Exclusive: Jonathan Frakes beams up for 'Guardians' animated series

Jonathan Frakes is going back to outer space.

The erstwhile Star Trek: The Next Generation star will voice the character of J'Son, king of the Spartax galactic empire and dad to Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord), in the Disney XD animated series Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. Frakes guest-stars on the March 13 episode (8 a.m. ET/PT), the first part of a significant story line this season where Star-Lord (Will Friedle) goes missing during an investigation on Spartax and the rest of the Guardians head off to rescue him.

"I'm thrilled to be part of another great sci-fi franchise. And I'm also lucky that the character of J'Son just happens to sound like me," Frakes says with a laugh.

Frakes played Commander William T. Riker, No. 2 to Patrick Stewart's Captain Jean-Luc Picard, on seven seasons of Next Generation (1987-94) as well as four Star Trek movies. In addition, Frakes directed two of the films, Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).

J'Son is also Star-Lord's father in the comic books, though Guardians of the Galaxy movie director James Gunn has said in the past that, while the upcoming sequel (now filming in Atlanta) will deal with Peter's father — who was teased in the first movie — the character won't be the same person from the comics.