozell, his children Daniel and Sophie, and everyone for whom he was, for forty years, a reassuring voice.
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