Star Trek: Jonathan Frakes Volunteers To Direct the Next Movie

Veteran Star Trek actor and director Jonathan Frakes hopes to one day direct a Star Trek musical. [...]

By Jamie Lovett

Veteran Star Trek actor and director Jonathan Frakes hopes to one day direct a Star Trek musical. In the meantime, he's willing to get back behind-the-camera of a Star Trek movie. Frakes remains a big part of the Star Trek universe, directing on Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard. He even reprised his Star Trek: The Next Generation role as William Riker for Picard. Before all of that, Frakes directed two Star Trek movies, Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection. He spoke to Trek Movie recently about the Star Trek film franchise's future. The series remains in a holding pattern since the release of Star Trek Beyond in 2016, with three potential sequels in some form of development. Frakes says he hopes to see the movies pitched by Quentin Tarantino and Noah Hawley become realities, but volunteers himself to direct if either of them drop out.

"I say greenlight the Tarantino and Noah Hawley, if you are lucky enough to get either of them," Frakes says. "And if they are too busy to direct, I'll be available."

Frakes previously expressed regret over passing on the opportunity to direct Insurrection's sequel, Star Trek: Nemesis. The film turned out to be the final Star Trek movie starring The Next Generation's cast.

"I would have loved to have done Nemesis, but it seemed like, 'Really? That's all you're going to do, is Star Trek movies?'" Frakes said. "It's glib to say now. I wish I had done Nemesis."

In this more recent interview, Frakes also mused about the future of the films starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and the rest of the Kelvin Timeline crew. "Well, that's probably the one that has the most hope of being made first because there's already an audience," he said. "After Paramount shut down Star Trek for five years, J.J. [Abrams] relaunched it, and in my taste, very successfully. It captured the zeitgeist again. They spent a lot of f–king money so it was a BIG movie. His first one [Star Trek 2009] in particular was great. I wasn't crazy about Idris Elba wearing a mask [Star Trek Beyond]. And I love Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan [in Star Trek Into Darkness]. And I love that cast…. So my opinion is that that movie with J.J.'s cast is the one, if I were betting, that would be greenlit."

Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: The Next Generation are all streaming now on CBS All Access.

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