Marina Sirtis: ‘I wasn't a huge fan of Star Trek’

Marina Sirtis has revealed she wasn’t a huge fan of Star Trek before auditioning for the role of Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The British actress played Betazoid (well half human, half betazoid) Councillor Deanna Troi in all seven years of Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, in a new interview the actress has revealed that when she auditioned for the role back in 1987 she ‘wasn’t a huge fan of Star Trek’ and might not have been cast as Deanna if Gates McFadden hadn’t taken on the role of Dr. Beverly Crusher.

“When I went in it was basically just another audition,” recalls Sirtis. “I wasn’t a huge fan of Star Trek, so I wasn’t particularly excited about the prospect of getting on the series. I was nervous but it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to get this part.’ I had six auditions and, of course, with every one you realize you’re getting closer and closer……….After the final test I had to wait a few days to find out if I had the part because there was a question of whether or not Gates McFadden was going to do it. If not, then the actress who was, I think, second in line to play the doctor, and who was British as well, was also up for the part. They wouldn’t have wanted three Brits, as Patrick Stewart was already playing Captain Picard, so perhaps I wouldn’t have been picked if Gates weren’t cast as Doctor Crusher. I didn’t know any of this at the time, so it was interesting the way things turned out.”- Marina Sirtis speaking to The Motion Report

Interestingly although Gates McFadden did accept the role of Dr. Crusher she bowed out after one season and was replaced by actress Diana Muldaur as Dr Katherine Pulaski – McFadden returned to the cast for the third season. Marina Sirtis remained with Next Generation for all seven seasons and played the character in several of the feature films revolving around the TNG crew. Sirtis also reprised the role for several episodes of Star Trek Voyager (alongside Dwight Schultz as Reginald Barclay) and her character appeared in the controversial final episode of the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise.

Deanne’s on-screen mother, Ambassador Lwaxana Troi, was played by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry who was the wife of the franchises’ creator Gene Roddenberry. The character of Lwaxanna appeared in several episodes of TNG and fellow spin-off Deep Space Nine. Actress Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was also the voice of Star Fleet’s computers in Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager and had played the character of Nurse Chappell in the original series.

(Via Blastr)