Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis Discuss Returning to Their Iconic Roles as Riker and Troi in a Fresh Way on STAR TREK: PICARD

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede CTV Sci-Fi Channel’s STAR TREK: PICARD has shown a deft touch in combining fresh narratives, new characters, and select familiar faces. That continues with the highly anticipated arrival of Will Riker and Deanna Troi in this week’s episode, airing Thursday at 9 p.m. ET. Jonathan Frakes, who plays Riker and also has directed a couple of episodes of STAR: TREK PICARD, and Marina Sirtis, who plays Troi, have made no secret about their participation. We won’t reveal any details about how they’re introduced, other than to say that if you’re up to date and watched last week’s episode of STAR TREK: PICARD, you probably can take a guess. Frakes admitted that he had reservations about revisiting Riker, who was one of the main characters – along with Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard, and Sirtis’ Troi – on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as well as subsequent films. “I was very nervous about going back to Riker because, first of all, I hadn’t acted in about 10 years,” Frakes explained. “Secondly, I had a lot of chatter (dialogue in the episode), and I wanted to make sure that I had all the lines in my head. Plus, I had just finished directing Patrick in two episodes, and I think he has never been better. His acting muscles are just filled with acting blood. And Marina had just closed a play in London’s West End that she was a lead in. So I thought, ‘If I get buried by my friends, this is going to be so embarrassing.’ ” Fortunately for Frakes, he had no need to worry. “I was so relieved, because it was like we had just picked up from the day before,” he said. “That’s what I had hoped would happen, and it was written that way, because Picard and Riker are old friends. That is very much the tone of how it felt to me. I think I can separate myself enough to be accurate about it. But I was nervous. And I’ve known this guy (Stewart) for 35 years. But my pride and ego were at stake.” When it was pointed out to Sirtis that STAR TREK: PICARD has avoided the trap of merely gathering the old crew and being an awkward retro show, she openly laughed at the prospect. “What are the chances of anything being made in Hollywood where all the actors are over 60?” she asked. “That would be zero. That would be zero to none. So it was never going to be that, right? Because we’re in Hollywood. We were halfway to the glue factory when they called. But I love that they call us the legacy actors. I don’t know what it means, but I like that. They’re not calling us the old farts, which would have been the other thing.” Kidding aside, Sirtis responded more seriously when asked if she allowed herself a moment while on the set of STAR TREK: PICARD to consider how special this all is. “Yeah,” she said. “It was brilliant.” Frakes said he obviously would be interested in playing Riker again in some capacity in the future, although he had a surprising thought on how that could be achieved. “The half-hour show ‘The Rikers in Space’ which I have pitched many times,” said Frakes, prompting laughter. “It’s a single-camera comedy with Riker and Troi, the wacky uncle Data, and their little dog Worf. They’re like ‘The Jetsons.’ Don’t you think there’s room for that? I’d watch that show.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv