Teri Hatcher’s Star Trek Scene Partner Was Almost Riker

The Lowdown

Two careers cross on a transporter pad: Teri Hatcher, years before Wisteria Lane, and Billy Campbell, who nearly got Jonathan Frakes' job. It's a pure trivia gift, and every piece of it checks out in official sources.

Key Takeaways

Teri Hatcher played transporter officer B.G. Robinson in TNG's "The Outrageous Okona" (Season 2, 1988).
The title rogue, Thadiun Okona, was played by Billy Campbell, who says the Riker role "was down to Jonathan and myself."
Campbell called Okona "kind of a consolation prize," and voiced the character again in Star Trek: Prodigy in 2022.

The Connection

"The Outrageous Okona" is the fourth episode of The Next Generation's second season, first broadcast in December 1988. Its title character is Thadiun Okona, a roguish freighter captain who charms his way around the Enterprise. Along the way he makes a date with the ship's transporter officer, B.G. Robinson, played by Teri Hatcher.

StarTrek.com's season 2 Blu-ray rundown lists Hatcher as B.G. Robinson. In 2005 she won the Golden Globe for Desperate Housewives, so the episode is now a reliable "wait, that's her?" moment for rewatchers.

The man playing Okona is the second half of the connection. Billy Campbell told StarTrek.com that he was in the final running for Commander William Riker: "I think it was down to Jonathan and myself. And the best man got the job." Casting director Junie Lowry then brought him back for Okona, which he called "kind of a consolation prize."

Campbell also remembers Hatcher's part: "My transporter chief was Teri Hatcher. I think that was her first gig on camera." That is his recollection, not a verified credit history, so we don't present it as fact.

The story has a coda. In 2022 StarTrek.com announced Campbell would reprise Thadiun Okona as a recurring voice role in Star Trek: Prodigy, the same show where Kate Mulgrew voices a hologram of Captain Janeway and Robert Beltran returns as Chakotay.

Who’s Who

Teri Hatcher — B.G. Robinson, transporter officer
Billy Campbell — Thadiun Okona (TNG); voice of Okona (Prodigy)
Jonathan Frakes — Commander William Riker, the role Campbell was up for
Patrick Stewart — Captain Jean-Luc Picard (series lead)
Kate Mulgrew — Hologram Janeway, Star Trek: Prodigy voice cast
Junie Lowry — Casting director (per Campbell)

Where It Happened

Star Trek: The Next Generation — Season 2, Episode 4, "The Outrageous Okona" (first aired December 1988)
Star Trek: Prodigy — Season 1 (2022): Campbell's recurring voice role as Okona
Desperate Housewives — Hatcher's 2005 Golden Globe win (Best Actress, TV Musical or Comedy)