Jonathan Frakes expects other characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation to make appearances in Star Trek: Picard season 2. The show's first season is currently streaming on CBS All Access, with the second in production, but Frakes was nearly left out of it altogether. He did make his grand return to the Star Trek franchise, on both sides of the camera, having directed two episodes of season 1 (four and five), also reprising his on-screen role as William Riker.
Frakes, now the first actor to play the same role across five different Star Trek series, was William Riker for seven seasons of The Next Generation and would go on to play the same character in Voyager and Enterprise, as well as several films from the franchise. His character reunited with Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard and Marina Sirtis' Deanna Troi in Star Trek: Picard season 1, episode 7, "Nepenthe," and he expects to have further involvement now that Picard has been approved for a second term.
Speaking to ComicBook.com in a recent interview, Frakes said he has expectations of returning as a director for more episodes and, as the "Nepenthe" test proved to be a success, he also expects more characters from The Next Generation to make the jump to Picard. He noted it was good that the characters were found in another part of the universe and not on the Titan as everything and everyone has changed over the few decades between the shows.
I do expect to be back to direct the show, and I also think it'd be a good bet that we'll some other members of Next Gen because I think the 'Nepenthe' test went very well. I think [the test was] to see if there was an appetite. I think they suspected there was, but I think to see if it would resonate to have Picard reunite with some of the people in a creative way. I'm glad we didn't come back on the Titan, for instance, that we were found on another part [of the universe]. It's 33 years or something. As Picard has changed, so has Riker and Troi and so has Seven.
Meanwhile, LeVar Burton has confirmed having discussed a return as U.S.S Enterprise chief engineer Geordi La Forge. The character was present for all seven The Next Generation seasons and the four feature films, starting out as a helmsman before taking up the role as chief engineer. Burton said fans will "see us all," pointing out that it might not be at the same time. The actor did say that nothing was final and he hasn't filmed anything yet, but he has given the producers input on how the character should be portrayed at the point of his return.
There's hardly any reason for the showrunners to keep the characters from The Next Generation out of Star Trek: Picard, especially with Frakes having come back as Riker and Burton also set to reprise his role. The latter has probably gone out on a limb to promise fans everyone from the old crew will feature in some way but, then again, it's unlikely he'd say such without having knowledge on the developments.
Source: ComicBook.com