As we continue to countdown to the launch of Star Trek: Picard, we’ve got another interview from this weekend’s press tour event where our team got to sit down for a chat with many of the new stars — and returning favorites — ahead of the series debut.

We talked with Next Generation veterans Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) and Brent Spiner (Data) about being asked to come back to the Trek fold, the structure of the new show, and what it took to find their old characters’ looks once more.

While the pair worked together on more than 180 hours of Next Generation episodes and films, their return for Picard is their first step into today’s modern Trek production — and we asked them how the franchise in 2020 compares to their time during the 1990s… in both funding, and storytelling.

BRENT SPINER: Well, God knows they’re spending a lot more money than we used to. I mean, really, the budgets are incredible. If we’d had these budgets [during ‘The Next Generation’] we’d still be on the air!

But I love what they’re doing with the show and how it’s going to look.

MARINA SIRTIS: No, no, no. Stop. I don’t know, because really the man who invented that high definition camera — and it was a man, because a woman would have never fucking invented it, excuse my French. May he rot in hell for all eternity!

SPINER: Right. But see, in my case: CGI… so I look fine!

SIRTIS: Yeah, it’s all right for you, Mr. Android, the rest of us look like something the cat dragged in… The thing that I was most thrilled about was that I didn’t have to wear a space suit!

SPINER: [Laughs] But you know, it’s hugely different, also – we’re not at the center of the show. I mean, I always thought that ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ was the story of Data, the android and search to become human. But we’re sort of like a ‘seasoning’ [in ‘Picard‘].

SIRTIS: I haven’t seen it, so I’m just talking off the top of my head now – but I think basically because the show’s called ‘Picard’ [makes exaggerated air quotes]…. Although Patrick [Stewart] was number one on the call sheet [for ‘The Next Generation’], I think we were a real ensemble cast. I think in ‘Picard,’ it’s like Patrick… and the rest.

SPINER: Well, now at the moment, it is. I think these are really talented actors and a great ensemble; I think they’re all going to become fan favorites and they’re all gonna get their shot. It’s always going to be called ‘Picard,’ so he’s going to be the fulcrum from which everything spins… but I think it will be everyone’s show, eventually.

The announcement of their involvement in the series, made last year after many months of fan speculation and public denial by the actors (due to the usual non-disclosure agreements required by Hollywood productions), was a welcome surprise — and to Spiner and Sirtis, being asked to come back for Picard was unexpected to them, as well.

SIRTIS: Yes! I was surprised to get the call, actually. Were you surprised?

SPINER: Yeah. We had had dinner with Patrick when he told us about the show –

SIRTIS: When he apologized for doing the show without us! He [bought us dinner] – I think he really felt bad that he was doing Picard and we weren’t part of it because we were an ensemble.

SPINER: I was surprised, but pleased – and convinced, by the pedigree of the people we were going to work with. Maybe it’s a good idea to come in and add a little spice to the show.

While more than twenty years have passed in the world of Star Trek: Picard since the last time we saw Data and Deanna, each of the characters will be seen in different ways in the new show: with the android’s death in Star Trek: Nemesis, it required a great deal of visual effects work to make the 70-year-old Spiner look like his 2002-era self.

But according to the man himself, that digital “de-aging” work almost didn’t happen as planned.

SPINER: Well, the powers that be, when I met with them, I said, “How am I going to play Data again?” And they said, well, that CGI has come a long way, and that they could make me look really good. [I ended up] in the same makeup [and wore the] same contacts…

So, the first day on set, I put on the makeup and everything, and think, “Oh, this is okay!” Then I get this phone call – “It’s just too expensive. We can’t do the CGI. It’s just too expensive.” And I went, “Wait a minute, you know, I was told…”

After a discussion, I said, “Well, you understand I don’t have to be CGI’d back to what I looked like on the series, it has to look like how I looked at the end of ‘Nemesis.’” And they went, “Oh, sure, that’s right! No problem! We’re gonna do it.”

And they did. It has changed a bit, though, from some trailers that came out early –

SIRTIS: You looked awful.

SPINER: Yeah, it didn’t look good. But they’ve repaired all that since. They just hadn’t finished yet.

When it comes to Deanna Troi, however, the former Enterprise counselor has aged along with the actor portraying her — but Sirtis still requires some much-needed accessories to complete her half-Betazoid look.

SIRTIS: I got the call, and then I didn’t hear anything [about Troi’s contact lenses]. So I called and said, “You do know that I wore a wig and black contact lenses?” I told them, “I think I stole them [from ‘Nemesis’], so I think I have them.” So we got the contact lenses cleaned – since they’ve been sitting in a case for like 15 years – and I have the wig, [both] that I wore in ‘Nemesis.’

And it was really good that I did, trust me! They wouldn’t have had time to make a $10,000 wig, and I was in England doing a play anyway; I wrapped [the play] on a Saturday and was at Universal [in Hollywood] on Monday, having traveled from England on Sunday.

So it was lucky that I did pilfer them!

While we will see Data in a number of dream sequences — thanks to several glimpses of the android in the Star Trek: Picard trailers — we don’t expect a trip to the home of Deanna Troi until a few episodes into the year, based on comments made around filming schedules over the last few months.

But rest assured, we’re looking forward to seeing Counselor Troi once more offer her sage advise to her former Enterprise captain.

This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.