The topic of A.I. being utilized in Star Trek has been hotly debated over the previous 12 months, and the dialog is barely escalating in 2025. That is thanks partly to an OTOY brief involving Sam Witwer taking part in William Shatner’s Captain Kirk and different de-aging techniques used to make older actors seem as their youthful selves. I anticipate that dialogue about it’ll ramp up as soon as once more, after Jonathan Frakes hilariously quoted Jean-Luc Picard along with his tackle it.
I’ve had blended emotions about A.I. getting used for upcoming Trek reveals, however Jonathan Frakes and Star Trek: Enterprise actor John Billingsley offered a perspective I hadn’t thought of after they talked to our sister website TrekCulture. The duo was requested about their choice between having their selves digitally de-aged to reprise their roles or having a youthful actor play their character, and with zero hesitation, they stated this:
- John Billingsley: “Nicely if the youthful actor took the function I would not get the paycheck. So, on that alone I might say I’ve to favor the choice.”
- Jonathan Frakes: “Precisely. ‘The road have to be drawn right here!'”
I doubt any Star Trek fan needed to be reminded of the place that Picard line got here from, and if you happen to did, perhaps it is time to hearth up First Contact with a Paramount+ subscription. Certain, de-aging know-how could have its controversies, but when these two actors had to decide on between that and forfeiting the function to a youthful actor, they’re able to revisit their youthful years with the assistance of CGI.
John Billingsley and Jonathan Frakes should not the primary to push again in opposition to the concept of being recast by youthful actors. Michael Dorn advised CinemaBlend he hoped he could be lifeless earlier than Star Trek even thought of hiring one other actor to play Worf, and the cash issue is sensible. Many of those franchise actors constructed their careers on taking part in these characters, so it isn’t a task they’d wish to hand off readily.
And but, plainly Star Trek is extra invested in bringing in new actors to play outdated characters if the state of affairs requires it. The solid of Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds is stuffed with youthful faces taking part in characters of the unique sequence, together with Paul Wesley as William Shatner’s Kirk.
After all, a few of these casting choices are unavoidable, contemplating lots of the actors from the unique Star Trek solid are not with us. Those who’re nonetheless round, corresponding to George Takei and Shatner, would doubtless have a tough time convincing the world they are a spitting picture of their youthful selves (Shatner simply turned 94), even when they’d de-aging know-how. Generally recasting is simply the best choice, even when actors really feel in any other case.
The talk about whether or not Star Trek ought to use A.I. or not rages on, as we look forward to the return of Unusual New Worlds this summer time. I am excited for Season 3 to start out, and I hope that may get the net fandom speaking about episodes once more, reasonably than specializing in technical choices associated to the franchise.