Posted in: CBS, Star Trek, streaming, TV | Tagged: Jonathan Frakes, star trek, Star Trek Picard, star trek: discovery, Star Trek: The Next Generation, William Riker

Star Trek: Jonathan Frakes on Directing Discovery, Picard & TNG Films

Jonathan Frakes has come a long way in his career in front and more so now, behind the camera. While the actor & director is most synonymous with the Star Trek franchise through his initial work on Next Generation as Cmdr William T. Riker, he's expanded his influence not only on the franchise from directing feature films to now appearing and directing multiple episodes of current canon like Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and the upcoming Strange New Worlds. Speaking with Collider, he reflects on how his work has evolved over the years.

When it comes to the uninitiated, Frakes has a suggestion for those unfamiliar with his Star Trek work as both actor and director. "I think First Contact would be a great introduction to both because it was a bulletproof script from Brannon Braga and Ron Moore," he said. "And it was my first movie and most successful movie, and it was filled with wonderful guest stars, and it was a great experience on both sides of the camera for me."

Frakes recalled how surreal it was filming Picard season two now given the longevity of the Star Trek fan base since his days on TNG. "That is mind-blowing to me," he said. "When I'm directing on Picard, for instance, I had an episode with John de Lancie, who played Q on our show, and Brent Spiner now plays another character on Picard, and Patrick and I. The four of us are sitting there and it was like a weekend had passed, but it had been 35 years or something like that since we had started this show together. And conventions still keep it alive. It's on somewhere every night on some obscure channel all over the world. This new ration of shows, 'Discovery,' and 'Picard,' and 'Strange New Worlds' are there obviously because there's a 'Star Trek' audience, and 'Lower Decks,' and 'Prodigy.' So it's obviously a blessing, and something I'm eternally grateful for, but it blows my mind. The loyalty is like the [James] Bond franchise or the 'Star Wars' franchise. I'm very lucky, and grateful."

The directing bug bit Frakes early when he started on Next Generation. "I had directed a little bit of some scene stuff and taken a directing course in college and all that stuff, but early on, on Star Trek, I realized from being a series regular for the first time, it was a lot of waiting around, there's a lot of sitting around, and you can only take so many naps," he said. "So I spent a lot of time on the set when I wasn't needed. It was clear that the job that appealed to me on that set, besides playing Riker, was kind of the guy at the center of it, or the woman at the center of it. So I asked Rick Berman, who was the keeper of all things Star Trek, at that point, and he said, well, you can start shadowing some of the directors. So it was early in the first season. Then I persevered to the point of, I'm sure, being annoying."

For more on Frakes' work with Marvel during the 70s, his pre-TNG work, learning more of his directing craft on TNG, First Contact, Insurrection, Discovery, Galaxy Quest, and more, you can check the full interview over at Collider.

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