Voyager's Roxann Dawson Had A Chance To Direct Star Trek But Dropped It For Another Show

"Star Trek" has a long and proud history of having its star actors make the leap to the other side of the camera and flourish as directors in their own right. None other than Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy, took the reins on both "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" and its follow-up, "The Voyage Home" — not to mention the various other films he would go on to direct (and almost direct), too. Jonathan Frakes, who portrayed the irrepressible William Riker on "The Next Generation" and "Star Trek: Picard," also tried his hand at directing and would quickly become a franchise regular in the director's chair throughout various other "Trek" shows and movies, as well. But "Star Trek: Voyager" gave way to a truly unique career, which saw Roxann Dawson go from playing the fiery half-Klingon, half-human B'Elanna Torres to finding great success as a gun-for-hire television director.

With directing efforts on shows like "Voyager," "Enterprise," "Lost," "The Americans," and many more under her belt, she was most recently put in charge of two pivotal episodes of "Foundation" season 2, the Apple TV+ sci-fi series based on Isaac Asimov's novels. In an exclusive interview with /Film, our very own Vanessa Armstrong was recently able to speak with Dawson about the possibility of returning to the "Trek" fold. Here's what she said:

"I have thought about it, and they have kindly also come to me about a few of the shows, but I think at the time they were starting to come out, I hadn't done science fiction in a while and I was trying to move away from that — I didn't feel a need to go back. And then this science fiction show ['Foundation'] came up, so this was the first science fiction that I'd done in a while."

"Star Trek" is chock-full of franchise actors who stayed in the family, from Nimoy to Frakes to LeVar Burton. Unfortunately for those who have seen Roxann Dawson's work over the last several years and found themselves hoping for another reunion, the director herself has thrown a splash of cold water on that dream. In her interview with /Film, she went on to say how much she appreciates the direction that "Trek" has taken in recent years ... but the time has come and gone for her to make her way back to the franchise that helped provide her big break in the first place:

"And I remember, I probably shouldn't say this, but one of the first things ['Foundation' creator David Goyer] said to me, he goes, 'You know, we're not going to be shooting 'Trek' here. This is not 'Star Trek.” I went, 'Yes, I understand. I understand.' And I was kind of like, 'Well, have you really seen 'Star Trek?” The current versions of 'Star Trek' I think are wonderful. I've seen 'Discovery,' I've seen 'Picard.' I think there's such wonderful and modern work being done there right now that we really can't categorize it in the way that we might have in the '90s. But no, I haven't really wanted to go back. I feel like I've been there and I've done that, and I love moving on to other things. So that's where I am at with it."

As disappointed as fans may be, our loss is everyone else's gain. While she's left acting behind for the past decade, Dawson hasn't missed a beat with her work on "House of Cards," "The Deuce," "This is Us," and especially "Foundation." She continues to boldly go, even without returning to "Trek."