Star Trek: Discovery will be setting off on its maiden voyage with a little help from a friend. Jonathan Frakes, who played Commander William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation, will be directing an episode in the first season of the new CBS All Access series.
Following a particularly long and difficult development cycle, Discovery appears to finally be getting off the ground this fall. Starring Sonequa Martin-Green, Michelle Yeoh, and Jason Isaacs, the show is going back in time to before the legendary adventures of Kirk, Spock, and co. Martin-Green, who will be center stage as First Officer Michael Burnham, told Entertainment Weekly the following about her character, “I have an inner war, and it’s a journey of self-discovery and finding out what it means to be alive, to be human, to be a Starfleet officer, what it means to be a hero.”
Jonathan Frakes: From Actor to Director to Star Trek: Discovery
Throughout The Next Generation’s seven-season run (1987-1994), Frakes’ duty-bound but debonair first officer Cmdr. Riker charmed audiences, cemented his sci-fi cult status, and earned his own Urban Dictionary entry (for “Riker’s Beard”). After directing eight episodes of the classic series, Frakes went on to direct episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, as well as his own cast’s outings in the feature films Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection. Since then, he’s become a prolific television director, racking up credits on shows like Leverage, Castle, The Librarians, and NCIS: Los Angeles.
Whether his stint behind the camera on Star Trek: Discovery turns into a recurring gig remains to be seen, but Frakes is ready to head back to his sci-fi roots.
RED ALERT!!!https://t.co/zyz6wp649E
— Jonathan Frakes (@jonathansfrakes) June 29, 2017
And one of his former co-stars is backing him up.
I’ve worked with him. He knows his sh…business. https://t.co/H5hMAWm6nc
— Brent Spiner (@BrentSpiner) June 29, 2017
Star Trek: Discovery hits warp speed on September 24, with the first episode airing simultaneously on CBS and CBS All Access, and all subsequent episodes available on the subscription-based CBS All Access.
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