Frakes has been a hard-working and prolific TV director since his days on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” He has worked on almost every Trek show ever since, as well as shows like “Leverage,” “Roswell,” “Castle,” and “The Librarians.” In the Variety interview, he reminisced on his first days on “Discovery,” having helmed the first-season episode “Despite Yourself” (January 7, 2018). He said that being welcomed into the world of New Trek offered him a new old home. When word came down that his season finale was to be a series finale, Frakes was taken aback:
“I directed the first half of the finale of season five, which turned out to be the real finale. So that was a very emotional end as well. When we did it, we didn’t know it was the end. And then [executive producer] Olatunde Osunsanmi had to go back up and do two or three days of new stuff to actually make the finale the finale.”
While it’s always sad to see a show go, it seems that the makers are willing to wistfully bid “Discovery” farewell. Most fans’ attention, at least at the moment, are geared toward the outrage over the deletion of “Prodigy” and the possibility of a “Star Trek: Picard” spinoff called “Star Trek: Legacy,” not currently in production. On that last point, Frakes is very keen, saying:
“I think they can’t deny not only the fan reaction, [or] the fact that the numbers put the show at the Top 10 on the streaming charts. […] I believe in a perfect world, they will find the assets and the energy and hire [‘Picard’ showrunner] Terry [Matalas] to put together this ‘Legacy’ show and that will, in fact, come to fruition.”
Its fate remains to be seen.