De Lancie Duo Interviewed

In tonight's new Voyager episode, 'Q2', John De Lancie appears opposite his real-life son Keegan. But according to a new interview published in the Star Trek Communicator, the family connection was not the reason Keegan got hired.

"My agent said I was probably pretty darn good for the part," said Keegan. "Apparently they had orders to hire me only if I was the absolute best person. They didn't want to make it seem like I got the role just because of my dad."

Still, once hired, Keegan was able to explore the father-son relationship on screen. ""We didn't have as many scenes together as I would have liked. [...] In this episode, my dad appears mainly as 'the dad,' but we tried to play around with what we had. We definitely drew on our relationship. You'll be able to see in some scenes that he is actually my dad and I'm his son. Our final scene, I think, you'll be able to tell we're really connecting. You can see we're a family. This is what it's like to be in the Q household."

Father John added to that, "The whole episode was not written to really explore the father/son thing very much. [...] But in one or two places, certainly the audience knowing we're father and son will get it. This is not really a story about the relationship between Q and his son, but the adolescent issues that are transformed by Q2's experiences. Even so, there are a few places where those connections are made."

John De Lancie did see another connection being made, that between current and future Trek. "There's a feeling that I'm handing the character off. I had created a new Q and this Q was being handed off. None of that was in the script. It's what I got out of the experience. [...] To use Q again might be old hat. One of the problems with the character is that as time has gone on, he's become less edgy. If there are more episodes, it's just fine with me that they bring in Q2."

More from father and son can be found in the full interview, now transcribed at Voyager's Delights.

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