Star Trek Picard: Brent Spiner is done with Data but not Star Trek

Brent Spiner hoped to put Data to rest for good in 2002, but he came back for one last cyborg hurrah in Star Trek: Picard but hopes to be done with the role.

Brent Spiner hopes to be done putting on the Data makeup and contacts after Star Trek: Picard. Speaking with TV Guide, Spiner spoke about hoping to never reprise his role as the fan-favorite android from the early ’90s.

"“I mean, there was just a finite amount of time that I can actually play Data, no matter what anyone says,” the actor said. “So many people were like, ‘Oh, you can do it. You’re not too old,’ and then I do it and they go, ‘You’re too old. Why’d you do it?”"

Warning, minor spoilers below.

While he’s hoping to be done with Data he’s not soured on Star Trek as a whole, revealing he’d be very interested in returning to Star Trek: Picard for season two, reprising the role of Altan Inigo Soong. “Absolutely,” he replied when asked about returning in Season 2.

"“I love working with all of the people on the show. The new cast is fantastic. Obviously, to still be working with Patrick is a dream. Now there’s a character that could conceivably go on and continue, so of course, I’d love to.”"

The fact that he still loves the Star Trek universe should come as a relief to many. It seems all too common for a former Trek actor to have some sort of complaint or grievance when they say such things about a character. Something tells me Malcolm McDowell isn’t itching to return anytime soon.

Sometimes people just don’t like the material they’re doing, or the character they’re playing. Which takes us back to Spiner. If he was so over the Data character, why did he agree to resurrect the android who died at the end of Star Trek: Nemesis? Well, Spiner had an answer to that as well.

"“I think we did it in such brief sequences that it was fine to do it, and I felt good about it,” Spiner went on to say. “…It seemed right to me to give him this more gentle sendoff, and it seemed right to me in the context of the entire season of Picard and what Picard himself had been experiencing because of the loss of Data. I think it allows him to feel okay about it too. So it seemed like the right thing to do.”"

Data got the ending he deserved twice now, and that’s something a lot of characters don’t get to say. Hopefully, fans are happy Data got such a sendoff, after all, he is one of the most beloved characters in the history of the Star Trek lore. While fans may be unhappy to hear that Spiner is truly done with the character, they should take solace in knowing that Spiner isn’t done with this universe.

Now if only Spiner would truly apologize for ruining Will Wheaton’s last action figure.