Star Trek: The Next Generation was no sure thing when it premiered in syndication in 1987. Many of the cast members had their doubts about whether it would even last a single season, including Gates McFadden. However, an early fan encounter made her realize the extent of Trek fandom; she related that tale at a panel at Fan Expo Portland, during a panel moderated by Collider’s Maggie Lovitt. While some of The Next Generation‘s cast members, like Wil Wheaton and Michael Dorn, were fans of Star Trek coming into the series, others, like Patrick Stewart, expected it would be cancelled in short order. McFadden, who starred as the ship’s doctor Beverly Crusher, didn’t know exactly what she was getting into at first:

“I was doing a play…I turned down Star Trek the first time to do this play. And I got a hint of it when, after the show one night, there’s these four young women, and they have programs of the play. And they asked, ‘Can you sign our programs?’ And I said ‘Oh sure. Did you like the play?’ ‘Oh, no, we didn’t see it. We’re just Star Trek fans.’ This is before the show began. This is before the show had ever aired, and they wanted my autograph, just because I was on Star Trek. And this was a drive from LA for them to get here, and I’m like, they didn’t see the show.”

The Next Generation would turn out to be a hit, running for seven seasons and four theatrical films; it would also spin off an armada of subsequent Star Trek series. McFadden herself would return for the third season of Star Trek: Picard and lend her voice to three episodes of the animated Star Trek: Prodigy.

How Was ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Created?

Plans for a new Star Trek series had been percolating since the 1970s, beginning with the ill-fated Star Trek: Phase II. After a successful series of big-screen movies, Paramount wanted to bring the series back to the small screen in the late 1980s. They courted Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, whose role in the films had been reduced to a largely advisory one, to captain the ship. However, the early days of the show’s production were chaotic; Roddenberry was in poor health, and in his absence, several of his associates frequently clashed with the show’s staff.

One actor, Denise Crosby, quit partway through the season, resulting in her character, Tasha Yar, being killed off; meanwhile, McFadden was dismissed after the first season after a conflict with producer Maurice Hurley. The show eventually overcame these struggles, becoming a hit with fans and critics; McFadden would return after a season’s absence, and even Crosby would eventually return for a series of guest appearances.