Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine introduced a long list of iconic characters, and while some made a bigger impact than others, Miles O'Brien understandably remains a firm fan favourite.
Irish actor Colm Meaney played the transporter chief of the USS Enterprise-D and was later promoted to chief of operations of Deep Space Nine. Miles appeared in 225 episodes overall and clocked up the second most appearances, second only to Michael Dorn's Worf.
Last week, we caught up with Meaney to discuss his memorable role in Duchess. During our conversation with the actor, we asked whether he has any interest in reprising the role of Miles O'Brien (Picard recently took us back to The Next Generation era and O'Brien was sadly M.I.A.).
"I think seven years in a space suit was enough, you know?" Meaney says in the video below. "I'm often asked that question and you never say never, of course, but first of all I wouldn't fit in it anymore [Laughs] and...I remember people saying at the time when Voyager got going, 'How many times can you go to the well? How many times can you revamp this?'"
"They successfully did it with Star Trek and they're still doing it. Good luck to them," he continued. "Do you want to see an elderly Miles O'Brien? I don't know. It's certainly not at the top of my agenda of things I'd like to do at the moment."
Elsewhere in the interview, we asked Meaney for his thoughts on dealing with Trekkies and the sort of legacy a franchise like Star Trek has.
"I never subscribed to that thing that Star Trek fans are nuts. A few of them are. There's the odd one, but now, I always found Star Trek fans to be professional fans. They're very good; they want to say hello and what they think and then they leave you alone pretty much. That's really nice and not true of everybody. I've always found them incredibly knowledgeable and way more than I was when I was doing it."
"They knew more about episodes than I did which is extraordinary. They're very committed to it and I think it has had a very positive impact on people; the whole Star Trek Universe, in terms of both racially in terms of people getting along with aliens getting along with other aliens and humans and it's a very positive influence."
"I think it's a very positive worldview that Gene Roddenberry created at the beginning. They very much stuck to that and it's all good."
While Meaney clearly looks back at his time exploring space with a certain level of fondness, it appears we can forget about him playing O'Brien again. It's a shame as the character really is beloved, but not tampering with that legacy isn't necessarily the worst idea.
You can hear more from Meaney on Star Trek and Duchess in the video below.
Duchess, a small-time crook, tries to enter the treacherous underworld of diamond trafficking and ends up left for dead when a deal goes wrong. Determined to seek retribution she launches into an unwavering pursuit for vengeance.
Duchess will be available on Digital and On Demand on August 9.