With nearly 60 years of celebrated history on screen, the Star Trek franchise remains a pop culture staple, as seen by its recent showing at the Saturn Awards. The Gene Roddenberry-created franchise set a new record for itself at the latest awards ceremony, garnering 14 nominations across three shows, with Picard in particular being the most-nominated show of the whole event with seven nods. It also earned the most wins of any show, bringing home four trophies, including Best Science Fiction Television Series, Best Actor for Patrick Stewart, Best Supporting Actor for Jonathan Frakes, and Best Supporting Actress for Jeri Ryan.
Every Upcoming Star Trek Movie & TV Show
The Star Trek franchise on Paramount+ continues with new series and made-for-streaming movies as well as more Discovery and animated shows.
While attending the latest ceremony, Kevin Polowy interviewed stars Terry Matalas, Jeri Ryan, Tawny Newsome, Doug Jones, Wil Wheaton, Todd Stashwick, and Nicolas Cage on behalf of Screen Rant. The crew discussed Star Trek, Cage’s interest in joining the franchise, what the future holds for them all, and the legacy they’ve helped establish thus far.
Star Trek Vets Share Their Stories On The Saturn Awards Red Carpet
Wil Wheaton
Screen Rant: Has the opportunity to return to Star Trek ever crossed your desk? Do you think it could ever happen?
Wil Wheaton: I love Star Trek. It is one of my favorite things in the world. I have been a massive fan for my entire life. It is so weird for me to be 51 years old. I was the kid on Star Trek The Next Generation, and now I am a legacy Star Trek cast member interviewing current Star Trek cast members about the franchise that we are all part of. It is such a wonderful gift. For all of us who work in Star Trek, we generally get to be part of one piece of it.
And we get to carry this baton a little bit, and then we hand it off. I’m one of the only people from my generation of Star Trek contributors who gets to touch all the different Star Trek shows and still be active and part of this community. If that’s all I ever get to do, then it’s a gift and a blessing and something I’m endlessly grateful for. And having said all of that, as much as I have decided to just retire from on-camera acting and I feel so good about it, and I’m happy about it, Star Trek is something I would absolutely come back for.
That would be the one. If anyone ever, if the story was right, wanted to do something that built a little bit on the story we implied at the end of Star Trek Picard season 2, I would love to come back and be part of that. I would love to have opportunities to work with Ed Speleers and be like, “Turns out I’m your half-brother you never knew about. I’m kind of a super being. You’re not supposed to know that I’m here. Things don’t need to get weird for you, but don’t worry, I’m keeping an eye on you. I’m out!” Those opportunities, if they were ever to arise, it would be like getting a present in the mail.
There is a living legend here named Nicolas Cage who said very bluntly, “I’m a Trekker. I can’t do Star Wars.” And it became a whole thing.
Wil Wheaton: Now there’s a big movie, get Nicolas Cage in Star Trek. I can see that. That seems like not a very heavy lift. When we did Next Generation, it was always so exciting and validating when someone I thought was amazing wanted to come do one line on our show. Or no lines on our show. Just be on our show. And now we see on the current Star Trek shows amazing performers. Todd Stashwick on Picard, Tig Notaro on Discovery. Just phenomenal actors. If someone like Nic Cage was like, “Listen, I would love to come Nic Cage all over the place?” I think he would be amazing on Strange New Worlds. He would fit into Strange New Worlds. He would be phenomenal on Lower Decks. We know what Nic Cage does better than anyone else, and if he brought that Nic Cage list to one of our things? Wow! That’s the Star Trek I want to be part of.
Todd Stashwick
You guys wrapped after three amazing seasons last year. What are you going to miss the most about that show?
Todd Stashwick: The fun part is, you always say what I miss the most is the people, but because of the convention life, I see them all the time. We smell each other’s feet. It’s like constantly, I look up and there’s gigs, so we still get to see each other. We still get to hang out and have dinners and enjoy each other’s company. I mean, we’re not getting to tell those stories right now, but we’re making new human stories by having adventures with each other all across the world and country.
How about Sir Patrick Stewart? Give me your favorite moment with him.
Todd Stashwick: Okay, so we’re doing a scene on the turbolift and I feel this little British arm sneak behind me and grab Jonathan Frakes. It’s very elegant. And then he squeezed me between them and goes, “How does it feel to be the center of the Sir Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes sandwich?” I said, “I think you’re checking off many bucket lists for a lot of people.”
