Jonathan Frakes could be done with Star Trek in the not so distant future

Jonathan Frakes has been with Star Trek for nearly 40 consecutive years. He's one of the few, if only actors to appear on all four of the Berman-era shows, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. He also directed episodes for The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds, and the Star Trek-inspired series The Orville.

He's been a key for the franchise, directing not just every live-action show save for one, but also directing two of the featured films; First Contact and Insurrection. He's as Star Trek as anyone and may have actually contributed more to the franchise at this point in his career than Gene Roddenberry, though that's up for debate.

But his time with the franchise may be drawing to a close. He's finished with Discovery, wrapped up his portion of work on Strange New Worlds for season three, and now is not scheduled to do any more work for the franchise. According to ScreenRant, Frakes intends on directing for Strange New Worlds' fourth season, but with that so far out, who's to say if he will? He's also got a prior commitment that will hinder his ability to work on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

So it looks like Frakes is done with Star Trek, at least for now. It doesn't seem like the franchise wants him to be done, however. There are many fans and I'm sure many execs that wish Frakes was more involved. It's clearly not an issue with his work, as he keeps not only getting new assignments within the franchise but the most important ones.

After all, he was given the Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks crossover episode, "Those Old Scientists", and even with my dislike of Lower Decks, even I know he nailed that episode. Frakes is done with Star Trek in the short-term but it's very likely that he returns in the not-so-distant future for Strange New Worlds' fourth season (barring a whacky thing like the show getting canceled beforehand). Then, after that, we'll just have to wait and see what Frakes does next with whatever Star Trek project he's assigned.

How about one of those films we keep hearing so much about? He's quite talented, and he deserves one more crack at a feature project.