“Yeah, that’s the point: you didn’t think.”
It’s disheartening to hear that one of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s actors was actually let down by other members of the cast, but that’s unfortunately the case here. TNG's Marina Sirtis shared her story while appearing on The Show People Podcast With Andrew Keates, in which she voiced her disappointment with some of her TNG co-stars, during one of the most difficult times in her life: the death of her husband: Michael Lamper.
Lamper passed away on December 8, 2019, which coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and took place well before The Next Gen cast reunited in season 3 of Picard (2023). Sirtis recalled feeling isolated, and that’s when she was asked about the well-known, tight-knit nature of the TNG cast over the years. Unfortunately, it seems that connection was severed. Sirtis said:
“I actually said to my Star [Trek TNG cast members], not Michael [Dorn], not Jonathan [Frakes], but a couple of the others, I went, 'You know, you broke my heart.' And they were like, 'What?' And I said, ‘Well, you know, you’ve all got swimming pools.’”
Sirtis continued by saying:
“I’m the only one in the whole cast who didn’t have a swimming pool. You all have swimming pools. That’s a huge outside space. And did it ever occur to you to like go, ‘Well, Michael’s died, Marina’s on her own, let’s have her over for a glass of wine. We can socially distant outside.’ No. And they went, ‘Oh, we didn’t think.’ And I went, ‘Yeah, that’s the point: you didn’t think.’”
For the record, as so many Trekkies already know, Sirtis and Frakes share a very special on and off-screen Imzadi relationship. And back in December 2025, Sirtis posted on social media just how much her TNG co-star means to her, not to mention how Frakes was there for her after Lamper’s death: “Jonathan was one of the few people who checked up on me all the time.”
I never tire of watching the video of Sirtis describing her Imzadi relationship with Frakes, but I’m really sad to hear of her disappointment with many of her other TNG co-stars.
As a lifelong Star Trek fan, one of the things I always appreciated was how that particular cast of actors got along so well over the years, especially when one considers the turmoil that entrenched The Original Series players, particularly William Shatner and George Takei’s relationship.
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Live long and prosper, Trekkies!