Star Trek: Insurrection Originally Had A Picard-Data Fight That Left One Of Them Dead
Anyone who has watched "Star Trek: The Next Generation" or "Star Trek: Picard" knows that Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Data (Brent Spiner) are trusted friends, with a bond forged over the course of countless spacefaring adventures together. As such, it's pretty difficult to imagine this pair of USS Enterprise stalwarts ever finding themselves stuck on opposing sides.
But that's what very nearly happened in one particular movie from the franchise's lengthy history. Indeed, an early draft of 1998's "Star Trek: Insurrection" actually had Picard and Data locked in a battle to the death against one another.
In the oral history "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams," "Star Trek: Insurrection" writer Michael Piller revealed that his original version of the film's script explored a much darker dynamic between the captain and his crew member. "In the first draft, Picard and Data are brutal, bitter enemies," Piller said. He went on to explain that the film would have featured a climactic dogfight battle between the two characters, with Picard ultimately being forced to kill Data to achieve victory.
Michael Piller's script faced major pushback
Any fan having trouble believing that "Star Trek: Insurrection's" story once featured Captain Picard and Data fighting each other to the death can take solace in the fact that they're not alone. Michael Piller's original script faced major pushback from both his collaborators and Paramount Pictures, each of whom had major issues with the story's tone and subject matter.
As Piller recalled in "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years," Patrick Stewart himself voiced concerns over the writer's concept for "Star Trek: Insurrection." "It was Patrick, frankly, who said, 'This is dark and dreary and it's not fun,' and he was the one who put us back on the fountain of youth course that ultimately really leads the story to its current state," the writer explained.
Meanwhile, "Star Trek: Insurrection" co-writer Rick Berman alleged that the film's studio had similar problems with the edgy nature of the first draft. "They thought a 'Star Trek' movie should be uplifting and fun and exciting," he said. "And those were not words that really fit into Mike Piller's vocabulary. Exciting maybe, but not fun. But that was like the biggest note that we really ever got."
As fans know, the released version of "Star Trek: Insurrection" doesn't feature the deaths of either Picard or Data. However, the franchise would eventually kill the latter character off, with the story of what ultimately happens to Data being a major focus of "Star Trek: Picard."