The death of Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) in Star Trek: Nemesis nearly happened in the previous film, Star Trek: Insurrection, instead. Directed by Jonathan Frakes and released in 1998, Star Trek: Insurrection saw Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the USS Enterprise-E defy orders to protect the Ba'ku from a forced relocation planned by an alliance between the corrupt Starfleet Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe) and the Son'a led by Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham). However, although Data played a key role in the third feature film starring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, actor Spiner originally had no intention of having the character appear at all.
In Star Trek oral history The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, Brent Spiner described his extensive involvement with the TNG movies. Spiner said that he initially turned down reprising Data in the first TNG movie, Star Trek Generations, but "then we got into negotiations for it and they created an attractive enough reason to for me to do [the movie]." In Star Trek Generations, Data finally installed his emotion chip and had to cope with having human emotions for the first time. Data (and Brent Spiner) had an even bigger role to play in the next TNG movie, Star Trek: First Contact. Data was seduced by the Borg Queen (Alice Krige), who wanted the android to become her counterpart as she attacked Earth in the past. Brent Spiner said of Star Trek: First Contact, "I wanted [to do the movie] because I liked the script; I liked the idea... I thought it was a great idea."
However, when it came to Star Trek: Insurrection, Brent Spiner admitted that he had "reluctance" to reappear. At that point in his career in the mid-1990s, Spiner was enjoying a successful career outside of Star Trek. He had starred in 1996's blockbuster Independence Day and Spiner was in the middle of a nine-month run on Broadway when he got the call about the next TNG movie. Hesitant to play the golden android again, Spiner decided to call Star Trek producer Rick Berman to ask that Data be killed off at the end of Star Trek: Insurrection. The actor's rationale was threefold: He felt killing off Data would be "a really interesting scene in the movie," the studio [Paramount] wouldn't have to negotiate with Spiner again, and he rationalized that when it came time to do another Star Trek movie, they will already know Spiner won't do the film and "everybody will be off the hook in a really gentle way."
However, Rick Berman chose not to honor Brent Spiner's request to kill off Data. When Spiner received the script for Star Trek: Insurrection, there was a note attached from Berman that read, "Sorry. Kill you next time." Meanwhile, Spiner credits his girlfriend for spurring him on to join Star Trek: Insurrection by making Brent realize that he would hate it when all of his friends in the TNG cast are doing the film and he would be missing out. Spiner also admitted that Data is "a good part" and he's paid "a handsome salary" in addition to the fun of spending three months making a movie with his friends.
Still, killing off Data was inevitable in Brent Spiner's mind and he successfully bumped off the android in the next TNG film, Star Trek: Nemesis. Spiner was part of Nemesis' creative team alongside his friend and screenwriter, Academy Award-winner John Logan. Data's death, which was a copy of Spock (Leonard Nimoy) sacrificing his life in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, was part of Star Trek: Nemesis from its inception. This time, Brent Spiner got his wish to kill the android at the end of the film.
But while Data's demise proved elusive for Brent Spiner in Star Trek: Insurrection, even after he got his wish in Star Trek: Nemesis, Data's death still proved to not quite be permanent. Almost two decades later, Brent Spiner returned to reprise Data one more time in Star Trek: Picard season 1. This allowed Data and Jean-Luc Picard to say their goodbyes, which Star Trek: Nemesis denied them.