Star Trek: Jonathan Frakes Discusses Jean-Luc Picard's Emotional Moment with Seven of Nine

There was no shortage of shocking moments in the latest episode of Star Trek: Picard. However, one of the scenes that still stands out is the emotional moment when Jean-Luc Picard and Seven of Nine painfully reminisce their past and how they are connected through the Borg. Interestingly, director Jonathan Frakes has spoken up about the scene, revealing that it wouldn't have happened during Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Frakes recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter where he admitted that getting the chance to direct Stardust City Rag "was completely the luck of the draw." Nevertheless, he was pleased to be the one to work on the fifth episode of Picard since it had an amazingly emotional moment.

"I was grateful to be apart of reintroducing fans to Seven, particularly their mini-scene — where these two former Borgs — they exchange their baggage and their feelings about having been ‘Borg-ified.' It's one of my favorite scenes I've ever done," Frakes said.

But here's the thing: Frakes pointed out that "we never could have done [a scene like] this on our show," since Gene Roddenberry preferred to avoid any conflict between protagonists. However, that rule is now changing for the benefit of shows like Picard and Star Trek: Discovery.

"As we know, conflict is what creates drama. So, on Next Gen, it was a very challenging set of rules — primarily for the writers — to find ways to create drama. In this new version of Star Trek, which honors what Roddenberry laid out — in terms of the optimism and respect toward themes like racism — all of those elements are sort of strongly rooted in this show," Frakes stated. He then added that the same conflict is what gives Patrick Stewart's character more depth in Picard.

"The notion of self-doubt, the vulnerability — especially for a [character] like Picard — the damage of past experiences, are so much more compelling to watch … It's a denser show than Next Gen, I think that's fair to say. Pushing Picard to these places, watching Patrick act that out — and he was in the writer's room as they developed this story — it's all so rewarding to see," Frakes concluded.

This certainly explains why the moment between Picard and Seven was so electrifying. With that in mind, we're looking forward to more scenes like this in the next episodes of Picard.

The latest episode of Star Trek: Picard, which is titled Stardust City Rag, is currently streaming on CBS All Access.

Related: Star Trek: Picard Originally Didn't Bring Back Jonathan Frakes as Will Riker