Jonathan Frakes Wanted To Be In J.J. Abrams Star Trek, And He Should Have Been
Love it or hate it, there’s no question that J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek put the franchise back in the limelight in a way it hadn’t been in the aftermath of Enterprise‘s 2005 finale. The rebooted/ prequel films definitely got folks all talking about Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, and Sulu again. And though Leonard Nimoy did find a way into the first movie, some other Star Trek folks like Jonathan Frakes wanted in on the action as well.
Back in a 2012 interview with NBC 10 Philadelphia, Jonathan Frakes tossed out his thoughts about The Next Generation crew putting in an appearance in a future Star Trek movie that J.J. Abrams was cooking up. Although his idea would have made sense, was the world ready for (new) Captain Kirk and (old) Captain Picard or William Riker to appear on screen together again?
Jonathan Frakes said at the time, “I am very hopeful. I’m not sure where we would be – I happen to be a fan and a friend of J.J.’s and I think he’s rebooted the franchise in the most successful and wonderful way imaginable. And I’m really excited about the second movie. I think maybe some version of what they did with Leonard Nimoy in the first movie would be the way to go: they would pepper in one of us (TNG crew).”
Jonathan Frakes continued, “I would imagine they’d start with Picard if they could. It would involve our usual time travel/quantum anomaly/black hole/some sci‑fi version of how we all get there.”
How cool would that have been? Obviously, the original Star Trek and The Next Generation take place in the same universe, so it could theoretically happen if time/dimensional travel is on the table for Abrams.
Though the Kelvinverse went out on its one timeline, having Jonathan Frakes or even Patrick Stewart‘s Jean-Luc Picard brought into the mix could have worked. Even in cameo roles, they could have helped tie the new Kelvin timeline movies to the Star Trek: The Next Generation series and give fans a sense of continuity between the film and TV universes. There were clearly issues with the latter.
Though it would have been simply fan service, the time travel piece from the first movie already had roots. Overdoing it on that front can have massive diminishing returns, but remember, this was long before we got the Picard series from Paramount. At the time of the second J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie, it had been more than a decade since the last The Next Generation movie. For a franchise looking for a kickstart, they fumbled it hard after the first movie.
The Kelvin Timeline Star Trek movies petered out by the third one mostly because it had failed to really get even hardcore franchise fans all the way bought back in on the stories. Would it have maybe been a bit hacky to just have those movies a carousel of old Star Trek faces like Jonathan Frakes and company? Maybe, and with how things worked out with Picard I suppose it’s tough to argue the latter.
But bringing Jonathan Frakes and company into the mix sooner than later likely would have kicked up significantly more fan interest.
Star Trek Into Darkness did pay service to previous franchise storylines, but it was through Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan. We didn’t get Jonathan Frakes or any other faces from the past.
