Brent Spiner’s idea for Adam Soong got shot down on Star Trek: Picard

Brent Spiner played Adam Soong on Star Trek: Picard in season two of the series.

Brent Spiner started out in Star Trek playing android Lt. Commander Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Since then, he’s played two other versions of androids—Lore and B4, and four versions of ancestors from the Soong family, including Dr. Noonien Soong, Dr. Arik Soong, Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, and Adam Soong. With Spiner returning to Star Trek: Picard in season three, he’ll ultimately be playing a different character, but it wouldn’t be surprising if that is yet another Soong family member.

Spiner has gotten comfortable playing the Soong characters and told Daily Star Trek News that playing one character wasn’t really different from playing the others as acting is acting. He went on to clarify that “You just try to find nuggets of truth where you can and try to make it believable. Most of it depends on how good the writing is.”

Brent Spiner did have an idea on how to make things a little more interesting on Star Trek: Picard.

When speaking of Adam Soong, Spiner said his child was his project. That prompted the interviewer to aske if Soong had a natural child. Spiner said the producers have never answerd that question, and it probably won’t be answered before going on to explain how Dr. Noonien Soong, Data, and Admiral Picard could become related.

"“It’s basically this: we’ve met Picard’s [ancestor, Renée, played by Penelope Mitchell]. If Soong impregnated Renée, in the future that would mean [Noonien] Soong and Data and Picard were actually related.”"

Executive Producer Akiva Goldsman immediately told Spiner to never say that again. But, when you think of it, weirder things have happened in the Star Trek franchise so it certainly wouldn’t have surprised any of us fans had that been a revelation on Picard. And wouldn’t it have been fitting to actually have Data and Picard related after how strong their connection had been for so many years?