Jonathan Frakes is ready to see William Riker take a seat in any future Star Trek appearances.
Star Trek has proven that they’re willing to bring back characters from over 30 or 40 years ago, no matter how old the actors playing them actually are. With Patrick Stewart in his 80s, it isn’t surprising at all to think that other actors and actresses, like Jonathan Frakes (71), who plays William Riker, would return. That said, Frakes isn’t looking to come back as a featured character.
No, Frakes wants to do as little acting as possible in any future involvement, citing a classic 1970s television show for how he’d like to see his character evolve in the not-so-distant future.
Frakes told Star Trek Explorer about his goal for the future, which is less acting and more directing. In fact, he could see his character, Will Riker, turning into a Charlie from Charlie’s Angels. Essentially, doing minimal acting, and allowing himself to focus more on directing future episodes of Star Trek, saying;
"In my mind, for the show to be able to move forward, Riker would have to be a captain and have his ship, or he would be promoted to admiral and be a liaison. I’m only half-kidding when I say it would be great for me if the show carries on and I’m like Charlie from Charlie’s Angels. They’d have to come to my office one day a week for a meeting with Riker. That’d be perfect. Then I could direct a bunch of the episodes and be around the show."
Jonathan Frakes is right to wind down time on screen in Star Trek
Frakes gets it. At 71, it’s fair to say he wants to do more rewarding things with his involvement in the Trek franchise than just get stuck in more of the same as we saw in Picard. Sure, it was neat to see everyone back for Picard, but is anyone going to argue that the sequel series to The Next Generation was anywhere near as magical as the original?
We’re not going to.
And if you can’t recapture the magic, don’t try. Picard’s third season was leaps and bounds better than its first two, but no one should argue that its quality is anywhere close to being what fans have come to expect, and for Frakes, why would you want to be involved in so much on-screen action when you’re better served helping future shows avoid the pitfalls that so many of the Nu Trek shows have hit?