Fox’s The Orville has yet another connection to the show that inspired it, Star Trek: The Next Generation — this time in the form of an actor crossing over. And she isn’t the only Trek veteran in the Planetary Union on the second season of Seth MacFarlane’s sci-fi dramedy.

Marina Sirtis will guest star on The Orville

In our Orville SDCC report yesterday we noted that Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Jonathan Frakes has been directing the latest episode of season two of The Orville. (He also directed one in the first season.) Yesterday his TNG co-star Marina Sirtis tweeted a picture of herself on set with Frakes and The Orville creator Seth MacFarlane. Frakes followed this up with the message “Cat’s out of the bag now.”

Cat’s out of the bag now… https://t.co/lgiieXRaMg — Jonathan Frakes (@jonathansfrakes) July 26, 2018

This strongly hinted that Sirtis wasn’t just there for a visit, something Sirtis herself seemed to back up later on Twitter in answer to a fan’s question. TrekMovie has now independently confirmed that Sirtis indeed has a guest role for the episode being shot by Frakes. We have no details yet regarding what her role will be.

This isn’t the first time Frakes and Sirtis have sparked speculation on social media. In May, Sirtis joined Frakes in Toronto on the set of Star Trek: Discovery when he was directing the second episode of season two, and they shared the moment on Twitter (see below). While there has been speculation that Sirtis’ visit to the Discovery set was also for some kind of role, this has yet to be confirmed.

John Billingsley joins growing list of Trek vets on season 2 of The Orville

It was reported earlier this week by IMDB News that Star Trek: Enterprise star John Billingsley had a guest role in the first episode of The Orville’s second season, filmed earlier this year. TrekMovie has also independently verified it.

Sirtis and Billingsley join two other previously revealed Trek vets who are doing guest spots in the second season of The Orville. Earlier this week, Star Trek: Voyager’s Tim Russ revealed he had just wrapped up work on the show.

I just finished work on "Orville", great cast, crew, and producers, Seth was great! — tim russ (@timruss2) July 23, 2018

And Russ’s Voyager co-star Robert Picardo did a guest spot in March, which was tweeted by executive producer/director John Cassar, pictured below with Picardo and MacFarlane. This is actually Picardo’s second time on the series, as he is reprising his role as the Xelayan father of Halston Sage’s Alara Kitan.

The second season of The Orville also has more Trek vets behind the camera. Acclaimed Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Discovery writer Joe Menosky has joined the series as an executive producer and member of the writers’ room. At San Diego Comic-Con, former Star Trek: Enterprise writer/executive producer and current The Orville writer/executive producer Brannon Braga told TrekMovie that he wanted Menosky for the first season, but he wasn’t available as he’d already signed on to Discovery.

And Star Trek: Voyager star Robert Duncan McNeill directed an episode of The Orville in April, his second for the series. Other Star Trek crossovers include director of photography Marvin Rush and writer/executive producer David A. Goodman, who joined in the first season.

Keep up with all The Orville news here at TrekMovie.com.