Star Trek: Jonathan Frakes' 'Discovery' Director's Chair Has a 'Next Generation' Easter Egg

Star Trek: Discovery's chapter two premier had a special director. That special director also had a special director's chair.

Veteran Star Trek star and director Jonathan Frakes directed "Despite Yourself." Frakes played first officer Will Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation. His Star Trek: Discovery director's chair reflects that pedigree.

Producer Aaron Baiers shared a photo of the chair. It reads "Jonathan Frakes, Number One."

Take a look below.

"Number One" is a reference to Frakes' time as Riker. Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) always referred to his first officer as "Number One."

The nickname is a callback to Majel Barrett's role in the first Star Trek pilot, "The Cage." She played Captain Pike's first officer. Fans never learned the character's real name because she was only ever referred to as "Number One."

Early Star Trek: Discovery's development, Michael Burnham was also called "Number One." This turned out to be a reference to Burnham's position as the first officer of the USS Shenzhou.

While promoting "Despite Yourself," Frakes reflected on his larger Star Trek legacy.

"I loved it," he says. "There was a symmetry to it. I am very proud of having been part of all of these Trek shows. I felt that way back during our show, and then to direct our show and a couple of our movies, and then Voyager and Deep Space, it was great. And even the sort of ill-fated appearance on Enterprise, to have had my hand in all of them, I'm proud to be that guy. So, it felt right doing Discovery."

In a separate interview, Frakes said, "There was a lot of positive energy gathered around this episode and people. I mean, without getting too full of myself, they were very curious about what my experience was like as a member of another crew or another family or another Star Trek, so it was fun to share that and it was fun to be part of the new one."

New Star Trek: Discovery episodes become available to stream Sundays at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS All Access.