How Star Trek: Picard got Brent Spiner back to play an android

Star Trek: Picard showrunner wasn’t sure Brent Spiner would agree to return to the franchise.

Brent Spiner has played Data, B-4, and Lore, all androids in the Star Trek universe, and he’s previously said he was done playing them, mostly because of his age. Also, Data had two memorable deaths, one in Star Trek: Nemesis when he saved then Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s life and the other at the end of season one of Star Trek: Picard with Picard by his side. So Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas wasn’t sure he’d be able to convince him to return as Data or any of the other android characters. But what was a Star Trek: The Next Generation reunion without Data?

In a conversation with Collider, Matalas said he knew they couldn’t just magically bring Data back to life, but there were other creative options that hadn’t been explored, especially in the way of B-4 and Lore, who Matalas called a “dangling chad.” Then he started speculating about a final android that was almost perfectly human, much like Admiral Picard is now but could still look like Spiner.

Brent Spiner wasn’t only interested in Terry Matalas’ idea, he brought some ideas of his own to the character.

Knowing the dynamic that existed between Data and Lore, Matalas thought of a Jekyll and Hyde type of character where both brothers existed in one android.

"“What if it was Jekyll and Hyde? What if both Lore and Data [were] in there with all these other things? Wouldn’t that give Brent Spiner something really interesting to play? And couldn’t that promise a really interesting final Data/Lore story? I took that to Brent thinking he was going to reject the whole thing, and he was like, “Oh, that’s actually really cool.” Brent was unbelievably collaborative with it, and Brent had ideas that only elevated it in ways I couldn’t have imagined. In fact, some of the best moments of this story were Brent’s idea.”"

Even though Matalas though Spiner would ultimately reject the idea, Spiner surprised him by jumping on board and sharing some input of his own. And thus Data, B-4, and Lore all in one body was born…or created, rather. And knowing how both the brothers interact with one another and the hesitancy of B-4, Spiner has his hands full playing three characters in one. But the brief scene we saw in “The Bounty” already tells us he’s up to the task.