The Next Generation star Marina Sirtis recalls having to "win over" the Star Trek audience

Star Trek: The Next Generation star Marina Sirtis has admitted the show's cast had to "win over" die hard fans of the franchise.

The classic series originally launched in 1987, though the Deanna Troi actress has admitted that fans of previous Star Trek outings were very sceptical of her and the rest of the new cast at first.

"The fans hated the fact that we were on," she told Graham Norton on his BBC Radio 2 show today (May 25). "I mean people assume because we became so successful that it was always that way.

"But no, I would go to conventions where there were like 30 people and they'd all be sitting with their arms crossed going, 'how dare you take the place of our heroes.' So we really had to win our audience."

The series went on to great acclaim and big ratings, so it seems they didn't have much to worry about in the end.

The Next Generation's lead, Sir Patrick Stewart, is due to revive his character Jean-Luc Picard in new spin-off show Picard, though Sirtis admitted she had "no idea" if the rest of the original crew are involved in the show.

Related: Star Trek Picard spin-off gets a UK broadcaster – here's when you can watch

"It's being guarded better than Trump is guarding the nuclear codes right now," she joked, though did reveal what she does know about Picard.

"I know that it's 25 years into the future, and it's not like hearts and flowers as TNG was," the actress continued.

"Apparently Patrick, when he told us he apologised for doing it without us... he said it's a little more dystopic, a little more reflective of how society is now."

Earlier this week, we were given our first look at Stewart's return as Picard in a short teaser clip.

Star Trek: Picard will air on CBS All Access in the US and Amazon Prime Video internationally, including the UK.

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