Brent Spiner Clarifies Data’s Role on Star Trek: Picard, and Why He Took the Role

Brent Spiner at Star Trek Las Vegas 2019

On Wednesday afternoon, Brent Spiner took to the stage at the Star Trek Las Vegas convention to talk about his career, his past experiences as Data (and later, B4), and some of his experiences shooting Star Trek: Picard.

While the majority of the interview-style panel was dedicated to Spiner’s career before, well, B4, he did talk a little about what to expect from the new Picard series. To begin, he clarified that he will not be a regular on the show, saying “Data did die at the end of Nemesis. [...] I do make appearances and Data’s story is part of the thread of [Star Trek: Picard].”

Later, Spiner took a question from an audience member, who asked: “What would you say is your biggest reason for returning to star Trek today?” Spiner replied, “Well, uh, they asked me, and they were very nice about it. But also, there's a couple more reasons, the pedigree of the writing staff was very difficult to say no to [...] And then there’s the fact that it was the opportunity to sit across from Patrick again and share that experience with him.”

He did acknowledge, though, that fan reaction was a factor. He said, “[It was] also you guys, because I really think that if it got into the wind that they had asked me to do it and I said no...you would not be coming to my show on Saturday night.”

He’s referring, of course, to the Saturday evening gala here at STLV, where he’ll be performing the show “In Search of Lost Time”, which features Spiner performing a selection of songs with a live band.

Tune in to Daily Star Trek News on Monday for more Picard information, following their panel in the Nimoy Theater on Saturday.