Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) aired in first-run syndication from September 1986 to May 1994, running 178 episodes over seven seasons. Created by Gene Roddenberry as a sequel to the original series, it became one of the most successful television franchises in history — but its early years were marked by production chaos, a difficult cast dynamic, and a writers' room that took seasons to find its footing.
Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard — A classically trained Shakespearean actor from Yorkshire, England, who had spent decades on the British stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Stewart was virtually unknown to American audiences when he was cast in 1987. He initially expected the show to last one season. Roddenberry chose him partly because he wanted a captain who was fundamentally different from Kirk — older, more intellectual, more measured. Stewart's bald head was originally a problem for Paramount executives, who wanted to give him a hairpiece. Roddenberry reportedly said: "Whoever he is, he does not have hair." Stewart was paid relatively little for Season 1 — reportedly around $20,000 per episode — though his salary increased substantially as the show's success became undeniable [1][2].
Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker — The first officer, a charming, confident officer modeled partly on the Kirk archetype but designed to be the "best first officer in the fleet." Frakes grew a beard between Seasons 1 and 2 — reportedly because he hadn't shaved during the summer break and Roddenberry liked the look. The phrase "growing the beard" subsequently entered TV criticism as the opposite of "jumping the shark," referring to when a show improves in quality. Frakes later became one of Trek's most prolific directors, helming two TNG films and episodes of multiple spinoffs [1][3].
Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi — Originally cast as a security chief in a more assertive role. During pre-production, Roddenberry decided to make her a ship's counselor instead — a decision Sirtis initially disliked, as Troi spent much of the early seasons in revealing costumes and being emotionally victimized by guest characters. The character was underwritten for much of the series, though Sirtis fought for better material. She and Frakes developed a close real-life friendship that anchored the Troi-Riker relationship on screen [1][4].
LeVar Burton as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge — Burton was already well-known from his starring role in Roots (1977) and Reading Rainbow (1983–2006). Geordi was originally a helmsman in Season 1, moved to chief engineer in Season 2 — becoming one of the first Black characters to serve as a department head on a Star Trek bridge. Burton wore the VISOR (Visual Instrument and Sight Organ Replacement) throughout the series, which restricted his peripheral vision and made acting physically difficult [1][5].
Brent Spiner as Lieutenant Commander Data — An android serving as the ship's operations officer, designed as TNG's answer to Spock — but where Spock was half-human struggling with emotion, Data was fully artificial striving to understand it. Spiner's performance required hours of makeup application each day, including yellow skin paint, prosthetic forehead pieces, and contact lenses. He also played Data's creator Dr. Noonian Soong and the villainous Lore in multiple episodes. Spiner became one of the most versatile performers in Trek history, accumulating more credits across the franchise than almost any other actor [1][6].
Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher — The ship's chief medical officer and Wesley's mother. McFadden was fired after Season 1 by head writer Maurice Hurley, who reportedly objected to her asking why there weren't more substantial scenes between Dr. Crusher and Wesley. She was replaced by Diana Muldaur as Dr. Katherine Pulaski for Season 2. After Hurley himself was fired at the end of Season 2, McFadden was rehired for Season 3. Her departure and return is one of the more contentious behind-the-scenes stories of early TNG [1][7].
Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher — See the dedicated section below.
Denise Crosby as Lieutenant Tasha Yar — The ship's security chief, a tough, capable officer. Crosby was frustrated by the underdevelopment of her character and asked to leave the show after Season 1. Yar was killed off in "Skin of Evil" — one of the most shocking moments in early TNG. Crosby later returned as Commander Sela (a half-Romulan alternate-universe version of Yar) in several Season 3 and 4 episodes. See the Milestones blurb for more on Yar's death [1][8].
Diana Muldaur as Dr. Katherine Pulaski — The Season 2 replacement for McFadden, a more abrasive, combative doctor deliberately modeled on the Bones McCoy dynamic with the captain. Muldaur was a veteran of the original Star Trek series (she appeared in two TOS episodes as different characters). Pulaski divided fans — some appreciated her sharpness, others felt she lacked Crusher's warmth. She did not return for Season 3 [1].
Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan — The enigmatic bartender on Ten Forward. Goldberg was already a major star when she personally requested a role on TNG, telling Roddenberry she had been a lifelong Star Trek fan and wanted to be on the show. She was written in as Guinan, a centuries-old El-Aurian with mysterious abilities and a deep friendship with Picard. Goldberg appeared in 29 episodes across six seasons and both the Generations and Nemesis films. She later said Guinan was one of her favorite roles [1][9].
