Jonathan Frakes on screen return wasn’t part of Picard season 1’s plan

It turns out, Jonathan Frakes started working on Star Trek: Picard with the understanding he’d never appear on screen, that did not hold true.

Jonathan Frakes wasn’t supposed to reprise Starfleet legend William Riker when he started working on Star Trek: Picard as a director. Frakes routinely directs episodes of Star Trek and has even sat in the directors chair for two of the Star Trek films. One of which (First Contact), is considered to be one of the greatest Star Trek films ever.

So it wasn’t surprising at all that Frakes was brought in to direct a few episodes of Picard. It was down right expected. Frakes directed the fourth and fifth episode of the first season, and direct was all he was supposed to do.

Then the series took their standard break and that’s when Frakes got a phone call he couldn’t refuse. The show runners called up Frakes and asked him if he wanted to return to the franchise and get his “Riker-on”. Riker revealed to TrekMovies about how his return to Star Trek as an actor came about.

"In what way? They always said they would have some people back, so wouldn’t you be near the top of that list?No. When the season was broken, we were sworn to secrecy that they were going to bring Data back, which I thought was great.  And maybe more surprising for the fans and better for the show, was bringing Jeri [Ryan as Seven] back, who’s never been better. And Jonathan [del Arco as Hugh] too. There was no plan for anybody else. It was clear from the beginning of the season, it was clear from  Patrick’s negotiation with them that he did not want this to be a reboot of Next Gen.So I was directing episodes four and five. The nightclub episode and the one with the nuns, a couple of great episodes. And Patrick was in fabulous form. And there was no mention of this “Nepenthe” story, which ended up being episode seven. Then somewhere late in the shooting of those two episodes, I guess there was a meeting about it, and then they called and said, “What do you think about doing this?” And I said, “What do you think I think?” [laughs] But it was not part of the plan. When they broke the season, there was no Rikers-in-the-cabin thing. It happened somewhere during a re-break. I don’t know, but I’m so grateful. And it was such a great episode and so well received."

The choice to bring back Riker was not just key in regards to the plot, it turns out, but it was also a big boost to the show that was not the smash-hit, Logan-esq series that CBS All Access was expecting it to be.

The move made a number of fans tune in and it softenede some ocriticisms that the show was receving. The show eventually did alright but still only holds a 56% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.