The Stargate Character You Forgot Was Played by Star Trek: TNG Icon Marina Sirtis

I love a good 'wait, was that...?' cameo, and this one even tripped up long-time fans. Yes, Marina Sirtis — counselor Deanna Troi herself — showed up on Stargate SG-1. You probably missed it, but it matters more than you think.

The 'Watergate' cameo you might have forgotten

In SG-1 Season 4's 'Watergate', Sirtis plays Dr. Svetlana Markov, a Russian oceanographer pulled into the mess when Russia's quietly operated Stargate goes sideways. Different vibe from Troi? Completely. She slides into SG-1's colder, politically tense lane like she has been doing it for years — clipped, efficient, and no-nonsense. It's a short appearance, but it adds some real heft to one of the show's most under-discussed arcs: the Russian Stargate program that bubbles up throughout the series.

If you need a visual jog, she even resurfaced it on Instagram recently — the clip was shared on her UK account, 'marinasirtisuk'.

How Sirtis ports her Star Trek energy into SG-1

Sirtis walks in with that calm, controlled intensity she honed across seven seasons of The Next Generation. She has a way of mixing emotional intelligence with authority without overplaying it, and that steadiness gives 'Watergate' a sharper edge. The episode itself sits at a 7.5/10 on IMDb, and her presence helps the whole thing feel more grounded and urgent.

There is a behind-the-scenes nerd detail baked into this: TNG's early seasons were famously bumpy behind the curtain. You can feel the discipline that forged in how she delivers here — crisp, precise, methodical. In 'Watergate', especially when she is navigating standoffs with the SG-1 team, it reads as both calculating and intuitive. Different universe, same spine.

The Trek-to-everywhere pipeline

Star Trek actors crossing into other sci-fi worlds is basically a tradition at this point, and Sirtis fits the pattern cleanly. Case in point:

• Brent Spiner went from Data to Dr. Brackish Okun in both Independence Day films.
• Patrick Stewart became the face of Marvel's X-Men films as Professor Charles Xavier.
• Simon Pegg plays Scotty in the rebooted Trek movies and pops up as Unkar Plutt in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
• Zoe Saldana took Uhura and then headlined two blockbuster universes with Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy.
• Leonard Nimoy voiced Galvatron and Sentinel Prime in the Transformers films.
• Karl Urban moved from McCoy to Dredd and The Boys.

When Trek vets jump franchises, they tend to bring instant genre credibility. Sirtis does exactly that in SG-1 — a short turn that lands harder than it looks on paper.

Quick refresher on the shows (plus a tiny correction)

A couple of details often get scrambled in write-ups, so let me untangle it cleanly. Star Trek: The Next Generation ran from 1987 to 1994 for 7 seasons under Paramount Television, with a reported budget around $1.3 million per episode. It sits at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.7/10 on IMDb. Stargate SG-1 ran later, from 1997 to 2007 for 10 seasons, produced by Double Secret Productions and Gekko Film Corp., with per-episode budgets generally in the $1.3–$2 million range. That one also clocks a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.4/10 on IMDb.

Also, in case you see someone call SG-1 a 90s 'movie': the 1994 Stargate film is the movie; SG-1 is the long-running TV series that spun out of it.

Where to watch

Stargate SG-1 is streaming on Prime Video. Star Trek: The Next Generation is available to buy on Apple TV.