This is, sadly, something that has happened more than once in “Star Trek.” In the most recent season of “Star Trek: Picard,” the audience met Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), the long-lost son of Admiral Picard (Patrick Stewart). Jack was raised by his mother (Gates McFadden) and barely knew his father, but it was Picard who got to rescue Jack and have the show’s final bonding moments. The same was true of David, 41 years earlier. David was raised by Dr. Marcus, but it was Kirk who was present at his death. Dr. Marcus was nowhere to be seen.
Bibi Besch regretted that, saying:
“I feel disappointed that I never got a chance to complete my relationship with Jim Kirk vis-a-vis the death of our son. It would have been nice to be able to do that; I think it was a missed opportunity on their part not to do that, and I feel incomplete about it.”
And, in 1990, Butrick had already passed away, adding to Besch’s sadness. It was a pity because Besch and Butrick knew each other in real life, and having additional opportunities to act together was robbed from both of them. Besch continued:
“It’s sad, and of course, now Merritt is dead himself, and that’s even sadder because I saw him quite a bit before he died. It was disappointing to me that they didn’t involve Carol in David’s death. That’s the way they chose to do it, but I think it would have been nice to have been able to mourn with the father, Kirk; there was nothing with them together, and that’s too bad.”