When you mean of the most important people in Star Trek story , in terms of thespian at least you might appear to the legacies of people like William Shatner or Patrick Stewart . But the real answer to that question isprobably Jonathan Frakes , who has been a part of pretty much all telecast Trek since the ‘ 70s — and when Discovery end in a few months , it ’ll split the vogue of his influence , at least in front of the camera .
Since starring as William T. Riker in The Next Generation , Frakes has made a guest appearance in almost every Star Trek series since , either as Rikeror a facsimile of him , or his villainous conveyer clone brother Thomas ( responsible for thegreatest bastard beard revealin telly history , thanks to Deep Space Nine ) . Just three serial have gone without an on - blind Frakes appearing so far — Discovery , Prodigy , and Strange New Worlds — and now we know at least one of them never will .
When necessitate byDen of Geekat a late appearance during SXSW whether or not Frakes would make an on - screen coming into court in Discovery ’s final time of year , co - Lord and producer Alex Kurtzman offered a very resoundingly monotonic “ No . ” It ’s not surprising considering that , as Discovery is now so far into Star Trek ’s time to come , Riker is extremely dead at this point . At least it will always have a special joining to Frakes through his role as a similarly consistent Trek theater director — Frakes has beenregularly directing episodesof Discovery since its first season , and will directthe penultimate episodeof the show in time of year five . But it does indeed intend the end to a decades - long drift of making Frakes one of the most logical Trek player in the dealership history , and there ’s something strangely deplorable about that .
Image: Paramount
Prodigy and Strange New Worlds both still have metre to have their own Frakes appearances — Prodigy is set in 2385 , while Riker was still in dynamic service even after the birth of his son Thaddeus , for whom he would step back from active responsibility to strain and help handle when he was diagnosed with mendaxic neurosclerosis in the tally - up to the events of Star Trek : Picard . Strange New Worlds ( which like Discovery has a Frakesconnection through directing ; he shot the show ’s fantastic crossover with Lower Decks , “ Those Old Scientists ” ) being pre - original Trek would make a Riker appearance very hard , but Frakes could still play some role , whether it ’s an ancestor or an wholly new fibre .
We ’ll have to hold off and see — and behold what Frakes fake up as his parting giving for Discovery — when season five get down streamingon April 4 .
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