How did it feel?
Todd Stashwick: I mean, it’s nerd heaven, right? I’m wearing a Starfleet uniform, and I’m being squeezed by two legends.
Terry Matalas
I think people are going to really miss this show. How bittersweet was that, by the way? What are you going to miss about Picard?
Terry Matalas: Well, anytime you make a show, you make friends and family for a lifetime, and you see them every day for 16 hours, and you’re in a foxhole trying to make a television show. Then it ends, and you try and keep in touch, but it is always kind of saying goodbye to a family in some way. In this case, the Star Trek Next Generation cast, I grew up watching them. Going from childhood heroes to dear friends, it’s extraordinary. So we keep in touch, and it’s pretty lovely.
Give me your favorite Sir Patrick Stewart story from set.
Terry Matalas: My favorite Sir Patrick Stewart? My favorite is the things that came back to him along the way. When he got back onto the Enterprise and sat down and did his signature tug on his uniform that he had done a billion times in the series. It was that. And then when we yelled cut, he’s like, “Did you see what I did? I did it.” And we’re like, “Yeah, we saw it. Thank you, sir.” I think probably that’s my favorite.
Speaking of living legends, there is one here today named Nicolas Cage. Behind the scenes, is there an effort to bring Mr. Cage on? Do you think it’ll happen?
Terry Matalas: I have no idea, but I know that I would kill to do it. I mean, what a great… anything! I kind of want to make him a villain. That would be extraordinary, yeah. Star Trek is known for their really juicy, rich, larger-than-life villains, and to watch him chew up the scenery on a Starship would be pretty spectacular. [But] he’s got to be on a bridge. It could be an alien bridge. It could be a Starship, but yeah.
Tawny Newsome
Let’s talk some Lower Decks. You guys have been killing it. What can we expect from the next season?
Tawny Newsome: The funny thing about animation is we record it approximately 20 calendar years before it airs, so I’m trying to remember back to 1995 when we did it. We’ve seen a lot of character growth with my character Mariner. She now is a lieutenant junior grade, so she’s actually been promoted, which is something she never wanted to do. And she’s embracing it in a weird, chaotic, stressful kind of way, but she’s making it work for herself.
You’ve also done some crossover within the universe, Strange New Worlds. Where do you want to go next? Are you going to slowly sort of take over the whole universe?
Tawny Newsome: Yeah, I’m definitely trying to appear on every single Star Trek series. I’m just going to be in a prosthetic on Discovery. Even though they already finished filming, that’s fine. They’ll put me in. They’ll CG me in. I’m going to definitely show up on Starfleet Academy. I’m writing on Starfleet Academy, so this is just coming from me. I’m going to write myself in, whether the showrunners know it or not. I’ll just show up on set in a full Boolean prosthetic. Who’s going to even know it’s me? This will be my undercover way to just infiltrate every single series.
Jeri Ryan
Picard wrapped after three amazing, highly acclaimed years. There was so much excitement about seeing you come back into the fold. Now that you’ve have some time to reflect on that series, what did it mean for you?
Jeri Ryan: Oh my God. Well, this character, I keep saying she’s a gift that keeps on giving. I was here 24 years ago for the same character. It’s amazing. Once you’re part of the Star Trek world, you’re in a family, really. And it’s pretty incredible.
We saw Sir Patrick Stewart, a living legend, walk by a few minutes ago. Do you have a favorite moment that you’ve shared with him over the years?
Jeri Ryan: I’d say giving him crap! I like ribbing him. Yeah, he’s fun.
Does he give it back?
Jeri Ryan: He does. He does. Yeah. It’s good. We have a good time on that side.
Speaking of living legends, I’ve been bringing this up to a few Star Trek cast members today because Nicolas Cage kind of set the internet on fire when he said he wants to be in Star Trek someday. And there’s a big social media movement to make it happen.
Jeri Ryan: I think that’d be okay. I think we’d let him in. He’s alright.
Who should he play? That’s a fantasy cast here. Who could you see him as?
Jeri Ryan: I don’t know. He needs his own character. He’s got to be something really, really, really cool. I mean, it’s Nicolas Cage. We kind of let him pick, I think.
Doug Jones
You’ve done 63 episodes now. What’s been your most surreal Star Trek moment? What’s that moment that sticks out for you?
