In 1994, when Wesley Crusher left Starfleet to join the enigmatic Traveler in dimensions of space and time beyond the known universe, Wil Wheaton was saying goodbye to Star Trek. Or so he thought. As a child actor, Wheaton had joined the cast of The Next Generation at the age of 15, playing resident space prodigy Wesley, a character who was written as a kind of younger version of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, whose middle name was, in fact, “Wesley.”
