This Sunday, Gates McFadden will join four other Star Trek doctors for a virtual GalaxyCon Live event. TrekMovie took the opportunity to talk with Gates about real cons vs. virtual ones, all the events happening in the world right now (which are very much on her mind), and a few Next Generation episodes, like “Code of Honor” and “The Host.”

This will be your third virtual event with GalaxyCon. Do you think online cons are here to stay?

I have to say, I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I know that sounds weird. I was quite surprised with how well it works, especially the conference with Brent and LeVar. In a certain way, it was more relaxed, and everybody was really being themselves.

I’ve always loved meeting fans at cons. The fans have kept the show going, and the show is something that has become more meaningful to me every year that passes. I don’t think I was aware of how important the show was when I was first doing it. So when I would meet fans one-on-one virtually—again, it was different. Yes, it was weird to get cut off, but there are probably ways that that can get finessed. Even though there were ones that were short and cut off, I actually felt I was more in a private room with them.

It’s just like doing Cameos. I have really enjoyed doing Cameos and I thought I would really hate them. [laughs] I think there’s a part of myself that comes through more, that’s maybe wackier than I show when I’m at a con. Believe me, if you had asked me a year ago if I thought I’d enjoy that I would have said no. But I really have and that’s that’s not me just trying to put a good spin on it. It’s the truth.

Read the full interview at trekmovie.com and in case you missed they also did another one a few days back in which Gates talks a little bit about Star Trek: Picard.