Star Trek: Lower Decks' stellar finale may end up as one of the best in franchise history, thanks to a game-changing reveal and a load of guest stars. We've since reported that creator Mike McMahan did some personal legwork to get franchise legend Jolene Blalock to appear, but that's not even the half of it. It turns out securing Alfre Woodard and others was an equally stressful ordeal, and it makes me even more impressed he pulled it off.
As we wait for upcoming Trek shows to arrive on the 2025 TV schedule, Mike McMahan stopped by the Tex-Trek podcast to talk about many things, including how he managed to get Aldre Woodard to reprise her role from Star Trek: First Contact as Lily Sloane. With his answer, the creator revealed that he actually wrote the entire cameo-filled script before knowing if any of the legacy actors could or would commit, which made the process very stressful after the fact. Here's how he put it:
I was so panicked because the episode written was really complex. Every single legacy character had a story in it. If somebody said no or their schedule didn't work, it's not like I could just replace, you know, [Alexander Siddig] as Bashir. I would have to rewrite it. I would have lost ‘Gashir’ because I just wasn't going to do it without them. And the same thing with Lily Sloan with Alfre Woodard, so I was panicked. I remember talking to Brad Winters on walks, he'd be like, ‘What are you going to do if somebody says no?’ And I'm like, ‘I literally can't come up with fixes for that until it happens because it's gonna fuck up the entire episode.’ He was just like, ‘That was a stupid thing to do,’ and I'm like, ‘I know!’
McMahan explained that while getting Garrett Wang to return as Star Trek: Voyager's Harry Kim was effortless thanks to the actor himself constantly asking to appear, others were more of a challenge. Alexander Siddig, for example, was out of the country filming his role in Apple's Foundation, and Alfre Woodard always seems as busy as ever. It wasn't just a possibility someone couldn't commit; it was highly probable that at least one person would have to say no.
For that reason, Mike McMahan did all he could to ensure he'd get a yes from the legacy actors he scripted for the Star Trek: Lower Decks finale. He talked more about all he did to try and rope in the talent, which he ultimately succeeded in doing:
So what I did was I wrote personal letters to every single legacy [actor] that I attached to the script and sent to their reps. Not only [did the letters] describe my personal love of the character and the way they performed them, but also what we were doing to honor them in this episode, the tone of lower decks in general, and honestly, like, How little time we're going to require of their schedule to get them in. I was just doing everything to be respectful. 'We can get this done [quickly], and it's going to be something really cool and I think you're gonna love it.'
The Star Trek: Lower Decks showrunner added that he also used actor Jonathan Frakes, who has long been a cheerleader of the show, as a resource and that the actor personally texted Alfre Woodard as well. It all resulted in Lily Sloane returning to the franchise, albeit one from an alternate dimension who discovered multiversal travel through space.
The immense amount of behind-the-scenes legwork that went into making the Star Trek: Lower Decks finale is impressive, and it makes me miss the show even more now that it's gone. Here's hoping Mike McMahan finds his way back into the franchise in time, as he told CinemaBlend he has no shortage of ideas for more adventures. It may take some work from fans to make it happen, and given the immense amount of work he put in to deliver an awesome finale, I think we owe it to him.
Star Trek: Lower Decks is available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription. Check it out, and prepare for a new year of Trek on streaming and hopefully more announcements about upcoming shows.
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