It’s looking like another Star Trek: The Next Generation star could be headed to Star Trek: Picard.
Ahead of her appearance in for a GalaxyCon virtual panel on Sunday, Gates McFadden talked with TrekMovie about how Beverly Crusher’s character changed over the course of TNG, and not for the better.
The character [had] become matron-like, and it was just weird. I was no longer really the love interest of Picard and that was one of the primary things—I was hired by Gene [Roddenberry] himself as the love interest of Picard. That got changed. And that wasn’t changed by me.
Has she been tapped to appear on Star Trek: Picard season two?
Well, I don’t know. There’s a good chance, let’s put it that way. But I have no contract signed.
And could that relationship factor back in?
I think that Patrick made a decision at some point that he was opening it up to other relationships in our show, and in the movies, certainly. So I can’t imagine that it’s suddenly going to be different, but it doesn’t mean that there’s not a relationship there. Obviously, from our all of our scenes, there is a relationship and that’s great. So who knows? I have no clue, but it would it would be lovely.
Gates McFadden and Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: Nemesis
When asked if she had put any thought into what Dr. Crusher might be doing 20 years after Nemesis, McFadden didn’t want to get too specific.
I have, but it doesn’t mean anything, because it’s going to be what the writers have… I hate to ever say anything because then I think it kind of jinxes stuff in a way. But I think she definitely would be somebody who was very engaged in the world and trying to make it a better place. I would not see her as somebody retiring. And you know—she obviously raised a kid while she was a full-on command officer, so I think the sky’s the limit in terms of what her life could be. This is the way I feel about my life now. I’m endlessly fascinated with a million things that I would like to study more and do more and get, I find the world is endlessly fabulous with which to engage, so who knows?
If McFadden does show up in the second season of Star Trek: Picard, she will not be the only TNG alumnus who does so. LeVar Burton indicated he was in talks with the show’s producers, and Marina Sirtis recently told TrekMovie she is hoping to return, following her season one appearance with Jonathan Frakes. Frakes is also hoping to come back, possibly as Captain Riker. And both Patrick Stewart and executive producer Akiva Goldsman have strongly hinted that Brent Spiner will be returning as Dr. Alton Soong. But the only confirmed TNG guest actor in season two of Star Trek: Picard so far is Whoopi Goldberg, reprising her role as Guinan.
Read the rest of our exclusive interview with Gates McFadden.
Keep up with all the Star Trek: Picard news, reviews, and analysis at TrekMovie.com.
Hope we get to see Captain Crusher behind a powerful starship (not a partially armed hospital ship). Perhaps she is engaged in quadrant-wide relief efforts to multiple Romulan colonies and other worlds.
Why is “power” equated with arms? Boo.
So it can defend itself and not need to be rescued by a 31 yr old alternate Enterprise D as seen in All Good Things
After 50+ years of pew-pew-pew semi-military starships patrolling borders and battling empires, it’s a little late to be booing that aspect of Star Trek.
She will be in mourning when she finds out that Picard is dead and gone forever.
I remember when everyone here was convinced that SHE was dead and gone forever, simply because they didn’t mention her in season 1.
It would be fun to see her interact with the Rios EMH aboard La Sirena, since we know she would never be caught dead using an EMH herself. But I doubt she’ll have anything more than a cameo.
Actually, it would be sweet if Picard, who could never give Beverly his mechanical heart on TNG, fell in love with her again now that he’s completely mechanical. Then he can show her that he is “fully functional”.
I’m pretty sure I had something clever and insightful to add to the discussion but by the time I’d scrolled through the endless pages of ads I’d totally forgot what I was going to say. To be honest I’ve no idea any more which article I clicked on. This is Trekmovie right??
It’s very odd. Not sure how many ads there are on this page, but on a story yesterday, I counted exactly 400 (not an exaggeration).
Try ublock origin.
I dont say that to harm trekmovie but 400… This is wrong
I don’t see any ads. And yes, I have an ad-blocker and will keep it, thank you very much ;-)
There would be some irony that fully human Picard ditched her and things did not work out versus with golumn Picard.
