A fan favorite from Star Trek: The Next Generation is returning to the Trek universe for Star Trek: Discovery season 2…just not in front of the cameras. Jonathan Frakes, best known as Commander Riker on TNG, previously directed an episode of the series’ first season and he’s now back to helm “New Eden.”
Seen below, CBS has released a new video which goes behind the scenes and recounts Frakes’ long history with the franchise. His directorial efforts go all the way back too, as he’s called the shots on various episodes of TNG, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Not to mention directing two movies as well in the form of Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection.
Clearly, Frakes knows the world of Trek inside out by now. Here’s hoping he returns to helm some of his old co-star Patrick Stewart’s upcoming show then, which’ll see the legendary actor reprise his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
While we wait for that, this BTS video already gives us one TNG reunion. Marina Sirtis – who portrayed Deanna Troi, a character that had a long-running relationship with Riker across 90s Trek – dropped by the Discovery set in Toronto and met with Frakes. We’re pretty sure fans would go wild if both of them made a return on screen in the future, but we’ve been told that it looks like the Picard series will only feature Stewart from the TNG cast.
In fact, various stars have revealed that they haven’t been contacted yet and don’t expect to be. Given that Frakes is a regular figure on the set of Discovery, though, we can’t help but hope that this could change going forward. After all, the plan is for the Picard show to run for several seasons.
In the meantime, you can catch Frakes’ newest directorial effort, Star Trek: Discovery “New Eden” tonight on CBS All Access.
