‘Star Trek’: Jonathan Frakes Teases Involvement in Picard Series

It sounds like Patrick Stewart will be reunited with his “Number One” in the new Star Trek series focusing on Jean-Luc Picard.

Jonathan Frakes played Picard’s first officer, Cmdr. Will Riker, in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also got his start as a director on the show, directing Stewart in such memorable episodes as “The Drumhead.” He went on to direct episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager and the films Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection.

Frakes returned to the Star Trek universe when Star Trek: Discovery launched. He’s directed three episodes of the series so far. Now, based on an interview with The Writer Experience podcast, it sounds as if he’ll be beaming over to direct the Picard series as well.

During the podcast, Frakes explained how he’s been pulled back into the world of sci-fi and Star Trek and offered a summary of what his schedule looks like.

“Now my season looks like Star Trek: Discovery, the new wonderful Star Trek series; the Picard show, which Patrick [Stewart] is launching; and The Orville, which is some people’s new Star Trek…So, I am back in that world.”

Sources tell ComicBook.com there has been some discussion about Frakes working on the Picard show, but nothing is official yet. Still, the idea of Frakes and Stewart reteaming should be enough to excite any fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Frakes also touched on his impression of the new era of Star Trek under producer Alex Kurtzman’s guidance.

“My understanding is that Alex Kurtzman and Secret Hideout are creating a Star Trek oeuvre that will hopefully allow fans of Trek to have something fresh to see all the time,” Frakes said. “That is why Discovery, now that it is a hit, will continue, and they have announced Sir Patrick’s show, which is not titled, that will air after Discovery. And they have announced they are developing a show for Michelle Yeoh, so Empress Georgiou who is a character on Discovery will have her own stories. They have hired the guy from Rick and Morty – [Mike McMahan] – to write an animated show called Lower Decks, which I have seen parts of that are hysterical. So you have one, two, three, four. They’ve got a Nickelodeon connection for a little kid’s Star Trek, so that’s five. So, there is a world that is being created by Kurtzman and his team that will hopefully continue for many years and provide entertainment, and obviously conversation, about Star Trek for decades.”

Are you excited about Frakes working with Patrick Stewart on Star Trek again? Let us know in the comments.

The Picard series will begin filming in April and is aiming for a late 2019 premiere on CBS All Access.

(h/t Trek Movie)