Gates McFadden spoke in a podcast about her suspicion as to why she was not invited back after the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation and how much sexism she had to deal with during the project.
Who is Gates McFadden? Many will know the American actress as Dr. Beverly Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
However, as she recounted in the podcast Inside of You on June 19, 2023, she had some issues with a writer of the series because she felt certain aspects in Star Trek were sexist and she criticized them as such.
“They didn’t want you to speak up”
When asked whether it was true that the actors were fired because of head writer Maurice Hurley on Star Trek, Gates McFadden spoke about her near exit from the famous sci-fi series.
She indicated that she did not really know what the reason was for not being “recalled” after the first season of Star Trek. However, she suspected that disagreements with Hurley were the reason for it.
She further shared that she initially rejected the project twice before she eventually joined as Dr. Beverly Crusher.
Discussing working in Hollywood at that time, she explained: “It was a different time. They wanted women to look pretty and be a certain way, but they didn’t want you to speak up as if you were equals.”
You can watch the YouTube video yourself where the actress talks about Star Trek:
She is sure that she upset Maurice Hurley because she repeatedly criticized one thing: Her character had a son, the brilliant Wesley Crusher, who had saved the spaceship multiple times.
Dr. Beverly Crusher must have influenced her clever son, not just his deceased husband. Yet, male characters always spoke with Wesley whenever something exciting happened, while her character simply stood by and said: “Oh, Wesley! Why didn’t you do that?”
In her opinion, that does not fit a smart woman like Dr. Beverly Crusher. “I thought: Wait a minute, she is a scientist. I don’t buy that. […] And so I had a problem with that.”
Moreover, she stated that the script for the episode Angel One was pretty dumb and sexist. It revolves around a planet inhabited only by beautiful women. They managed perfectly well without men until Will Riker walks onto the planet and suddenly “everyone loses their mind”.
After the actress criticized the episode and its plot and was initially unsure if she wanted to be part of the series, she suspects this led to her not being invited back after the first season.
However, as she shared in another interview, Hurley was no longer involved in the project at a later time, and the producers asked if she would like to return.
Due to receiving numerous fan letters and main actor Patrick Stewart personally reaching out to her, Gates McFadden aka Dr. Beverly Crusher returned for the third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
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