LOL
Is she still in love; with Mr. Roboto: is she still, is she still…. (apologies to Styx)
Or maybe just swinging with an Orion trader who’s hung like an elephant.
No, still don’t need this to be a reunion show.
What a Fortune that a TV Show isnt medicine
Android Old Picard = no more ED issues, because as Data got the Emotion Chip, Android Old Picard got the Viagra Chip!
Don’t forget the testosterone upgrade. Please report robotic erections lasting longer then four weeks to your engineering department to avoid permanent damage to vital sub routines.
LOL
Sub routines? Is BDSM a thing in century 24? (probably only in SUB ROSA, though that’s another s7 I’ve never watched all the way through.)
Picard does have a collections of riding crops now. Maybe he has a custom saddle for Beverly, too…. :-)
She couldn’t deal with having an emotional relationship with a Trill; probably can’t deal with a synthdroid either.
That’s very funny (and you’re most likely correcf).
Beverly Crusher simply MUST be a part of Picard because she was an integral and intimate part of Picard’s life! I hope that the wwriters and producers respect and reflect that in her appearance- shoulld she receive one.
Maybe that relationship ended badly. Very, very, badly.
Beverly: Picard, you sonofa bitch!!
Picard: Still upset, Beverly?
Beverly: Bite me! (phasers off his right arm)….stomps off.
Why was she not in Picard season 1? Where is she?
Do you want a Bond-style GENERATIONS-oriented response? “She’s coming … Tuesday.”
She was not in season one because the story didn’t involve her. It’s that simple. Crusher was always a secondary character on TNG, and not one of the more interesting or well-acted ones. I’d enjoy seeing her return, but if she doesn’t, the show would do just fine without her.
Has anyone read the novella “Q are Cordially Uninvited”? Even if the 1st season of Picard did not need her, I felt like we should have at least had a line or something explaining wear she is. Aren’t they supposed to be married?
How’s this for a line – she’s dead.
Right. But still, Picard doesn’t even mention Beverly or the others. Wish they give us something. With so many extreme decisions from the executive producers, the writers cannot make a long term plan. They can abruptly cancel the show at anytime.
The writers need to come up with last minute ideas and stories.It is very unfortunate. Beverly was by his side at all times.
Wow having Crusher back on the show could bring up a whole host of potential plot twists and storylines. Remember in The Host, she was okay with the trill male host, but in the end when the new host is female the show ends with her saying (and I paraphrase) “Perhaps one day our ability to love won’t be so limited”. If she returns next season, she wil be faced with an android version of Picard. Interesting!
If she returns she might wanna find out if Picardbot is fully functional. 😉
Hahaha yeah I forgot about Tasha and Data!
Come on now, there will have to have been a few improvements in 24th century adult toys…
who needs toys when you have the holodeck? it’s even explicit with the way quark runs things…. though i suppose maybe you’d want something on standby if they were all booked up!
Rom!! Mop and a bucket to Holosuite 3!! NOW!!
i hope season 2 mirrors season one as being a full on 10 part focused story and not broken into stand alones or multiple arcs… that’s a lot of potential returnees to fill a single story… beverly would totally be doing important work somewhere… she better not be making pizza and semi retired… not that i disliked riker and trois appearance… that totally worked…
and all the ex tng’ers also can’t be so important that they could have helped picard on his mission in season 1.
Well, the out there was that Picard didn’t want to risk his friend’s lives. And by the time he reached out to the Rikers, it was desperate indeed.
i know.. ive seen the season 3x lol… but if Beverly is the head of starfleet medical for instance he would have reached out to her… they could have squeezed her in when he asked his old dr from the stargazer to approve him for space travel… that must have been on the table at some point you think?
“I think that Patrick made a decision at some point that he was opening it up to other relationships in our show”
So it was Stewart’s request?
