At Destination Star Trek last weekend, Brent Spiner expressed his surprise at being asked to return to Star Trek, but said that eventually, they made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

StarTrek.com brings us the story from Spiner’s panel, that he told the audience he thought he was done with the Data character, after the events of Nemesis. “We had been told in almost no uncertain terms by Paramount Pictures, that this was going to be our last film,” he said. “At the time, I thought it was the right way to go.”

When Sir Patrick Stewart revealed in 2018 that he was returning to the franchise, Spiner said he didn’t expect to be a part of the new project. He said, “[Patrick] just said [to our original cast] that ‘he was doing [a show], and it’s not Next Generation.’ [...] There was no indication from him that any of us would be a part of it in any way.”

But eventually the call came, and Spiner joked with the audience at Destination Star Trek about how that call went. He said, “I assumed they wanted me to play Picard because I can. I’ve gotten younger, I’ll last longer. [...] So they said, ‘Well, would you have any interest in playing Data again?’ And I said, ‘Make me an offer I can’t refuse.’”

Which apparently they did, because Spiner will be reprising his role as Data when Star Trek: Picard premieres in January 2020.