The original The Next Generation series is inevitably regarded as one of the best Star Trek shows to have been created to date. Starring Patrick Stewart in the lead as Jean-Luc Picard, the series continues to leave fans at the edge of their seats even after over three decades since its last aired episode. However, one actress fired from the show has some serious allegations against it.
Gates McFadden, who played the fan-favorite Beverly Crusher in the smash-hit saga, was fired from it after a mere one season, and the reason behind this was, apparently, too much alleged sexism in the show. As the actress shared in a candid turn of events, TNG included some rather dirty politics in it: the very thing that eventually led to her getting dropped from the series.
Gates McFadden was Allegedly Fired from Star Trek Due to Sexism
Back when she was originally offered a role in the Star Trek saga, Gates McFadden didn’t accept it, and this didn’t happen just once, but twice. Rather, she chose to “do a play for 400 bucks a week with Linda Hunt.” But after she was eventually cast as Will Wheaton’s character Wesley Crusher’s mother Beverly Crusher, things didn’t all go as planned for her.
This was because she was the “Okay, guys, we’re gonna make this the best we can make!” kind of person when it came to working on projects rather than one who was more into the business aspect of it all. As she herself admitted on the Inside Of You podcast, her motive behind working was along the lines of “let’s change the world, let’s do something,” which she absolutely loved.
That said, she “didn’t get this whole Hollywood thing” about politics and business, and thus, ended up having a fallout because of the same. As she said during the podcast about TNG:
There really are politics. Yeah, well, I didn’t know that. And I think, also, it was a different time. They really wanted women to look pretty and be a certain way, but they didn’t want you to, like, speak up as if you were their equal, I think.
While those allegations are severe, McFadden feels that her raising her voice against this very factor was what eventually led to Maurice Hurley, head writer and showrunner of TNG, getting “definitely pissed off” by her. Apparently, the actress’ questioning the worth of her character didn’t quite sit well with him because she was seemingly acting out more than what was expected of her.
Emphasizing how she felt her character wasn’t depicted as being important enough, she said:
Every time there’s anything even possibly serious, it’s only the male characters that talk to him. And I know he doesn’t have a dad, but all you ever have Beverly Crusher doing is, ‘Oh, Wesley! Why didn’t you do that?!’ And I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. She’s a scientist. I’m not buying this.’ This is like a ‘Leave it to Beaver’ kind of mother thing. So I had a problem with it.
All of this being said, McFadden was clearly not okay with the series showing her character this way, which was, presumably, what eventually led to her firing from the series. But even as The Next Generation was supposed to be progressive because it dealt with pretty progressive concepts, this wasn’t all McFadden had to say about the apparent sexism in it.
Gates McFadden Had Some Serious Sexism Problems With TNG
Continuing during the same interview, McFadden then talked about how things like the Angel One storyline of Patrick Stewart‘s saga really made her question just how sexist they were going with the script. She candidly confessed:
I thought ‘Angel One’ was a really silly, sexist script. There’s this planet of women and they’re doing really well and they all happen to be really good-looking, which is fortunate. But then, all of a sudden, Will Riker — Jonathan Frakes — goes down and they just, they lose their mind because, you know, it’s a man.
As brutal as all of these sexism allegations may be, McFadden really believes all of these factors coupled with her hesitating “I’m not sure I want to do this” approach towards the saga in the beginning “really pissed” Hurley off. This, in turn, eventually led to her getting fired from the show after only one season, as per what the actress feels.
You can stream The Next Generation on Prime Video.
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