2 major losses in the casting shake up the passionate universe of “Star Trek”

WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the countless memorable lines that have come out of the “Star Trek” universe over the years is this gem, originating from a 20th-century poet named Delmore Schwartz: “Time is the fire in which we burn.” »

It was delivered as an existential warning to Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the 1994 film “Star Trek Generations.” But it seems just as apt this week after a double defeat that hits devotees of the epic six-decade sci-fi saga hard.

First on Sunday, Walter Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov in the original series in the 1960s, died at 90. Then, on Thursday, the cosmos has lost Patrick Stewarta Shakespearean actor who, in 1987, began playing Picard, the poetic face of that series’ sequel, “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and decades later, the show’s presenter. darker streaming drama “Star Trek: Picard.”