When J.J. Abrams rebooted the Star Trek franchise with his own iconic trilogy, he brought back quite a few actors from the original The Next Generation (TNG) series from the late ’80s along with the characters. But while the reboot saga included three of the best-ever pieces from the entire space opera, it failed to bring back one fan-beloved original character: Jonathan Frakes’ William T. Riker.
As it turns out, Frakes actually did want to return to the saga to reunite with other actors and characters from the original series, even if it was for a while. However, for some reasons unknown, things just didn’t work out the way Frakes would have wanted them to, and eventually, Abrams went ahead without him while working on his blockbuster reboot trilogy.
Jonathan Frakes Wanted to be in J.J. Abrams’ Reboot Trilogy
Back when 2009’s Star Trek came out to mark the first installment of J.J. Abrams‘ reboot film trilogy, fans were overjoyed but also disappointed about the lack of one key character from the original The Next Generation television series: William T. Riker. As it turns out, it wasn’t the actor who disapproved of the idea of reprising his iconic role.
According to what Jonathan Frakes, the actor who played this respective character, candidly shared in an interview with NBC 10 Philadelphia while talking about this reboot film series and the series from the ’80s, he was “very hopeful” of having the TNG crew reunited once again through Abrams’ reboot pieces.
Here are the exact words of what Frakes confessed to NBC 10 Philadelphia about returning via Abrams’ work:
I am very hopeful. I’m not sure where we would be – I happen to be a fan and a friend of J.J.’s and I think he’s rebooted the franchise in the most successful and wonderful way imaginable. And I’m really excited about the second movie.
Notably, this interview took place after the first movie, so Frakes was really hoping to make his appearance through the films that came after the Chris Pine-led 2009 masterpiece. But what’s even more disheartening than the fact that Frakes couldn’t return despite wanting to is how the actor even figured out a vague idea of how he could come back to the saga.
Jonathan Frakes Also Shared His Take on How He Could Return
During the same interview, Frakes also candidly let out the idea he had in mind of how he could come back to the fan-favorite world of ST through the reboot trilogy helmed by Abrams. He said:
I think maybe some version of what they did with Leonard Nimoy in the first movie would be the way to go: they would pepper in one of us. I would imagine they’d start with Picard if they could. It would involve our usual time travel/quantum anomaly/black hole/some sci‑fi version of how we all get there.
However, this idea of Frakes didn’t end up materializing either for reasons unknown (which is truly an unforgivable sin for all those Trekkies out there), leading to his character never being able to make his way into the reboot film series.
But, on the plus side, Frakes did return to reprise his role through Star Trek: Picard, so we guess fans just might end up forgiving Abrams after all.
You can stream The Next Generation on Netflix and Abrams’ Star Trek reboot movie trilogy on Paramount+.
