Captain Jellico "Brought a New Dimension" to Star Trek: The Next Generation, According to Ronny Cox
Ronny Cox as Jellico in STAR TREK: PRODIGY and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Images: Paramount.
DECEMBER 6, 2022 - It will be 31 years next Wednesday since Captain Edward Jellico made his first appearance, in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s season six episode, “Chain of Command, Part I.” Jellico, shall we say, made an impression and enough of one that he was back just a couple weeks ago on Star Trek: Prodigy’s “Masquerade,” now an admiral and Vice Admiral Janeway’s boss.
Ronny Cox, who played Jellico in TNG and voices him in PRO, sat down recently with TrekMovie to reflect on Jellico, then and now.
It didn’t take much for Cox to reacquaint himself with Jellico after all this time, saying, “In my bones, I knew where he was coming from back then, and it’s the same place now.”
Jellico is still the “get it done” kind of guy that fans loved or hated the first time around, and it’s the conflict he brings that Cox credits with a change in direction for TNG while reflecting on fan reactions to him. “They either hate him or there are other people who think he’s the greatest captain there ever was. So if you go back and look at what he did, he achieved a great deal of things there. One of the things that was different about “Chain of Command” is that the original producers didn’t like internal conflict among the characters. That robbed them dramatically of conflict among characters. And when Jellico came in, they were able to institute that. So his sort of beef with Riker brought a new dimension to the show.”
Janeway isn’t spared the conflict, either, but Cox likes playing such characters. “The difference between playing good guys and bad guys I liken it to painting. The good guy gets three colors: red, white, and blue. The bad guy gets the whole palette.” Not that he sees Jellico as a bad guy, though.
For more from Ronny Cox on Admiral Jellico, including the story behind Captain Picard’s fish, head over to TrekMovie.
David is a contributing writer for Daily Star Trek News on the Roddenberry Podcast Network. He is a librarian, baseball fan, and book and movie buff. He has also written for American Libraries and Skeptical Inquirer. David also enjoys diverse music, but leans toward classical and jazz. He plays a mean radio.
