It’s true that Jonathan Frakes is best known for his work as Commander William T. Riker on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” — but it’s also true that the iconic actor’s science fiction resume stretches far beyond the walls of the Enterprise. Frakes, like many of his predecessors and contemporaries within the greater “Star Trek” franchise, has wholeheartedly given his great talents to the genre that made him a household name throughout the course of his impressive career. He’s been a mainstay in the “Star Trek” world since “TNG,” appearing in spinoffs like “Voyager,” “Enterprise,” “Picard,” and “Lower Decks” as his beloved character.
Plus, he and his “Star Trek” costars and compatriots share a lot of the same sci-fi credits, appearing in many of the same shows over the years — and even, sometimes, when “Star Trek” itself was in the spotlight, appearing alongside each other in some really fun homages. But because Frakes was something of a sci-fi devotee in his work, his resume spans further than even “Star Trek” tributes. With that in mind, we’re exploring five sci-fi TV shows the actor appeared on that aren’t part of the world of “Star Trek.”
Voyagers!
A few years before Jonathan Frakes would join the world of “Star Trek” in “The Next Generation,” he took his first official stab at science fiction in “Voyagers!,” the 1982 one-season series that centered on time travel. In the show, a man and a young boy, both of whom are part of a community of time travelers called Voyagers, use a futuristic device to traverse history and correct things to make sure world events progress as necessary.
Frakes only appeared as a guest star on the series, but he actually played a really cool role despite it being a small one. He took on the part of Charles Lindbergh, a real-life generational aviator whose monumental first nonstop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in 1927 ushered in a new era of aviation advancements. In his episode — the tenth in the series titled “An Arrow Pointing East” — the main characters actually aid him in his historic flight to France after visiting Robin Hood back in the year 1194.
The Twilight Zone (1985)
Some of Jonathan Frakes’ “Star Trek” predecessors were part of the original run of “The Twilight Zone” back in 1959, but the “TNG” star joined the fray himself during the first revival of the iconic sci-fi horror anthology series. The reboot, which premiered in 1985, followed the same structure as the Rod Serling original, but made a slight update to include multiple storylines in each episode rather than just one.
Frakes graced the titular Zone in the thirteenth episode of Season 1 titled “But Can She Type?” The story, which was one of three in that episode, centered on a burnt-out secretary (Pam Dawber) who acquires a copier that inadvertently brings her into an alternate universe where secretaries are put on a societal pedestal. Frakes only shows up in a cameo role in the episode — which aired in December 1985 — credited as “Single Guy,” and he’s featured in a scene where he flirts with Dawber’s character at a bar.
Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction
A few years after making a name for himself on “TNG,” Jonathan Frakes took his penchant for the genre to another sci-fi anthology series, one that is particularly underrated. “Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction” was a late 1990s and early 2000s genre series that showcased mysterious and seemingly impossible tales on each episode, leaving the viewer to decide if they were real or fake — and then revealing the truth of those stories at the end.
Frakes hosted the series (as himself, of course) in its initial four-season run, but he wasn’t the show’s first host. James Brolin was the host for the show’s first season in 1997 before Frakes took over for Season 2 the following year. He hosted through 2002, and then returned to host again for a set of revival episodes, which aired from 2021 to 2025, that were produced specifically for the German television market. Unfortunately for Frakes’ American fans — or any non-German completists in general — those episodes never aired in the United States and are not available to watch there, either.
Roswell
If there’s one word that screams sci-fi, it’s “Roswell,” both the name of the famous New Mexico town that allegedly saw a recovered alien spacecraft and the setting for the legendary science fiction drama series. The show, which aired for three seasons from 1999 to 2001, presupposed that that the UFO that allegedly crashed in Roswell in 1947 in real life does, in fact, exist. As a result, three alien beings masquerade as local high school teens in the area.
Jonathan Frakes’ part in the series came in the form of a one-episode cameo, appearing as himself in the thirteenth episode of Season 1 titled “The Convention.” In the telecast, Jason Behr’s Max Evans — one of the show’s key teen leads and secretly the leader of the aliens — hosts Frakes while he’s in town for the local UFO convention. In all of Frakes’ sci-fi appearances over the years, this one might be the most meta, but in the best way.
Future-Worm!
Despite the fact that a large portion of his resume is live-action work, Jonathan Frakes didn’t avoid the world of animated sci-fi over the years. In fact, he had a really fun recurring role on a 2016 Disney XD series called “Future-Worm!” The show follows a boy named Danny (voiced by comedian Andy Milonakis) who invented a time machine out of a lunch box and uses it to go on adventures with his best friend, Future-Worm.
“Future-Worm!” started as a series of shorts and then became fully-fledged show, which consisted of 21 episodes that aired from 2016 to 2018. Over the course of the series, Frakes lent his voice to six episodes playing Steak Starbolt, the hero of leading character Danny. Starbolt was also star of his own series in the world of the show, and he even traverses space in a steak-shaped spacecraft. Needless to say, the nod to Frakes’ “Star Trek” legacy was both silly and special.
