Posted in: Netflix, Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: Colm Meaney, Miles O'Brien, star trek, star trek: deep space nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: O'Brien Return "Not at the Top of My Agenda": Colm Meaney

Star Trek: TNG and DS9 star Colm Meaney (Duchess) on his future as Miles O'Brien in the franchise's universe, the fan base, and more.

There was no doubt Colm Meaney was one of the hardest working individuals in the Star Trek franchise clocking in at 225 episodes across two syndicated series with a recurring role as Miles O'Brien on The Next Generation as bridge officer and later, transporter chief on the U.S.S. Enterprise-D and promoted to chief of operations on the franchise's second spinoff Deep Space Nine as a featured cast member. His feat is only second to Michael Dorn, who played Worf on the same shows, and Paramount+'s Picard. As we saw many familiar faces from TNG's past on Picard from Jonathan Del Arco, Daniel Davis, Elizabeth Dennehy, Michelle Forbes, and Wil Wheaton to add to the cast reunion for Picard season three, Meaney, sadly wasn't among them. While promoting his latest film, Duchess, Meaney spoke with Comic Book Movie regarding if there's any chance that we'll see Miles back in the current canon on Paramount+ or Netflix.

Star Trek: Colm Meaney Not in a Hurry to Return to Franchise

"I think seven years in a space suit was enough, you know?" Meaney said. "I'm often asked that question and you never say never, of course, but first of all I wouldn't fit in it anymore [Laughs] and…I remember people saying at the time when 'Voyager' got going, 'How many times can you go to the well? How many times can you revamp this?' They successfully did it with Star Trek, and they're still doing it. Good luck to them. Do you want to see an elderly Miles O'Brien? I don't know. It's certainly not at the top of my agenda of things I'd like to do at the moment."

Not to say there aren't possibilities with the upcoming Starfleet Academy, set in the 32nd century, and the use of Holodeck technology potentially teaching new generations of students in some form. The animated universe is also possible with the final season of Lower Decks as his DS9 co-stars Nana Visitor and Armin Shimerman did or if Netflix renews Prodigy for season three. As far as how Meaney feels about the fandom, "I never subscribed to that thing that Star Trek fans are nuts. A few of them are," he said. "There's the odd one, but now, I always found Star Trek fans to be professional fans. They're very good; they want to say hello and what they think, and then they leave you alone pretty much. That's really nice and not true of everybody. I've always found them incredibly knowledgeable and way more than I was when I was doing it."

Meaney respects the fandom's commitment to the franchise, helping to maintain its legacy, "They knew more about episodes than I did, which is extraordinary," he said, "They're very committed to it, and I think it has had a very positive impact on people; the whole Star Trek Universe, in terms of both racially in terms of people getting along with aliens getting along with other aliens and humans and it's a very positive influence. I think it's a very positive worldview that Gene Roddenberry created at the beginning. They very much stuck to that, and it's all good."

It's not just Meaney who's happy to take on new challenges after Star Trek, but his TV wife Rosalind Chao, who played Keiko O'Brien on TNG and DS9, had major runs on the Netflix series Sweet Tooth and starring role in 3-Body Problem. Duchess is available on digital. For more, you can check out the video.

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