Jonathan Frakes was ‘thrilled’ to helm Picard throwback Borg episode

Jonathan Frakes is perhaps best known in the Star Trek universe as William Riker, Captain Picard’s level-headed first mate in Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), but he’s also a franchise director. Frakes recently got to revisit the past when he directed an episode of Picard featuring a TNG throwback plot.

Frakes directed an episode called “Fly Me to the Moon” of the Paramount Plus series, and it featured the same enemies from the 1996 Star Trek: First Contact movie – the Borg. In the older movie, Alice Krige played the Borg Queen. In this one, Annie Wersching takes on the iconic role. Frakes told The Hollywood Reporter he was exceptionally excited to work on the project.

“I was thrilled. I was a huge fan of the Borg Queen with Alice. I always liked the Borg story. Alice, because she was our first queen, established the nastiness and the sexiness of the character. Alice established the groundwork, which Annie expanded on brilliantly. Annie works with a fearlessness that I really admire. It is not easy to work through all that rubber-head stuff. She really embraced it.”

He also said he really enjoyed the references to the old movie, especially when it came to makeup.

“This Borg Queen design is so out there. They embellished it, but did not change it to the point where it was unrecognizable. And the visual effects team used a lot of the same references [from First Contact] but then expanded, given the new tools they have to work with.

Frakes also heaped praise on Alison Pill, who plays Dr. Jurati in the show and has some pivotal eye-opening moments in the episode.

“I think she is one of our finest actors. There is nothing she can’t do. Her timing is impeccable. Her ability to find levity in anything is completely admirable. And yet, she can scare the shit out of you.”

Picard is currently streaming on Paramount Plus.