Dwight Schultz as Lieutenant Reginald Barclay — The socially anxious engineer who became one of TNG's most unexpectedly profound characters. Introduced in "Hollow Pursuits" (S3E21) as a holodeck addict who reimagined the senior staff in his simulations, Barclay evolved across TNG and Voyager into a figure whose quiet heroism left a lasting mark on the franchise. His most famous episode, "The Nth Degree" (S4E18), saw him merge his consciousness with the Enterprise's computer after exposure to a Cytherian probe — a mind meld with the ship itself. Schultz had previously played Captain H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock on The A-Team. See the dedicated Barclay blurb for more [31].
John de Lancie as Q — An omnipotent being who puts humanity "on trial" in the series premiere and returns periodically throughout the run. De Lancie's Q is simultaneously menacing and comedic — a godlike trickster who forces Picard to confront uncomfortable truths about human nature. The Picard-Q dynamic became one of TNG's defining relationships, culminating in the final two episodes of the series [1][10].
Majel Barrett as Lwaxana Troi — Deanna's mother, a flamboyant Betazoid ambassador. Barrett, who had played Number One in the original TOS pilot and Nurse Chapel in the series, was Roddenberry's wife. Lwaxana provided comic relief but also surprising depth in episodes like "Half a Life" (Season 4), where she falls in love with a man preparing for a ritual suicide. Barrett also continued voicing the ship's computer, as she had in TOS — see the LCARS blurb for more [1][11].
Wesley Crusher — the teenage prodigy who saves the Enterprise repeatedly — is one of the most controversial characters in Star Trek history. The character was so disliked that TVTropes named its "Creator's Pet" trope "The Wesley" before renaming it. In a Maxim magazine poll, Wesley ranked as the most annoying character in science fiction, surpassed only by Jar Jar Binks [12][13].
Wheaton was born Richard William Wheaton III on July 29, 1972, in Burbank, California. He made his acting debut at age 9 in the television film A Long Way Home (1981), then voiced Martin in Don Bluth's animated feature The Secret of NIMH (1982). Through the early 1980s he worked steadily in television — guest spots on Highway to Heaven, St. Elsewhere, and a lead role in the TV movie Young Harry Houdini (1987) — while appearing in films like The Buddy System (1984, opposite Richard Dreyfuss and Susan Sarandon) and The Last Starfighter (1984), though his speaking scenes in the latter were cut from the theatrical release [28][29].
His breakout came with Rob Reiner's Stand by Me (1986), adapting Stephen King's novella The Body. Wheaton played Gordie Lachance, the sensitive 12-year-old narrator — a role that required him to carry the film. The Los Angeles Times called him "a gem," and the film was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama. Stand by Me became a defining coming-of-age classic, and it was this performance that put Wheaton on Roddenberry's radar when casting began for TNG the following year [28][29].
Gene Roddenberry loved Wesley Crusher. Executive producer Rick Berman confirmed that Wesley was designed as a stand-in for a young Gene Roddenberry — a brilliant, misunderstood outsider who proves himself against skeptical adults. The character's middle name was "George," for Roddenberry. Robert Justman, a senior producer, lobbied to change the character's name from Wesley to Leslie, fearing the name sounded too much like a girls' name, but Roddenberry overruled him [13][14].
Roddenberry pushed for Wesley-centric episodes throughout Season 1 and into Season 2, insisting on storylines that showcased the character's genius. This put the writers in a difficult position: the senior crew of the Enterprise — decorated Starfleet officers — were repeatedly upstaged by a teenager who, as fans pointed out, "couldn't even get into Starfleet Academy." At least seven to eight episodes across the series feature Wesley saving the ship as a deus ex machina, including "The Naked Now," "Where No One Has Gone Before," "The Battle," "Peak Performance," "Ménage à Troi," "Final Mission," and "The Game" [12][13].
The frequency of Wesley-saves-the-ship episodes was directly connected to the 1988 WGA writers' strike (March 7 – August 7, 1988), the longest in Guild history at 153 days. The strike hit TNG between Seasons 1 and 2, wiping out the critical pre-season development period when writers would normally retreat to brainstorm story arcs, develop character arcs, and polish scripts. When production resumed, the writers' room was scrambling [15][16].
As one analysis put it: the strike left the network "sitting on a ton of unused 'Wesley Saves The Day' scripts" — scripts that had been developed under Roddenberry's Wesley-friendly editorial influence but hadn't been refined or balanced against the rest of the cast. Without development time, these scripts were produced largely as-is, concentrating Wesley's worst tendencies into the early seasons [12][15].
