Jonathan Frakes doesn’t think Star Trek has future in the movies
By Dan Selcke
There are approximately 30,000 Star Trek TV shows running right now, including Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Prodigy, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Lower Decks. But they haven’t been able to get a new Star Trek movie going in years, despite many attempts since Star Trek Beyond came out in 2016. And according to series mainstay Jonathan Frakes (Riker), that may just be something the fandom has to accept.
“Movies are tough!” Frakes told SFX Magazine. “Even JJ [Abrams] can’t get this fourth movie off the ground. All those wonderful rumors? Noah Hawley was attached to a ‘Star Trek’ movie, and Quentin [Tarantino] was toying with people’s emotions about doing a movie. If those two names can’t get a f****** movie made, I don’t know. TV is the future, it seems to me.”
TV is also the present, as it happens.
Jonathan Frakes: “TV is the future [of Star Trek]”
Not only has Frakes been playing Riker for decades, including on the upcoming third and final season of Star Trek: Picard, but he’s also directed several episodes of Star Trek over the years, as well as two Star Trek movies and many other projects besides. As someone who’s been on both sides of the camera, he has a good perspective on where the franchise is going.
And he thinks Riker may have a future even after this next season of Picard, which gathers a lot of old cast from The Next Generation back together. “I hope the road leads to another series,” Frakes said. “The setup is there clearly, as you’ll see, by the end of the season. It all seems to me that the characters in this final season of ‘Picard,’ should it work out, are primed for another journey. I’m certainly optimistic. I think it may be the end of the ‘Picard’ story, but I’m not sure it’s the end of the ‘Next Generation’ story. That’s the vibe. I’m an eternal optimist. I’m sure it’s what [showrunner] Terry [Matalas] would like!”
The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard premieres on Paramount+ on February 16.
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