Popverse's top stories

• Watch the Hell’s Kitchen Returns: Daredevil: Born Again with Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, Elden Henson, & Wilson Bethel from Chicago's C2E2!
• How Swamp Thing will enter the Something is Killing the Children universe, according to James Tynion IV
• Disgaea Mayhem adds the chaos of Dynasty Warriors to the JRPG classic series

Jonathan Frakes has a unique perspective on Star Trek. He’s played William Riker in multiple projects, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: First Contact, and Star Trek: Voyager. He’s also directed numerous Star Trek projects, including selected episodes of Starfleet Academy, Discovery, and Strange New Worlds. For Frakes, the most surprising part about directing Trek is the relationship he’s formed with the new cast members.

“What I found interesting in doing the new shows, Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and Starfleet Academy,” Jonathan Frakes revealed during a Star Trek panel at MegaCon 2026, “[is that] I’m just beginning to realize how old I am, and my sort of place in our family. We welcome all these people into our family, and we all get to know them because they do the cons with us, and we’re on the cruise together with them, and panels with them.”

He continued, “So, they’re new friends, and they’re also new family members, and they’re fascinated about what it means, because a lot of them don’t get it. And you say it, frankly, your life is going to change. And they say, nah, bullshit. Talk to me in a couple of years. But it’s going to change, it’s going to change for the better, and you’re going to be a member of this family. Shatner is our godfather. And now I see them and I go back to work with them in the season later and they say, boy, you were right. And people embrace it with different degrees of fondness and comfort.”

Frakes' work on the multiple Star Trek shows can be seen on Paramount+.

Space may be the final frontier, but there's no end to Popverse's love of the Star Trek universe. Hop aboard the starship Enterprise with our Star Trek watch order, explore strange new worlds with our upcoming Star Trek TV shows and movies list, seek out the new life of the franchise, and boldly go where no Star Trek film has ever gone before - with Quentin Tarantino?