Marina Sirtis and Brent Spiner discuss their return to Star Trek for Picard

Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi and Brent Spiner as Data. Image GalaxyCon

Keeping with the growing trend of virtual meetings, Star Trek: The Next Generation stars Brent Spiner and Marina Sirtis participated in GalaxyCon's virtual Q & A last Saturday. TrekMovie.com reports that during the event, the pair discussed reprising their roles as Data and Deanna Troi for Star Trek: Picard.

Upon finding out that Data would feature in the first season, Brent Spiner did not want to return to the role. “I wanted to be on the show,” Spiner said, “but I didn’t want to play Data.” The actor even pitched an idea of a new character he could play instead, but it was turned down. In the end, it took a meeting from producers Alex Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman along with Michael Chabon to convince Spiner to join the series, reprising his iconic role.

Sirtis, on the other hand, initially turned down the offer to appear in Star Trek: Picard due to a scheduling conflict. “I was doing a play in London,” Sirtis said of the issue. “The dates clashed. But, the wonderful people [...] at Picard basically fixed it so that we shot out of sequence.” The shift in production allowed her to film with fellow actor Jonathan Frakes ahead of when they might have normally done so. Sirtis added that she was “very happy it worked out.”

After nearly 20 years, you might think it would be difficult to get back into character. This couldn’t be further from the truth for Spiner and Sirtis, as both recall it happening quickly and easily. Spiner said of the process, “It took longer for me to get made up than it did to get into character...It just came back instantly.” Sirtis had similar sentiments, saying, “It was like putting on a pair of comfy slippers.”

You can see Sirtis and Spiner reprise their roles as Data and Deanna Troi in Star Trek: Picard; all of season one is now streaming on CBS All Access.