During the Season 2 production hiatus, Wheaton was offered the role of Danceny in Miloš Forman's Valmont (1989), a prestigious adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses starring Colin Firth and Annette Bening. Filming in Paris would have run into the first week of TNG Season 3 production — but TNG was shooting out of order, with "The Ensigns of Command" (in which Wesley had a minor role) being produced first. Wheaton assumed it would be easy to write him out of a few scenes [17][18].
An unnamed producer contacted Wheaton's agent and then called Wheaton directly, telling him this was impossible: "It's a Wesley episode, and I'm writing a scene with you and Gates [McFadden] that's going to move your mother-son relationship forward, and it's really important to the series." Wheaton turned down Valmont. A few days before production began, the producer wrote him out of the script entirely [17][18].
The episode received extensive rewrites — writer Melinda Snodgrass nearly removed her name from the credits over the changes. Wesley does appear in a handful of scenes in the final version, but his role was significantly reduced from whatever the producer had described. It's possible the producer confused episodes: the Wesley-centric Crusher mother-son scene he described matches "Evolution" (the actual Season 3 premiere) rather than "The Ensigns of Command," which was produced first but aired second. If so, it may have been a scheduling mix-up rather than deliberate sabotage — though the effect on Wheaton was the same [17][18][30].
Wheaton saw it as deliberate career sabotage. He later recounted: "The message was very clear — we own you — and it was a move to sabotage my career." Years later, Marina Sirtis told him the producers' motive: "They knew that if I had done this film, I would have been a movie star, and it would have been harder for them to deal with me." Wheaton's response: *"F** you guys, I am now doing anything I can to get off this show" [17][18].
Wheaton was also forced to wear a bulky muscle suit under his costume — padding designed to make the slight teenage actor appear more physically imposing. He described it as humiliating. On set, he felt he was treated as a prop rather than a person: "Only one [director] treated me as a person instead of a living prop" [13].
Among fans, Wesley was despised. Fans wore "Nuke Wesley" buttons. Wheaton absorbed years of hatred for a character whose failings were entirely the writers' problem. He later admitted: "Even I hated Wesley" after watching episodes where the character easily solved problems that stumped Data and the rest of the senior staff [13].
At 18, Wheaton asked to be released from the series. He moved to Topeka, Kansas, bleached his hair white, and took a job at a software company called NewTek. When he tried to return to acting a few years later, the industry had forgotten him: "I'm ready, let's go," he said, "and the entertainment industry is, like, 'I'm sorry, who are you?'" [19].
He was given a cameo in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), then had it cut from the final film — another betrayal that reinforced the sense that the producers viewed him as disposable [17].
In his memoirs Just a Geek (2004) and Still Just a Geek (2022), Wheaton also detailed the emotional abuse and neglect he suffered from his parents — his mother lived vicariously through his fame and spent his acting earnings, while his father didn't care that Wil didn't want to be an actor. He felt the only way to earn their attention was to be the best in the world at it. The combination of parental exploitation, production mistreatment, and fan hatred made his teenage years deeply painful [20].
In 1988, when William Shatner was filming Star Trek V on the Paramount lot next door, 16-year-old Wheaton — a lifelong Trekkie — worked up the courage to introduce himself. Roddenberry, who was friendly with Wheaton, offered to make introductions, but Wheaton wanted to do it on his own.
When Wheaton approached Shatner in costume (the grey "acting ensign" jumpsuit, with the muscle suit visible), Shatner was dismissive and mocked his costume. Wheaton went back to his trailer and cried. Roddenberry called Shatner and apparently told him to make it right. The next morning, an envelope was on Wheaton's dressing room table addressed "To Master Wil Wheaton" from Shatner, containing a handwritten apology note [20].
Despite everything, Wheaton credits his TNG castmates as being like family. He has said returning to the set was "like coming home." He eventually reconciled with Trek and now hosts The Ready Room, the official Star Trek aftershow — becoming, ironically, the franchise's most effective ambassador to a fanbase that once despised his character. The reception has been, in his words, "35 years overdue" [17][21].
The road back was not smooth. In 2002, Wheaton was cut from Creation Entertainment's 15th anniversary TNG convention — an experience he wrote about publicly, describing the con circuit's transformation from fan-driven community to corporate business. He also said at the time that executive producer Rick Berman "hates me," and LeVar Burton had to intervene to get Wheaton a cameo in Nemesis. In the years since, however, Wheaton has appeared at numerous conventions alongside the full TNG cast — including the 25th anniversary reunion at Austin Comic-Con (2012), Phoenix Comicon (2012), and Awesome Con (2019) — and the relationships appear genuinely warm. At a 2017 Salt Lake Comic Con panel with Gates McFadden, he called her "space mom" and the two discussed how long it took to understand what the show meant to people [17][21][24][25].
