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Star Trek: Picard: Frakes on What Riker Would Be Doing During Legacy

Star Trek: TNG/Picard star Jonathan Frakes on being grateful for showrunner Terry Matalas and what Riker would do if 'Legacy' was greenlit.

When the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard premiered in 2023, showrunner Terry Matalas attempted to end the series to bookend a new series, Legacy, that would not only see star Jeri Ryan continue her adventures as the newly minted captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise-G, but it would also further the adventures of original characters, Cmdr. Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) and Ensign Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), while leaving that window for The Next Generation crew on retainer in potential recurring roles to continue the 25th century timeline. Alas, that wasn't to happen with Paramount shutting the door on that. While it appeared their remaining live-action chips would be on the 23rd-century-set Strange New Worlds and 32nd-century-set Starfleet Academy, both shows will end in seasons five and two, respectively, leaving nothing left but speculation in the David Ellison-led era, with still nothing concrete about the franchise's future, which includes the vague film reboot with the Kelvin timeline jettisoned. At the very least, Jonathan Frakes, who's been far more dedicated to directing than acting, shared ideas that Matalas' follow-up series was greenlit, what his character, William Riker, would be doing since Picard with Legacy to Inside of You podcast host Michael Rosenbaum.

Star Trek: The Next Generation/Picard Star Jonathan Frakes on What Riker Would Have Been Up to on Proposed 'Legacy'

When the Smallville star asked Frakes what he missed about working with his TNG cast members across nine seasons and four films, "We did the last season of 'Picard' together, which was fabulous. Thanks to Terry Matalas," Frakes said. "It was an experience. We hadn't worked together in 20 years. He had taken us individually and talked about where we thought our characters would be going…"

Season three had the crew of the U. S. S. Enterprise-D stopping a Borg-Changeling conspiracy that saw the Federation infiltrated from within that would have been the Borg's final attempt at taking down their mortal enemies once and for all, using a combination of DNA from Jean-Luc Picard's body (Patrick Stewart) as a means to help biologically assimilate all younger Starfleet crew members and try to take down earth. While the Enterprise-D was once thought lost during the events of Star Trek: Generations (1994), Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) was able to restore it, having recovered the saucer section from Veridian III and rebuilt the remainder of the ship from salvaged parts.

With the TNG crew victorious, Frakes sees Riker with a promotion from captain: "The legacy series where Jeri Ryan was left in the captain's seat, and I imagine Riker would be an admiral by this point…" To update on the rest of the crew, Picard and Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) are admirals; the restored Data (Brent Spiner) is still a lieutenant commander; Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) is still a commander; and Worf (Michael Dorn) is captain.

For more on Frakes talking about Stewart, TNG, First Contact, Rob Reiner, Smallville, preference for directing, immersion, what Star Trek tech he wishes were a reality, Bruce Campbell, Lower Decks, and more, you can check out the entire interview.

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