Doug Jones: Star Trek Discovery was kind of the first of the new batch of Star Trek shows that came back after Enterprise, so there’d been a long gap. Being the outbreak new series of Star Trek was daunting because I knew that there’s a lot of fandom riding on it. They’re watching with an eye on every detail, and I love these Star Trek fans for that because that makes the product all the better when there’s a fandom waiting for it, and wanting it to be good. They take very good care of their franchise, the fans do, so we should too. That’s daunting. That’s how I felt.
Now that we’re in our fifth and final season, about to air in April on Paramount+, it’s melancholy because I don’t want to see it end. But it’s also triumphant because we had five great seasons, a lot of adventure, and we sparked a whole new generation of Star Trek lovers, so I think we did okay.
Nicolas Cage
You’re here for Renfield tonight. Congrats on the nomination. Every role is special. What was it about this one that you’ll always hold onto from that experience?
Nicolas Cage: How do you say no to Dracula? It’s a very high-wire act. You can go either way, but when they invite you to play Dracula, that’s just an opportunity that’s too good to say no to. I’m a big fan of the character, a fan of the history of the character, and that’s what I’m here to clarify.
January last year, we broke the internet when you said you were a Trekkie and would want to be in Star Trek. All of a sudden, you had people on social media saying they’d pay your salary.
Nicolas Cage: I created a divide [between Star Trek and Star Wars] that didn’t really exist. There are people that are devout members of both groups. I’ve met people that see both as almost a spiritual experience. I grew up watching Shatner and Nimoy. I found a lot of wisdom in those early television shows. That’s why I have a loyalty to that.
I know we just went through the strike, but business is back. Has anyone from the Star Trek universe reached out to you?
Nicolas Cage: There were a couple of phone calls. I don’t know. I’d have to see a script. It would have to be something that I could bring my flavor to that would have some pop and some spark. I wouldn’t want to just do anything because I have great regard for the franchise.
Have you thought about what your ideal character would be?
Nicolas Cage: I want to be on the Enterprise. I’d have to be on the Enterprise in some capacity. I don’t want to be floating out there in space on a satellite. I want to be on the Enterprise. I want to be on the bridge.
Star Trek
Star Trek is one of pop culture’s biggest multimedia franchises, spanning multiple movies, TV shows, books, comics, video games, and various other media. The franchise was created by Gene Roddenberry and started with the 1960s TV series starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Over the decades, several equally popular series have come out since as Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Discovery.
- Created by
- Gene Roddenberry
- First Film
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture
- First TV Show
- Star Trek: The Original Series
- First Episode Air Date
- September 8, 1966
- Cast
- William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , George Takei , Nichelle Nichols , Deforest Kelley , James Doohan , Walter Koenig , Jonathan Frakes , Patrick Stewart , Michael Dorn , Marina Sirtis , Gates McFadden , Brent Spiner , LeVar Burton , Wil Wheaton , Avery Brooks , Nana Visitor , Rene Auberjonois , Alexander Siddig , Cirroc Lofton , Armin Shimerman , Colm Meaney , Terry Farrell , Kate Mulgrew , Robert Beltran , Roxann Dawson , Jeri Ryan , Robert Duncan McNeill , Robert Picardo , Ethan Phillips , Garrett Wang , Jolene Blalock , Connor Trinneer , Dominic Keating , Scott Bakula , Linda Park , John Billingsley , Anthony Montgomery , Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto , Simon Pegg , Zoe Saldana , Karl Urban , John Cho , Chris Hemsworth , Benedict Cumberbatch , Anton Yelchin , Idris Elba , Sonequa Martin-Green , Mary Wiseman , Doug Jones , Anthony Rapp , Wilson Cruz , Oyin Oladejo , Emily Coutts , Jess Bush , Christina Chong , Anson Mount , Ethan Peck , Rebecca Romijn , Michelle Yeoh
- TV Show(s)
- Star Trek: The Original Series , Star Trek: The Animated Series , Star Trek: The Next Generation , Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Star Trek Voyager , Star Trek: Enterprise , Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Short Treks , Star Trek: Picard , Star Trek Lower Decks , Star Trek: Prodigy , Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
- Character(s)
- Captain James Kirk , Spock , Jean-Luc Picard , Captain Worf , Data , Nyota Uhura
- Video Game(s)
- Star Trek Online , Star Trek: Resurgence , Star Trek: Bridge Crew
