Star Trek: The Next Generation actress Marina Sirtis turned 65 last Sunday, and since she couldn’t go out to celebrate due to self-quarantine protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic, her Star Trek: The Next Generation co-stars virtually got together on video chat to throw her a birthday party she would never forget.
Sirtis, who played Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation, posted a photo of the video chat on Twitter. And as seen in the picture, Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Worf), Jonathan Frakes (William Riker), Wil Wheaton (Wesley), Brent Spiner (Data), and Gates McFadden (Beverly Crusher) were all present in the online reunion to wish Sirtis a happy birthday.
“I have the best friends in the world,” Sirtis tweeted with the photo. “Considering everything, this was the best birthday present. #TNGRules.”
I have the best friends in the world. Considering everything, this was the best birthday present. #TNGRules. pic.twitter.com/p669BFyfkK
— Marina Sirtis (@Marina_Sirtis) March 30, 2020
Sirtis recently reprised her role as Deanna Troi in the Nepenthe episode of Star Trek: Picard, which also featured a guest appearance from Frakes. Sirtis and Frakes had an onscreen reunion with Stewart in the episode, and though Burton and Dorn didn’t appear in the installment, both actors were able to hang out with the trio behind-the-scenes during filming.
In an interview with TVLine last January, Star Trek: Picard executive producer Heather Kadin revealed that they deliberately decided not to bring a lot of Star Trek: The Next Generation characters to the first season of Star Trek: Picard.
“We made a point not to bring back any legacy characters that didn’t organically tell this story,” Kadin said. “Which is why, unfortunately, you don’t have Michael Dorn as Worf, and you don’t have [LeVar Burton as] Geordi. Otherwise, we keep joking it’d be The Next Next Generation.”
But since the Star Trek: Picard has already been renewed for a second season, there’s a possibility that fans may see other Star Trek: The Next Generation characters show up in the sophomore run of the series. In fact, Stewart is looking forward to possibly reunite with all of his Enterprise-D crew cast members at some point during the entire duration of Star Trek: Picard. “I hope we will meet all of the principal characters from Next Generation eventually,” said Stewart.
Star Trek: Picard Season 1 is available to stream on CBS All Access in the U.S. and internationally on Amazon Prime Video.
As TV and film productions remain mostly suspended due to the threat of COVID-19, it’s not yet clear when exactly Star Trek: Picard will return for its second season.