Gates McFadden has been in the “Star Trek” franchise for decades, but “Picard” gave her a chance to have real character growth and show off her acting skills for the first time.
The writers of “Picard” finally gave McFadden’s Beverly Crusher a compelling relationship arc with Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) that wasn't just “will they/won't they.”
Beverly has Jean-Luc's son, Jack Crusher, named after her ex-husband and Picard's former best friend, and audiences got to see a whole new side of Beverly.
Her character’s newfound complexity must have felt amazing after all these years, and McFadden told Variety that she owes it all to showrunner Terry Matalas.
McFadden said, “It was the first time ever for me in ‘Star Trek.’ It felt fabulous. It was terrific. I owe that all to Terry. It was wonderful acting again with Patrick [Stewart].”
She added, “I never dreamt it was ever going to happen, because I didn't assume I was going to go back to do a just a one-off where I'm [...] opening a knitting shop or something.”
In “Picard,” Beverly figures out that a space anomaly was a giant alien birth and helps her son reconcile the horrifying fact that he's doomed to be a part of a great Borg plan.