Brent Spiner has appeared in several films and television shows, including “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” In a resurfaced interview, the beloved actor opened up about how playing the role affected him early on, including why he felt the need to forgo sleep.
Spiner has played multiple roles in the “Star Trek” universe. Most notably, he portrayed Lt. Commander Data in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Brent Spiner Says He Lost Sleep Trying To Learn Lines
Spiner appeared on Michael Rosenbaum’s “Inside of You” podcast in 2023. During the discussion, the actor talked about the extensive dialogue required for his role in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and how difficult it was to learn before filming.
He said, “I used to have a deal with myself, I would go home after 16 hours or whatever because we were also doing 26 episodes a year back then, and I’d come home, and I’d say, ‘Okay, let me open up a script.
And my stomach would turn over, you know. I would think, ‘I’ve got to learn this for tomorrow?’ I had a deal with myself that I couldn’t go to sleep until I could say it out loud one time perfectly, so I knew I could do it the next day.”
He went on to discuss how the agreement impacted his life, saying, “There were a lot of times I didn’t sleep, let me say that. Because I had that deal with myself, that unfortunate deal.”
Later in the interview, Spiner stated that things improved on set when the producers decided to have the episodes focus on individual characters.
He Recently Opened Up About Appearing in ‘Star Trek: Picard’
GettySpiner has appeared in multiple “Star Trek” properties since “The Next Generation.” This includes “Star Trek: Picard,” which ended in 2023, and an episode of “Star Trek: Lower Decks” in 2024. The actor opened up in an interview with TrekMovie about reprising his famous character in “Picard.”
During the interview, he was asked what made him say yes to returning as the character, even though he had previously said he wouldn’t. Spiner said, “They just threw hundreds of thousands of dollars at me. I kept saying, ‘No, no, no.’ And then it just got absurd, and I said, “Well, okay, maybe one episode,” and then it just got even crazier.
And I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll do the whole season.’ In fact, Terry had some interesting ideas and had a way to address–my first response to him was, ‘How are we going to do this?’ And they came up with this stuff, and we tweaked it a bit, and then I thought, ‘Yeah, I want to be there to play with my friends.’ I wouldn’t want to be home knowing they’re all having that fun and I’m not there.”
Spiner also stated in the interview that his character having more emotional depth in “Picard” was also a draw for him to return.
