LogFAQs > #936404772

There was a complication regarding the involvement of Wesley Crusher actor Wil Wheaton (and his character) in this episode. Even though he'd been cast in the film Valmont, which would be shot in Paris, during the hiatus since the second season and although the movie's production schedule was due to run over into the first week of filming TNG Season 3, Wheaton didn't anticipate a scheduling conflict. That was because this episode was scheduled to be produced first, instead of starting with third season premiere "Evolution".

Wesley's participation in "The Ensigns of Command" was therefore in question. "One of the producers told my agent that they could not write me out of that episode," Wheaton remembered, "because it was a Wesley-focused episode, and I couldn't go work [in a movie] [] He called my house and told me, 'It's a Wesley episode, and I'm writing a scene with you and Gates that's going to move your mother-son relationship forward, and it's really important to the series,' and he just lied to me [] A few days before we began production on that season of Next Generation, this producer wrote me out of the script entirely, and it was appalling to me. The message was very clear we own you and it was a move to sabotage my career." Wheaton was extremely upset and felt very betrayed about the situation, which led him to want to quit the series.

Wow that's brutal. Cost him a movie role and mess around with him just to not even use him in the show?

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https://imgur.com/VwJsmAR