Actor Brent Spiner says he wouldn't consider playing Data again following the character's last appearance in Season 1 of Star Trek: Picard.
Speaking with TV Guide, Spiner, who has portrayed Lieutenant Data since the first episode of the original run of Star Trek: The Next Generation, claimed he "wouldn't really entertain the idea of doing it again." His concern about continuing to play Data is that "I just don't think it would be realistic." Since Data is an android who cannot age, portraying him would indeed be an issue for any actor over the decades, even with CGI.
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Data was killed off in the last TNG motion picture, Star Trek: Nemesis, when he sacrificed himself to destroy a Romulan ship, the Scimitar, which was set on a course to destroy Earth. Concern over Spiner's own real-life age was also the reason why he wanted to retire the character after the film, though advancements in CGI de-aging convinced him to appear in Picard.
However, to Spiner, Data's post-mortem appearances in Picard seemed like another and irresistible way to write a closing chapter for the character. "So it seemed right to me to give him this more gentle sendoff, and it seemed right to me in the context of the entire season of Picard and what Picard himself had been experiencing because of the loss of Data," he explained. "I think it allows him to feel okay about it too. So it seemed like the right thing to do."
Star Trek: Picard stars Patrick Stewart, Alison Pill, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora, Isa Briones, Santiago Cabrera and Harry Treadaway. The first season is available on CBS All Access.