TNG used a brilliant trick to ensure Brent Spiner isn't typecast with data type roles

Being associated with the same role for an extended period of time can often lead to the actor being typecast or pigeonholed into that type of role in their career. Luckily, Brent Spiner never had to worry about this, even though he was attached to Lt. Commander Data for decades.

Often considered one of the most versatile actors in the Star Trek franchise, Spiner's career extends beyond the confines of science fiction, as he has played a wide variety of roles in various genres. One of the reasons he never limited himself to playing a similar type of role is that his Star Trek the character allowed him to fully explore his acting talents.

Star Trek Allowed Brent Spiner to explore his acting abilities

Although playing an emotionless android might not sound as captivating on paper, Brent Spiner's acting abilities were put to the test throughout his tenure in Star Trek. In Star Trek: The Next Generationthe characters were able to live out their wildest fantasies and stories, thanks to the Holodeck, which was first introduced in The animated series.

This made for some fun episodes, especially for Spiner, who was finally allowed to spread his acting wings playing all kinds of different roles, including Sherlock Holmes.

He said:

There's this double-edged sword of being identified with just one role, but if I'm going to be identified with just one role, at least it's a role in which I get to play all kinds of other different roles. I really enjoyed playing Sherlock Holmes when we did that (in the TNG episodes “Elementary, Dear Data” and “Ship in a Bottle”). We did all kinds of things and I was inhabited by different creatures and personalities. It's a dream for an actor to be able to do that.

But out of all the personalities he's faced over the years, playing Data's evil android brother was his favorite, because he was the closest to himself.

Lore is closest to Brent Spiner in personality

While Spiner debuted as Data, who gradually became more human as the series progressed, the actor had a better time playing his evil android brother, Lore. Considering the character is revealed to have all the negative traits that Data lacked, the actor joked that he had a better time paying off Lore because he was evil in real life.

In fact, of the two characters – Data and Lore – I’m a lot more like Lore. I mean, Lore was easy to play because I'm bad. So they said, “Yeah, let it go, be yourself.” » So ok!

His performances as Lore, Data and all the other personalities he played throughout his decades-long stay in the Star Trek the universe testifies to its versatility.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is available for streaming on Paramount Plus.