Stewart’s ideas aren’t always the best for the character – although in this case, maybe they were. That said, he’s had some bad ideas. And that’s why there were concerns before this new series – I wasn’t worried about the dog, I was worried about bad ideas and turning the character into Stewart.
There’s two fields actors should be fully ignored and kept out of, since they are utterly clueless about them: writing and politics!
There are actors who are also successful writers, such as Simon Pegg, Jordan Peele, Brit Marling, Jon Favreau. There are probably a lot more that are just less famous.
On the other hand, there are also quite a lot of actor-politicians. Besides more local levels of politics, the US has had actors as governors, senators and even presidents, many of them running for the Republican Party. Some may argue that the US has some of sort of reality TV actor as president right now and it has certainly been suggested that he is utterly clueless about the job. On average, actors are probably no more or less clueless about politics than most other people (this is just a guess, not based on any sociological study).
Usually agree, VS, but here there is genuine evidence to contrary, just off the top of my head with Robert Culp and Dirk Bogarde, who were excellent writers. The former wrote what probably ranks as among the best I SPY eps of the bunch, and that’s saying something.
And I think Orson Welles (who could do everything) often wished he had gone into politics instead of staying in entertainment, because he recalled that if he had accepted a certain nomination in Wisconsin and won, he would have kept Joseph McCarthy from happening. Now that’s a great ‘what if’ scenario, an FDR confidante and devotee with worldwide recognition defeating the guy most responsible for the blacklist and the witch hunts.
Then again, I’d’ve voted Bonzo for president over his idiotic and malicious co-star Reagan.
Enough is enough!
LET THE NEW CREW STAND ON THEIR OWN!
I agree. Ditch the old robot!!
And this comes with zero surprise. I figured everyone would be back eventually. But I honestly did not think it would all happen in the first two seasons. So far the only hold out is Worf. And ironically he is the only TNG character I would be interested in revisiting!
Worf deserves his own show, seriously. If Sisko still with the Prophets (Brooks still not interested), he can easily take the lead and bring DS9 back to life. #BringBackIraStevenBehrTeam
I would not say “no” to a Worf led show…. On 2nd thought I might if Secret Hideout was making it….
Do most people agree that Picard’s actual consciousness was transferred to the Golem? His spirit, if you will. So it is still HIM. Just like the transporters are sending YOU, not killing you and making a new you?
Unless they transferred his actual brain into the android body, then I would have to say that it is a copy and the real, original Picard is dead. And we know they would not have transferred his brain as that is where his Irumodic Syndrome was located due to that small structural defect in his parietal lobe.
Consciousness, spirit, soul, … call it what you will. But who says this is strictly located in the brain?
If we want to keep watching the show then there is little choice – we have just got to see it this way. I think it was a completely unnecessary thing to do, turn him into a robot. However I reckon the reason they did this is because if Patrick Stewart pulls the pin on the show, or dies or something, then the showrunners can use Picard as a robot as a reason to download his consciousness into a new body to keep the show going.
I would love to see Beverly return. An interesting (sub) story line could be woven around her reaction to finding out Picard is no longer Human.
Would have been a good chance when he needed a Doctor. 🤦🏻♂️
But Gates looks absolutely fabulous, would love to see her appear.
Bring back Dr. Pulaski. That would be interesting!
Really? For some reason, I never found interest in this character.
I am doing my first rewatch of TNG. And I found Pulaski to be far more interesting the 2nd time around than I did the first time. She was WAY more interesting in that one season than Crusher was in her 6.
Will check again to see if I have the same reaction.
I keep reading that Picard is not dead. Chabon and Kurtzman are telling us that it was a memory transfer from his human to his new Golumn body. But come on, sadly to say, our Picard is gone.
I need a more valid explanation. The way it was explained need more details. I feel we now have a copy with his memories, like Data, unfortunately.
Very surprised Beverly was not in the first season. From STGN we see her in her own ship. But I really hope that we can see her as Admiral Beverly Crusher.
After finding out what happened to him, I would like to see everyone in S2. A reunion for the next challenge or a funeral to begin including all STNG characters.
