The Real Star of Season 3 of 'Star Trek: Picard' Is Jonathan Frakes
Once a "nervous wreck," the actor behind TNG's "Number One" steals the show
Jonathan Frakes told an interviewer a few years ago that, heading into his small-but-pivotal appearance in the first season of Star Trek: Picard, that he had been a “nervous wreck” about returning as Will Riker after a nearly 20-year absence.
But the truth is that he needn't have worried.
Frakes has made a comfortable career behind the camera as a sought-after director and had hardly acted at all in that time.
But not only did he acquit himself nicely in brief appearances in Season 1, but those served as only a taste of what we would get now through Season 3.
The entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, from Patrick Stewart on down, always describes themselves as an “ensemble.”
While that may be largely true, it's equally correct to say that this TNG reunion this year has a break-out star. And, no it's not newcomer Ed Speleers.
Patrick Stewart may play the titular character, but it's been Jonathan Frakes who's been the glue that's held this season together.
We're only up to Episode 4 and Frakes' monologue as Riker talking about the death of his son and having his rapprochement with Picard left me in tears — before the title card even rolled.
To be sure, those of Frakes’ former Next Gen castmates we've seen so far — Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, as well as Stewart himself — have each distinguished themselves with their own dramatic turns.
The scenes between Stewart and McFadden, as Picard and Beverly respectively, will have to go down as some of the best work ever in Star Trek.
But, episode-for-episode — and even scene-for-scene — no one has commanded this season more, so to speak, than Frakes and his portrayal of Captain Riker.
I'm not the only one who's noticed, as Slash Film called out Frakes for his many abilities last week.
And, as that piece touched on, Frakes has pulled double duty, having directed this far both the third and fourth episodes of the season.
Who would have imagined that someday we would have gotten all this from that clean-shaven, baby-faced actor we met nearly 40 years ago in “Encounter At Farpoint”?
Not this fan who watches, pleasantly surprised and supremely impressed.
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