Posted in: Apple, Star Trek, streaming, TV | Tagged: AppleTV, foundation, paramount, Roxann Dawson, star trek, Star Trek Picard, star trek: discovery, star trek: voyager

Voyager: Roxann Dawson Explains Directing Foundation Over Star Trek

Star Trek: Voyager star Roxann Dawson on choosing to direct the AppleTV+ series Foundation over a return to the long-running franchise.

The Star Trek franchise has been a fertile ground for creativity on so many levels, from production assistant-turned-showrunner as in the case of Picard's Terry Matalas to actors-turned-directors in Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, LeVar Burton, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Jonathan Frakes, among others. Another prodigal child of the franchise in Voyager star Roxann Dawson, who played Maquis-turned Starfleet Klingon/human Chief Engineer Lt. B'Elanna Torres, turned to direct during the UPN series' original run starting with the season six episode "Riddles" and seventh and final season's "Workforce, Part II." Dawson would continue to do both since the series' end in 2001, including the final Trek series of the syndicated era Enterprise, and other popular sci-fi/supernatural/fantasy shows Charmed, Lost, Heroes, and more. With her final role to date in the cable TV series The Closer on TNT in 2011, she would fully dedicate her time to directing.

As the opportunity arose to return to direct Star Trek in the Paramount+ era, Dawson contemplated before picking the AppleTV+ sci-fi series. "I have thought about it, and they have kindly also come to me about a few of the shows, but I think at the time they were starting to come out, I hadn't done science fiction in a while, and I was trying to move away from that — I didn't feel a need to go back," she told SlashFilm while promoting Foundation season two. "And then this science fiction show ['Foundation'] came up, so this was the first science fiction that I'd done in a while."

Dawson hasn't turned a complete blind eye to the newer Paramount+ Star Trek shows. Several Voyager stars have returned to the franchise in some capacity, along with alum from the other shows, including Kate Mulgrew (Janeway) and Robert Beltran (Chakotay) on the animated Prodigy; actor-turned-director Robert Duncan McNeill (Paris) on the animated Lower Decks; and Jeri Ryan (Seven) and Tim Russ (Tuvok) appeared in the live-action Picard. Should Prodigy find a new home for season two, we'll see Robert Picardo (The Doctor) also return.

"And I remember, I probably shouldn't say this, but one of the first things ['Foundation' creator David Goyer] said to me, he goes, 'You know, we're not going to be shooting 'Trek' here," Dawson recalled. "This is not 'Star Trek.' I went, 'Yes, I understand. I understand.' And I was kind of like, 'Well, have you really seen 'Star Trek?" The current versions of 'Star Trek' I think are wonderful. I've seen 'Discovery,' [and] I've seen 'Picard.' I think there's such wonderful and modern work being done there right now that we really can't categorize it in the way that we might have in the '90s. But no, I haven't really wanted to go back. I feel like I've been there, and I've done that, and I love moving on to other things. So that's where I am at with it." Foundation season two is available on AppleTV+. Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.

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