Dear Trekkies, we have to tell you something. Take a chair and sit down first. In honor of William T. Riker also crazy acrobatic. As franchise captain Alex Kurtzman confirmed to Den of Geek at the SXSW festival, the Starfleet badass played by Jonathan Frakes will not appear in Star Trek: Discovery until the series finale.
Riker’s absence is more impactful than one might think. This is actually the first time since the original Star Trek series that the Enterprise-D commander (and later captain) has not appeared in a Trek series. It’s hard to believe, but Riker was part of (of course) Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Picard. Fascinating!
Star Trek: The Riker Generation
Not even Patrick Stewart had that much to do in front of the camera as Captain Picard. So how is it that Riker is so omnipresent in Star Trek? Very easy: Jonathan Frakes is also very close to the franchise behind the scenes. Not only did he repeatedly squeeze into the red uniform of his series character, but he also directed every series since The Next Generation – including as part of Discovery.
Paramount
“What, I’m not there?!”
They would have had to involve time travel or something similar to bring Riker into Star Trek: Discovery, which is now set years after his lifetime. However, that has never stopped Star Trek so far. For example, in the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise, he appeared in the finale when it was revealed that Riker had viewed the episode’s plot as a holodeck simulation. Not even Frakes is a fan.
Technically, Riker wasn’t part of the old cartoon series The Enterprise either. Unless you count his animated saxophone appearance in last year’s Star Trek: Very Short Treks. And as far as Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are concerned, there is still time until the finale.
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When is the final season of Star Trek: Discovery airing?
The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery is on April 4, 2024 at Paramount+. The series finale will then go online on May 30, 2024 with the tenth episode of the season.