Tom Hardy has achieved a significant amount in a professional career that hasn’t yet reached the 30-year mark. He’s recognized as a celebrated stage and screen actor, participates in numerous philanthropic activities, and is even a proficient rapper, who managed to keep his hobby under wraps by adopting the alias Frankie Pulitzer instead of his real name. As for his screen credits, Hardy accumulated minor roles of growing prominence in both film and television before his breakthrough performances in “Warrior,” “Inception,” and “The Dark Knight Rises.” Nonetheless, many overlook the fact that his pre-breakthrough roles included a particularly infamous installment of the “Star Trek” film series. 

“Star Trek: Nemesis” fared so poorly that it effectively concluded the “Next Generation” era of the franchise (until “Picard” revived it) and put “Star Trek” films on a hiatus lasting seven years, meaning Hardy’s appearance in the movie didn’t significantly advance his rise to mainstream fame. Hardy’s career would ultimately thrive, as would the “Star Trek” franchise — eventually — but it remains a regrettable footnote in the history of both. 

When “Star Trek” movies are ranked from worst to best, “Nemesis” frequently lands at or near the bottom of nearly every list. Among its many shortcomings is the fact that its director, Stuart Baird, lacked familiarity with both “The Next Generation” and the broader franchise. Consequently, he largely sidelined most of the crew, focusing the film almost entirely on Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), with the significant exception of Data’s (Brent Spiner) dramatic self-sacrifice at the conclusion. 

So, what was “Nemesis” about? That’s where Tom Hardy’s role comes into play. He portrays the movie’s main antagonist, Shinzon — a character who receives more depth and screen time than anyone else in the narrative other than Picard. Shinzon leads the Remans, a marginalized caste of Romulans who have overthrown Romulus, seeking the Federation’s alliance. Picard and his crew soon realize that Shinzon’s intentions regarding the Federation are deceptive, and a shocking twist unfolds: Shinzon is actually a clone of Picard. 

Hardy had to use makeup and prosthetics to resemble a younger Picard, which didn’t enhance the role’s visibility for him. All audiences saw was a youthful Patrick Stewart. However, the movie’s failure at the box office and its widespread criticism likely ensured that outcome, even if Hardy could have appeared more like himself as Shinzon. 

The dissatisfaction was not limited to critics and audiences watching “Star Trek: Nemesis.” According to the “Next Generation” cast, it was a problematic production under an ill-suited director, with the actors acutely aware they weren’t concluding their “Star Trek” journeys on a strong note. Even newcomer Tom Hardy seemed disinclined to make the best of his time on set.

Patrick Stewart avoided Hardy on the set of “Nemesis,” but it was actually Hardy who first established that distance between the two actors. In Stewart’s 2023 memoir, “Making It So,” he claimed that Hardy didn’t engage with any of his co-stars between takes, or behave socially after a day of shooting. Nor would he spend a single second longer hanging around the set than was required of him. So Stewart decided to just let the young actor have his process, and didn’t push Hardy to be social or interact with him when the cameras weren’t rolling. However, Stewart did predict that Hardy’s career wasn’t going to go well if that was going to be how he conducted himself on sets and with his co-stars. Stewart admitted to confiding to Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner that they’d probably never see or hear about this Tom Hardy fellow ever again.

Of course, by the time Stewart released that memoir, he had long since realized just how far off that prediction was. And in typically sweet and humble Patrick Stewart fashion, he wrote how happy he was to have been wrong about his assumptions for the future of Hardy’s acting career. As for Hardy, he would mention in several later interviews that he felt a lot of nerves, a lot of pressure, and was in way over his head on the set of “Nemesis,” which would help to explain why he acted the way he did.