Jonathan Frakes

Hold on to your horses, because this is not a drill. Paramount+ announced today that the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard is about to get a lot more nostalgic than it already is. Original Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, and Brent Spiner are all coming back to wrap up the series on a high note. The show follows the title character (Patrick Stewart) later in life and facing classic enemies.

This week's episode of Star Trek: Picard, "Fly Me to the Moon," was a Star Trek: The Next Generation reunion. Patrick Stewart leads the series, and John de Lancie is back as Q. The episode also introduces Next Generation's Brent Spiner in his latest role, Adam Soong. Jonathan Frakes directed the episode, not only reuniting with his former TNG co-stars but also getting another opportunity to direct the Borg Queen, an idea that originated in the film Star Trek: First Contact, which he also helmed.

Although Jonathan Frakes is best known within the Star Trek community for playing the unconventionally-sitting William Riker, he’s also done a lot of directing for the sci-fi franchise. This includes the Star Trek: The Next Generation follow-up movies First Contact and Insurrection, as well as three episodes of Star Trek: Picard. Frakes sat in the director’s chair for the third time on this Paramount+ series for this week’s “Fly Me to the Moon,” and he’s now opened up about how this chapter of Picard Season 2 included some big callbacks to First Contact.

Star Trek has no shortage of interesting, inspiring, and admirable characters. Fans can argue for ages about who’s the top choice for each of those adjectives, though I think many agree that there’s only one definitive choice for “cool.” Jonathan Frakes’ William T. Riker is unquestionably one of the coolest people to ever grace Starfleet, to the point that even the way he sits in a chair is awed by the fandom.

Jonathan Frakes may disappoint fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Since Star Trek: Picard debuted, The Next Generation fans have been hoping for the possibility of seeing a reunion of Admiral Picard and all of his former crew members. They got part of their wish in the first season with the appearance of Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, and Brent Spiner. And with the second season right around the corner, they’ll be seeing more of Spiner and the addition of John de Lancie’s Q. But is there hope that the remaining characters who served aboard the Enterprise with Picard will show up?

Star Trek: Picard is a treat for many fans of The Next Generation, especially those who never believed Patrick Stewart would return to the franchise. Now, he’s back, and as fans may remember, he and Star Trek mastermind Alex Kurtzman once spoke about a desire to incorporate the entire principal cast of TNG into the series if they could. It’s an ambitious goal and one that I recently asked Jonathan Frakes about the logistics of it happening.

Star Trek: Picard season two will premiere in February 2022. Star Trek fans were only too happy to welcome John de Lancie back to the universe when it was announced the actor would be reprising his role as the pompous, self-righteous god-like entity of the Continuum. After all, putting Q back together with his nemesis, now-Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) could only mean good things for the second season of the continuing journeys of the retired Starfleet admiral on Star Trek:Picard. Now, Jonathan Frakes has given us even more to look forward to when the series returns to Paramount+ in February.

When it comes to Star Trek, there’s always been one actor the franchise can trust to share his honest opinion -- Jonathan Frakes. He previously starred and currently works as both as an actor and director on several shows within the franchise. Plus, his role as a cast member on Star Trek: The Next Generation only helps his reputation with fans as a trusted source of the state of Trek. Essentially, when Frakes talks, fans listen, so they’ll definitely be interested to hear about his honest thoughts on Star Trek: Lower Decks and how it’s handled Riker.

Star Trek: Picard's second season will continue Jean-Luc Picard's story after the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Its trailer teased an adventure through time. It also revealed John de Lancie's return as the nigh-omnipotent Q. Jonathan Frakes worked on Star Trek: Picard's first season. He directed two episodes and played William Riker in two more. Frakes returns for the show's second season. He teased in a new interview that he'll be sharing a scene with de Lancie's Q and their fellow Next Generation alumnus Brent Spiner.

Jonathan Frakes is not done with the Star Trek franchise just yet. For anyone who thought Jonathan Frakes was going to start slowing down at his age, you might want to rethink that. Despite being 69 years old, and having debuted 35 years ago as a member of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Frakes is as involved in the franchise now as he ever was. In the last calendar year alone he appeared as his iconic character William Riker in five different episodes of the franchise.

While everyone knows Jonathan Frakes for his work as William T. Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation, what you might not realize is TNG opened the door to his true love: directing. After paying his dues behind-the-scenes by studying how TNG was made, Frakes assumed a new role in the director's chair for Season 3's "The Offspring." With the success of that episode, Frakes was allowed to direct more episodes of TNG, followed by episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. After helming over a dozen episodes between the three series, Frakes landed his first movie: Star Trek: First Contact. From there he directed more movies (including Star Trek: Insurrection) and has spent the last decade and a half helming a number of TV shows including Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Castle, Falling Skies, and many others.

Star Trek actors Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes really loved Galaxy Quest. Star Trek: The Next Generation saw Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes play the roles of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Commander Wiliam Riker for all seven seasons and did so lovingly. The television show turned into a film franchise and the standard bearer for Star Trek was cemented in the eyes of many. Turns out, however, that despite the sincerity that both men played their roles with, they absolutely loved Galaxy Quest; the film that poked fun at Trek.

“The line must be drawn he-uh!” Twenty-five years after Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard most emphatically said those words, that moment from the film “Star Trek: First Contact” has become a full-on meme. Multiple clips of it on YouTube have hundreds of thousands of views each. It’s become one of the defining moments for the character. It also means a lot to its director. “That still holds up as one of my favorite things I’ve ever, ever been involved in as a director,” Jonathan Frakes said. Frakes, known to fans as Picard’s “Number One,” Commander Riker, has had a very successful career as an...

Last week’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery, “Stormy Weather,” was helmed by Next Generation veteran Jonathan Frakes, who did a series of post-episode interviews about Discovery and his growing involvement in the Star Trek franchise. Sees TNG Data parallel with Zora on Discovery. Speaking to Screenrant, Jonathan...