When TBBT co-creator Bill Prady pitched Wheaton a role on the show, he initially described it as playing himself. Wheaton hesitated — he worried that playing "himself" meant a one-off appearance with no creative substance. Prady called back and changed the pitch: the character would be "delightfully evil" — a fictionalized, darker version of Wil Wheaton. Wheaton said yes without hesitation [26].
Wheaton first appeared in Season 3 (2009) as Sheldon's nemesis — holding a years-long grudge because Wheaton failed to show up for a 1995 Star Trek convention. The rivalry became one of the show's recurring bits, with Sheldon and Evil Wil Wheaton clashing at comic book stores, on podcasts, and in D&D tournaments. Over the series' run, the character softened from antagonist to friend, mirroring Wheaton's own reconciliation with the Trek fandom [26][27].
He appeared in 17 episodes across Seasons 3 through 12 (2009–2019). Wheaton later called the role "the greatest joy of my professional life," ranking it second only to his marriage. In a 2019 blog post after filming his final episode, he wrote: "They welcomed me into their family, and made me feel like I was as important to the production as anyone else who works there" [26].
Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991) — Remained involved in TNG's early seasons but was increasingly incapacitated by frontotemporal dementia and alcoholism. He approved the overall vision but left day-to-day production to others. He died on October 24, 1991, midway through Season 5. The episode "The Bonding" (S3E5) was the first episode produced after his death. His funeral at his Hollywood Hills home was attended by most of the TNG and TOS casts. Majel Barrett, his widow, continued working on Trek until her own death in 2008 [1][22].
Rick Berman — Hired by Roddenberry as a protégé, Berman became the franchise's steward after Roddenberry's decline. He served as executive producer on all seven seasons of TNG, all four TNG films, and later created Star Trek: Enterprise. His tenure is divisive among fans — praised for maintaining the franchise's commercial viability but criticized for what some see as creative conservatism [1].
Michael Piller (1949–2005) — Joined as a writer in Season 2 and became showrunner alongside Jeri Taylor. Piller was responsible for some of TNG's best episodes, including "The Best of Both Worlds" and "The Measure of a Man." He also co-created Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. He died of cancer in 2005 [1][23].
Jeri Taylor — Co-showrunner with Piller from Season 3 onward. She developed the character arcs for Data, Worf, and the Picard-Riker relationship. She also co-created Voyager and wrote several of TNG's most emotionally resonant episodes, including "The Inner Light" and "Remember Me" [1][23].
Maurice Hurley — Head writer during the troubled Season 2. He clashed with cast members and writers, fired Gates McFadden, and wrote the universally reviled clip show "Shades of Grey" — Trek's only clip show — when the budget ran out. He was fired at the end of Season 2, which cleared the way for McFadden's return and the Season 3 creative renaissance [1][15].
D.C. Fontana — The legendary TOS writer (see TOS People blurb) returned to write two TNG episodes: "The Naked Now" (S1E3) and "Encounter at Farpoint" (S1E1, co-written with Roddenberry). Her involvement helped bridge the tonal gap between the two series [1].
[1] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Wikipedia
[2] Patrick Stewart - Wikipedia
[3] Memory Alpha - Jonathan Frakes
[6] Memory Alpha - Brent Spiner
[7] Wikipedia - Gates McFadden
[8] Memory Alpha - Denise Crosby
[9] Whoopi Goldberg - Wikipedia
[10] Memory Alpha - Q
[11] Majel Barrett - Wikipedia
[12] Wikipedia - Wesley Crusher
[13] Memory Alpha - Wesley Crusher
[14] CBR - Wesley Crusher Never Deserved the Hate
[15] SlashFilm - How the 1988 Writers Strike Led to the Worst Star Trek Episode
[16] SlashFilm - A Writers Strike Came Closer to Canceling TNG
[17] SlashFilm - A Lying Star Trek Producer Tried to Sabotage Wil Wheaton's Career
[18] SlashFilm - Why Wil Wheaton Left TNG
[19] EW - Whatever Happened to Wil Wheaton
[20] Wil Wheaton - The William Fucking Shatner Story
[21] CBR - Wesley Crusher Left Star Trek and Came Back
[22] Wikipedia - Gene Roddenberry
[23] Wikipedia - Michael Piller
[24] Wil Wheaton - I See Another Hurdle Approaching (Creation convention)
[25] TrekMovie - PHXCC12 TNG Reunion Panel
[26] Wil Wheaton - It All Started with a Big Bang
[27] Looper - Wil Wheaton Filmed Fewer Episodes Of TBBT Than You Might Think
[29] Memory Alpha - Wil Wheaton
[30] Giant Freakin Robot - The Star Trek Episode That Made Wil Wheaton Quit