Posted in: Paramount+, streaming, TV | Tagged: Mike McMahan, Nick Locarno, Robert Duncan McNeill, star trek, star trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: The Next Generation, star trek: voyager, Tom Paris

Star Trek: Lower Decks: McNeill on McMahan's Nick Locarno Return Pitch

Robert Duncan McNeill (Voyager's Tom Paris) reflects on Mike McMahan pitching him on Nick Locarno's return on Star Trek: Lower Decks.

When digging deep into Star Trek's past, nothing compares to the Mike McMahan animated series Lower Decks. The Paramount+ series not only recruited Robert Duncan McNeill to reprise his role as Voyager's Tom Paris but also his original Next Generation role as disgraced former Starfleet Academy cadet Nick Locarno as the unexpected villain of season four. To top it off, McMahan went above and beyond featuring other key figures from the TNG season five episode "The First Duty" in Wil Wheaton's Wesley Crusher and Shannon Fill (from retirement) as Sito Jaxa as the members of Nova Squadron in flashbacks which we discover the Cerritos' Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) was one of their peers. With animation, you don't have to worry about actors being 24 years older to play their younger counterparts. Star Trek on Paramount+ released a clip on McNeill talking about unexpectedly returning to the role.

Robert Duncan McNeill on Unexpected Turn as Star Trek Villain

"When Mike called me, and then he said, 'I have this idea, but I don't want to write it unless you're interested,' and he sort of pitched me out this whole season arc of this mysterious bad guy," McNeill said. "Coming around now to do Nick Locarno again and voice such a clearly evil character in this 'Lower Decks' version was so much fun. I think the fans are going to love it. I hope they do; I had a blast doing it." For those not aware, Nick was originally pitched to return to Starfleet after his expulsion from the Academy at the conclusion of "The First Duty" for Voyager before McNeill's character was repackaged as Lt. Tom Paris with a similar chip on his shoulder and the rest is history.

Fill reprised her role as Sito Jaxa in the coincidentally titled TNG season seven episode 'Lower Decks' finding her character serving onboard the Enterprise despite the lingering presumed animosity from its captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), who saw potential. Unfortunately, her character was given an off-screen death as an undercover operative posing as a prisoner as a Bajoran escorted by a Cardassian defector. Wesley didn't exactly come back the same, finding himself in a depression during his last visit to the Enterprise and finding renewed purpose as a Traveler.

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