After Brent Spiner’s character Data died in Star Trek: Nemesis, he initially parted ways with the Star Trek franchise. However, with the birth of Star Trek: Picard on Paramount+, Spiner returned to reprise his role along with his old pals Patrick Stewart and LeVar Burton. This marked a 20-year reunion for the physical cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Since their final collaboration in 2002’s Nemesis, following the conclusion of The Next Generation series in 1994, the cast has maintained a close bond. Notably, Brent Spiner shares a strong connection with his co-star LeVar Burton.
This One Person’s Vibe Perfectly Matched Brent Spiner’s
Brent Spiner and LeVar Burton ended up spending a considerable amount of time together on Star Trek: Picard, and luckily, their off-screen vibe was a perfect match.
Towards the end of the show, Spiner’s Data and Burton’s Geordi share touching moments, underscoring their strong bond and collaborative spirit on the USS Enterprise. In an interview with TV Guide, Spiner revealed further,
Well, on-screen it works because it is just that aspect of humanity that Data’s able to explore more fully, and that’s friendship. And he’s able to explore it and understand it more fully through his relationship with Geordi. Off-screen, I just vibe with the guy.
In the end, Brent Spiner and LeVar Burton’s on-screen magic in Star Trek: Picard owes much to their off-screen buddy vibe. As Data and Geordi, they bring heart and humor to the show, reminding the fans why they fell in love with their characters in the first place.
Patrick Stewart Rooting for Brent Spiner to Win an Emmy For This Star Trek Performance
However, there is one more person with whom Brent Spiner’s vibe matches and that is, Patrick Stewart. In Stewart’s autobiography, Making It So: A Memoir, he openly praises Spiner’s portrayal of Data. Stewart particularly recalls the emotional impact of the episode The Offspring where Data experiences the loss of his self-built android daughter.
For Stewart, this episode solidified Spiner’s talent as a great actor. As Stewart reflects on other Data-centric moments he said,
Brent Spiner’s performance is staggeringly good — he found new depths to his character’s Pinocchio-like predicament of being a human invention who wishes to become human. It’s a major injustice to me that Brent has never won an Emmy for playing Data, not to mention the androids Lore and B-4 and the bizarre Soong family of mad scientists.
The bond shared by the cast members was truly remarkable. It was two decades in the making, that Star Trek brought everyone together again in the third and final season of the Paramount+ spinoff, Star Trek: Picard. Fans couldn’t be more happier.
Star Trek: Picard is streaming on Paramount+
