DAILY NEWSNYDailyNews.com Sunday, March 29, 2020 29
In the final frontier, no char-
acter ever really dies.
Just ask Brent Spiner.
In 2002’s “Star Trek Nem-
esis,” the actor bid farewell to
the character of Data when
the beloved android was
blown up after saving Cap-
tain Jean-Luc Picard and the
crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise.
Ti m e t rave l n e a r l y 2 0
years later, and Ol’ Yellow
Eyes is back playing opposite
Sir Patrick Stewart in the
CBS All Access series, “Star
Trek: Picard,” which ends its
first season Thursday.
“It was certainly unex-
pected,” Spiner told the Daily
News as the coronavirus kept
him self-isolated in Los An-
geles.
The 71-year-old was ini-
tially reticent to reprise the
role because he feared that,
after 18 years, he couldn’t pull
off a character who doesn’t
age.
“I am too old to play the
part,” he said bluntly.
That fear was nullified,however, when he was as-
sured some simple CGI trick-
ery would help make him
seem ageless. That didn’t,
however, erase all of Spiner’s
concerns. The character, he
argued, had a well-crafted
story arc over the years that
ended with his death, and he
was afraid of messing that up.
“I was not really confident
it was a good idea for me to do
it,” he said. “I was concerned
it would wipe out everything
we’d done before.”
However, once he learned
what the show’s creators had
in mind for the character, he
agreed.
“I bowed with respect to
the creators of this show, who
are all phenomenal talents,”
Spiner said. He was also
lured in to participate in the
new show by the chance of
getting to play another, dif-
ferent character.
In addition to Data, the
Texas-born actor also plays
Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, the
son of the scientist who cre-
ated the android. Spiner has,
in various incarnations of
Star Trek, played differentmembers of the Soong family.
This new role was a closely
held secret before the pre-
miere of the penultimate first
season episode last week.
“We all signed [non disclo-
sure agreements] which also
meant that if we revealed
anything we’d go to prison,
that was a heavy influence on
the secrecy,” Spiner joked.
But really, he added, we
“wanted the fans to have
so m e f u n s u r p r i s e s, a n d
didn’t want to give every-
thing away up front.”
Did he find keeping quiet
on his expanded role difficult
in this age of social media?
“I just lied,” he quipped
with his usual dry humor.
Getting the opportunity to
play a new role, and revisit an
old one, wasn’t the only thing
that brought Spiner to “Star
Trek: Picard.” It was the
chance to work once again
with Stewart.
“I wanted to work with
Patrick again,” he said.
One of the first scenes the
two filmed together for the
show had Data and Captain
Picard playing a game ofpoker in a recreated set from
“Star Trek: The Next Genera-
tion.”
“It was surreal,” Spiner
said. “I hadn’t looked at Cap-
tain Picard and he hadn’t
looked at Data in 18 years,
and there we were looking at
each other again.”
The reunion was emo-
tional for both him and Stew-
art, he said.
“There were many differ-
ent feelings going on,” he
said. It was “odd, and emo-
tional and wonderful and
strange, it was all of the
above.”Of course, as unique as it
was for the two actors to re-
unite on the small screen in
these iconic roles, the two
have always remained close.
In fact, the entire “Next Gen-
eration” cast has famously
maintained a close-knit rela-
tionship for more than 30
years.
“We do actually get to-
gether fairly often,” Spiner
said. “If not all of us at the
same time, we all see each
other individually quite a
bit.”
What’s the secret to their
friendship? Laughter.
“When we were doing the
series we were on sound
stages almost every day for
almost 10 months, and we
laughed all day long,” he said.
“We all amused each other,
and we still do, and that’s
gone a long way and I think
we’ll all probably be friends
forever.”
Li k e t h a t f r i e n d s h i p,
Spiner believes Star Trek,
too, will endure the test of
time.
“I think Star Trek will go
on forever,” he said.Brent Spiner plays Dr. Altan Inigo Soong
(above) and reprises his role as Data in the
new CBS All Access series “Star Trek:
Picard,” which stars Patrick Stewart (below)
as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard.AARON EPSTEIN/CBS
BY MICHAEL SHERIDAN
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