I would like to see no changes for Dr. Crusher. No extremes like Seven. She could bring back more depth in Picard and his relationship with the old and the new cast. Also, bring along Nurse Ogawa and Wesley.
There’s never any mention of whether Michael Dorn will or will not appear in “Picard.”
Which is unfortunate as he was the only character I found interesting in the cast. If the show was a Worf show, there was a greater chance it would be a good episode. “New Ground” was a stinker but in general the Worf shows were among the best.
I always enjoyed New Ground. Each to his own I suppose.
HEART OF GLORY is still my favorite Worf show. NEW GROUND is one of a dozen or 15 TNGs I have never ever gotten all the way through, not even a single time (should make a list, there are s2 — deaf mediator — and s7 eps — ship is a train? — in there as well.)
We agree on how good Heart of Glory was. I’m stunned that it was a first season episode. I consider is a top 5 TNG overall episode.
New Ground was one of a bunch of episodes that were evidence of why it is monumentally foolish to have children permanently living on a star ship.
Beverly is going to be really thrilled when she finds out that JLP is programmed in multiple techniques.
Perhaps a but off topic but I don’t know if it’s me or the new format but the new posts are no longer a different shade. It was nice to scroll down and easily see the new posts.
Yes I agree, not to mention a broken edit function and zillions of ads which I’m sure has scared off a lot of eye-balls.
For me, the shading of new posts didn’t work correctly even before the update to the comment section. I sometimes search by date to find new posts. However, since I’m in a completely different time zone the date I last visited the site doesn’t necessarily match with the server date.
Always thought it was a missed opportunity in that early episode of Picard where the Doctor visits to inform Picard of his worsening condition. Beverly was the one who told him there was a chance of the illness in the final TNG episode. It would have been a powerful moment if she came to visit him and confirm that both their worst fears from that day have been realized and he is in fact terminally ill from the syndrome, but with her “He’s Jean Luc Picard and if he wants to go on one last mission then that is what we are going to do” mentality, cleared him for the mission anyway. Instead it was Dr David Paymer, which while still a nice scene didn’t carry any of the poignancy that it would have if it was Beverly.
hard agree.
I was fine with it. People move on. Why would Crusher be nearby Picard at this point in her life? Riker retired to an entirely different planet! I thought it completely reasonable he formed relationships with members of his other crew. Perhaps his doctor friend from the Stargazer retired to to Earth as well and he could easily beam in to check on him while it would have been much more difficult for Crusher. I think it would have felt forced given that Data already appeared in the episode and we knew Riker and Troi were coming. Further Riker’s appearance felt a little more organic to the needs of the story.
There is this other article on Trekmovie with a long video chat between Michael Chabon and Patrick Stewart. In it Chabon talks about their approach to using legacy characters which kind of mirrors what you are saying here: Just because they needed a doctor in that episode doesn’t mean they would bring back the doctor from TNG if any other doctor was working just as well.
It’s still surprising she wasn’t even referenced in the first season. She was the closest to Picard out of everyone.
But it’s great news we may see her again next season so I’m happy! :)
It really does sound like next season is going to be a pretty big TNG reunion so far if all the people who says they have been asked to come back actually does. I’m still hoping more VOY/DS9 characters so up too. I mean at this point, why not? It will only convince more people to subscribe.
The fanbase for 90s Trek is somewhat small these days isn’t it?
If this was something that vastly increases subscriptions then that seems to imply that a decision to greenlight HD VOY and DS9 is a good idea after all. I suspect though this will not be the case.
I would love to see Q return in the Picard series. Remember he said he would be watching. I think its time for him to return. I wonder if John DeLance would consider reprising the role
I think we will eventually see Q show up again. It would be crazy considering how popular he is. But I doubt he will be in Picard next season.
Assuming that Lower Decks is more episodic a return of Q might fit better there. Also, they often used Q to introduce some levity which would also fit with Lower Decks.
There were already clues to Q being a background (unseen but influencing events) character in Season 1 IMO. Time will tell!