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In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) served as first officer aboard the USS Enterprise-D. In contrast to the taciturn and serious Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), Commander Riker was gregarious and approachable. He won the loyalty of his crew by being friendly, open and, in the words of one guest tactician, joking. He was also sold as the series’ central heartthrob, as he was tall, slim and handsome.
By the time “Next Generation” debuted in 1987, Frakes was already a staple on the network, appearing in shows like “The Doctors,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Fantasy Island,” “Hill Street Blues,” “Highway to Heaven,” etc . on a dozen others. His most famous television appearance was playing a character named Damon Ross in ten episodes of Falcon Crest. He was never a leading man, but he knew the business well.
The original cast list for Commander Riker listed the character as “Number One, also known as William Ryker” and described the character as “a 30- to 35-year-old Caucasian, born in Alaska. He is a pleasant-looking man with sex appeal, of medium height, very agile and strong, a born psychologist.” The broad character description attracted many hopeful young actors, and Frakes was among the last options for the role. In the oral history book “The Fifty Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From the Next Generation to JJ Abrams” It’s called this actor Billy Campbell was on the shortlisttogether with Michael O’Gorman and Trek legend Jeffrey Combs. In the meantime, a casting memo from Notice letter also lists Ben Murphy as being under consideration.
In an interview with StarTrek.com from 2012Frakes recalled being in a room with some of the aforementioned actors, and he remembered that he liked the show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, the best. In fact, as Frakes tells it, the supervisors and Paramount were watching Campbell the most, and Roddenberry had to stand up for Frakes.
Jonathan Frakes and Billy Campbell took on the role of Rikers
If you’re curious about what actor Billy Campbell might have looked like in “Star Trek,” you can check out the “Next Generation” episode “The Outrageous Okona,” in which Campbell played the title character. He was a charismatic Han Solo-type villain and extremely impressed the other characters. It’s not hard to imagine Campbell in the role of Riker. However, Frakes revealed in the aforementioned interview that he may have been secretly favored over Campbell because Gene Roddenberry constantly called him at home. Frakes knew that Riker would ultimately go to him or to Campbell, and the calls from Roddenberry only made him more confident that the job was his. Frakes said:
“Gene called me directly. At this point he had spent so much time explaining the character and the 24th century and his vision of Riker. I think he had to fight for me. I’m not sure if he was for Billy Campbell or if the people in the studio would be, but I know it wasn’t a unanimous decision, I think Roddenberry saw a little of himself in Riker, or more than just, and he told me that indirectly.
Riker was also, it should be noted, something of a ladies’ man, and Roddenberry was notoriously horny about his Star Trek ideas. There is every reason to believe that Roddenberry has created a sex symbol avatar for himself in Riker. It appears that Frakes agreed with what Roddenberry saw in his head.
Frakes played Riker quite well, although his real career coup came when he decided to direct. Frakes appeared in 178 episodes of Next Generation, but also directed 29 episodes of the series and two of the feature films. He’s more than just Riker, he’s an elder statesman of the franchise. Campbell, on the other hand, has remained a prolific actor for decades. He last appeared in an episode of “Mr. & Mrs Smith”.
