A familiar face is returning to the Star Trek franchise, except this time, he’ll be behind the camera.
Star Trek: Discovery, which is set to premiere this September, has brought Jonathan Frakes on board as a director for the series. Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation will of course recognize Frakes as one of that series’ main characters, Commander William T. Riker. As of right now, Frakes is only confirmed to direct one episode of the new show, but having any link to TNG — considered the best Star Trek series by many fans — is definitely a feather in Discovery‘s cap.
“Jonathan Frakes will rejoin the Trek world with Discovery,” series writer-producer Gretchen J. Berg told Entertainment Weekly. “He’s a fantastic guy and great director.” Discovery won’t mark the first time Frakes has directed Star Trek either, not by a long shot. He was in the director’s chair for eight episodes of TNG and three episodes each of Star Trek: Voyager and Deep Space Nine. He also directed the feature films Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection, as well as episodes from non-Star Trek series like Roswell, NCIS: Los Angeles, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Burn Notice, to name but a few.
No word yet on which episode of Discovery Frakes will helm, but the first of the series’ 15 season one episodes will premiere on CBS on September 24 before moving to the streaming service CBS All Access.
