Thrillingly, the show is bringing Jonathan Frakes, the actor and filmmaker behind season 2’s “Star Trek: Lower Decks” crossover episode “Those Old Scientists,” on to direct the murder mystery episode of season 3. Frakes, who played William Riker for seven seasons of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” as well as several movies and the final season of “Star Trek: Picard,” says the upcoming genre outing is “the best episode of television [he’s] ever done.” That’s certainly saying something coming from the actor-turned-director, as he’s stepped behind the camera for 29 episodes of “Trek” and counting.
In addition to “Those Old Scientists,” Frakes’ past “Star Trek” directorial efforts include several standout episodes of “The Next Generation,” from the trippy time loop story “Cause and Effect” to the courtroom drama “The Drumhead” to “The Offspring,” a one-off in which Data (Brent Spiner) raises a child android. Other well-received “Trek” episodes directed by Frakes include the Odo-centric “Deep Space Nine” premiere “The Search, Part II,” the intense Section 31-set “Star Trek: Discovery” episode “Project Daedalus,” and two of the best episodes of “Star Trek: Picard” season 3 – and the show in general, for that matter.
With so many epic “Trek” episodes under his belt, the fact that Frakes thinks his return to “Strange New Worlds” is a career-high makes us all the more excited for it. Elsewhere in the cover story, the actor-director spoke positively about the behind-the-scenes teams that have brought the Paramount+ era of “Trek” together. “The scope was so much different than anything we had ever done on ‘Next Gen,'” Frakes said when talking about the property’s epic return to TV in the 2010s. “Every department has the resources to create.” Fans will get to see just what they’ve created with the new murder mystery episode when “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” returns to the streamer sometime in 2025.