TrekMovie had a chance to talk to members of the cast and crew of Star Trek: Picard season 3 at the Hollywood premiere. The new season includes Gates McFadden, reprising her Star Trek: The Next Generation role of Dr. Beverly Crusher. We had a brief moment with the actress on the purple carpet and she talked about what it took to get her to say “yes” and how season 3 is the most challenging thing she has done with Trek yet.

Terry Matalas worked with each of the TNG actors to develop their characters 20 years later. For Crusher, she has gone through quite a lot. Was it what you imagined and did you have input into the development of Beverly?
Absolutely. Terry was such a mensch about everything. He called and said, “Listen, I would love you to be part of this, I have a story idea. Let me explain it to you. And then please give me your input. Think about it.” And we had a dialogue for several months about all sorts of things. Because I wanted to make sure that it was really going to be a story in which Crusher was really used. She wasn’t just going to be a device and then let go, and he honored all of our characters. Each of us is doing things we have never done before on screen. And so it’s fantastic. That doesn’t happen that often.

So if Crusher was handled like she was in Insurrection or Nemesis again, would you have said no?
I would have said No. Yeah. And it wasn’t like that. So I was thrilled. Thrilled!

How do you think fans will react to Beverly in season 3?
I hope the fans like it as much as I loved doing it. But there’s some controversy, and controversy is good, but ultimately we all work together and collaborate and try to find a solution together, even if we’ve had conflicts. So that’s… hope you like it.

And now you are ready to do more?
Absolutely!