Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, streaming, TV | Tagged: alex kurtzman, Jonathan Frakes, paramount, star trek: discovery, sxsw, SXSW 2024

Star Trek: Discovery Breaking Jonathan Frakes' Unique On-Screen Streak

Star Trek EP Alex Kurtzman dashes hopes for a Jonathan Frakes cameo in the fifth and final season of "Discovery," breaking his long streak.

Jonathan Frakes has two unique distinctions in the galaxy of Star Trek. First, he directed the most episodes as a one-time cast member. There have been several actor-turned-directors across the franchise, including his castmates on The Next Generation Patrick Stewart, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, and Gates McFadden. Frakes has directed 30 episodes across TNG, and its films, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and Picard. The second is the most appearances across franchise shows, a streak that ends with Discovery. Since TNG's seven-season run and throughout its four films until 2002's Nemesis, Frakes made cameos in every single Trek series reprising his doppelganger Thomas in Deep Space Nine, his Riker cameo on Voyager thanks to John de Lancie's Q, his series finale appearance in Enterprise opposite his TNG co-star Marina Sirtis, who reprised her role as Troi. The tradition continued into Lower Decks gave us a glimpse of his U.S.S. Titan, the ship he was assigned to following Nemesis, and naturally in Picard seasons one and three.

Discovery, which was originally set in the 23rd century in the pre-The Original Series era, jumped to the 32nd century at the end of season two, far beyond the timeline of Star Trek in the future. Naturally, it wouldn't make any organic sense for Riker to appear short of a Q or a holodeck simulation. Producer Alex Kurtzman, while promoting the series' fifth and final season at SXSW 2024, told Den of Geek "No" when asked if Frakes will make a cameo, breaking that tradition.

There you have it. While Very Short Treks puts Riker in Star Trek: The Animated Series world, you're grasping at straws here, considering Deep Space Nine literally placed their characters in the TOS episode "The Trouble with Tribbles." What's to say Kurtzman isn't Andrew Garfield-ing us when you have Brent Spiner and Walter Koenig playing relatives of their signature characters in Star Trek canon? I can see Frakes playing this descendant of Will and Deanna, a separate original character, or at the very least, Michael Burnham's father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate. Star Trek: Discovery season five premieres April 5th on Paramount+.

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