Why was Gates McFadden fired from Star Trek: The Next Generation?

The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard was fan service at its best and most fulfilling, seeing as it reunited practically the full Enterprise-D crew from Star Trek: The Next Generation. What’s more, it also gave Gates McFadden a strong storyline to sink her teeth into as Dr. Beverly Crusher, a role she hadn’t played since 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis. That meant a lot to fans, and no doubt the actress herself, as McFadden hasn’t always been treated so well by the franchise.

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As anyone who has watched TNG from beginning to end will know, Beverly Crusher is a main character on all seven seasons of the long-running series, which began in 1987. All seasons, that is, except for the second, in which her role was filled by the short-lived Dr. Katherine Pulaski (Diane Muldaur). But what happened to cause McFadden’s removal from the show, which thankfully turned out to be temporary?

Gates McFadden on why she was let go from Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2

McFadden herself got into the ins and outs of why she did not return for TNG season two during a recent appearance on the Inside of You podcast. When host Michael Rosenbaum enquired over how she was “fired” from Star Trek, the actress explained that she was never formally “fired,” only “not asked back.”

However, she admits this is essentially the case as she had angered showrunner Maurice Hurley with her criticism of what she perceived as the sexist, outdated portrayal of her character, and other women on the show in general. As McFadden put it:

“It was a different time, they wanted women to look pretty and be a certain way but they really didn’t want you to, you know, speak up as if you were their equal, I think. I definitely p*ssed him off, Maurice Hurley, because I kept saying ‘Why is it that I’ve raised this genius kid, Wil Wheaton’s character, Wesley Crusher…’ Clearly, I had something to do with it, it wasn’t just the dead husband. And yet anytime there’s anything even possibly serious it’s only the male characters that talk to him.”

McFadden elaborated by saying that she was disappointed by the way Beverly’s contributions were often reduced to what she refers to as a “Leave it to Beaver mother thing,” often depicted nagging her son when Dr. Crusher’s own intellect and status as a scientist made her a formidable intellect on her own. McFadden also specified the season one episode “Angel One,” which is widely known to have been decreed by the whole cast as sexist, as another contributing factor to her dissatisfaction.

Once let go, McFadden stresses that she was happy to move forward with her career, appearing in a play in New York and starring opposite Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for the Red October, so she was surprised to receive a call from Patrick Stewart himself imploring her to come back for season three, following the Dr. Pulaski character not working out. McFadden agreed to return, although she admits to Rosenbaum that it still took a long time for the character of Beverly Crusher to evolve to where she wanted her.

Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard can be streamed on Paramount Plus.

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