Summary

• Jonathan Frakes provided to Star Trek: Discovery cast facing fan criticism, drawing on his own experiences with The Next Generation.
• Frakes welcomed Discovery actors as part of the larger franchise family, acknowledging that previous series also faced initial resistance from fans.
• Sonequa Martin-Green praised Frakes for guiding them and emphasized the understanding and respect they had for fans' critiques.

Sonequa Martin-Green shares the advice and perspective Star Trek: The Next Generation's Jonathan Frakes offered to Discovery season 1's Mirror Universe arc, followed by the introduction of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) in Discovery season 2, which resulted in the series shifting its setting to the 32nd century.

Star Trek: Discovery actors Sonequa Martin-Green, David Ajala, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Chieffo, and Eve Harlow were spotlighted in a on Star Trek: The Cruise VII. As reported by TrekMovie, Martin-Green spoke about the hatred Star Trek: Discovery initially garnered from some fans, and how director Jonathan Frakes told Sonequa that fans also hated Star Trek: The Next Generation and its cast at first. Read her quote below:

y’all in the beginning when we had a lot of criticism, and people [were] coming for us for a lot of reasons. It made sense. We always said we understood where they were coming from. And we had so much respect because those criticisms were coming from a place of love and loyalty and intelligence and intellect and all of that… But we were like [makes pained expression] 'We’ve got so many people to prove and to ourselves too.' So Jonathan Frakes – one of our favorite directors – really shepherded us and took us under his wing. He welcomed us as a proxy for the rest of the franchise. And he was like, 'No, no, no. Welcome. This is how it goes. They hated us too.' They used to get letters like, “We don’t need you… why are you trying to get in the way of our Kirk and Spock?" He said it took [TNG] like three seasons for them to finally take hold of us. I how we were so comforted by that. I’m still grateful for him to this day because he was really kind of like a Papa Big Brother for us in the beginning.

Jonathan Frakes directed Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 9, "Lagrange Point," which is the first half of Discovery's 2-part series finale.

Star Trek Fans Did Hate TNG In The Beginning

Every Star Trek show starts off with haters

Over 35 years later, Jonathan Frakes and his co-stars recall the fan ire heaped upon Star Trek: The Next Generation during its first few seasons, Devotees of Star Trek: The Original Series were incensed at the idea of a different USS Enterprise crew 'replacing' Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and there was plenty of scorn towards TNG in the form of angry fan letters in the pre-Internet era. Frakes is also right that the third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation is when the series became popular. Today, TNG is held up as arguably the best Star Trek series of all.

Fans hating on a new Star Trek show is an unfortunate tradition.

Jonathan Frakes returned to Star Trek as a director thanks to Star Trek: Discovery, which he considers his "home" series. The hatred Discovery elicited from hardcore Trekkers must have felt like déjà vu to Frakes. But fans hating on a new Star Trek show is an unfortunate tradition, one visited upon Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (not set on a starship), Star Trek: Voyager (a female captain), Star Trek: Enterprise (unnecessary prequel), and of course, Star Trek: Discovery and every Star Trek on Paramount+ show created as a result of Discovery's success.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 premieres April 4 on Paramount+.

Source: TrekMovie.com