finally being included is everything to me

Last night, TNG was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 51st Saturn Awards. (The Saturn is the sort of the Oscar for genre movies and television, if you aren’t familiar.)

I have never cared about awards (I think I’ve mentioned that being nominated is more than enough), and I still don’t. I’m not minimizing this, to be clear. It’s fucking awesome. But I didn’t need an award to know that I am part of something special.

Photo via TrekMovie.com I was standing on the other side of Dorn, until Gates insisted I stand with her. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

The thing about last night, though, is that for the first time in almost 30 years, when the TNG cast was recognized and celebrated, I was finally included. (Put another way, I was not deliberately excluded). I got to stand on stage with my TNG family, arm around my Spacemom, while a room of our peers, including people I idolize, cheered for us.

And I got to be part of it. After all these years, that meant everything to me.

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50 thoughts on “finally being included is everything to me”

  1. This warms my heart in ways you could not know. Of course I’m projecting my own feelings of isolation and rejection, as well as the joy I’ve experienced from those few people who truly did welcome and accept me when my own family was so very alien. I am truly joyful to see you experience this welcome from your castmates, and wish for as much of this for you (and anyone else feeling outcast) as is humanly possible. It means so much to feel accepted when we’ve had so many years of feeling lost.

  4. Dear Mr Weaton,

    hello, my name is Moe Hasegawa from Japan. I read your speech at the NAMI’s worldwide conference on Medium. I was very impressed and translated it into Japanese, I’d like to share my translation with my friends and Japanese people if you don’t mind. I believe your speech will help Japanese people who are struggle with mental illness, because I live with Depression and your speech helped me a lot. I’m sorry that this message isn’t related to this article.

    my translation:

    my translation:

    https://note.com/preview/ncd1971650d0e?prev_access_key=e88a5c595864942f934c75c99eb9a3ea

    Thank you for reading.

    With Warm regards,
    Moe Hasegawa

  6. When I saw you up there with the rest of the cast (minus those who had schedule conflicts) I was so happy for you to be there and included!

  11. I hope you know just how much you mean to US, the fans, and how happy we were to see you standing there with your Space Family. TNG wouldn’t have been TNG without you. Congratulations!

  12. Tears of joy for you, Wil. Wanting to belong – it’s all any of us want, right? I’m so happy that your beautiful found space family has made you feel this way.

  13. I was so happy to see you in this photo; it actually brought tears to my eyes when I saw it last night. You all have been such a big part of my nerdom and my life that it just warms my heart to see you all together!

  14. Hey Wil.. just wanted to send a quick message to say thank you for your continuing contribution to Star Trek. I always enjoyed Trek growing up but was never completely immersed in it. I recently rewatched TNG and then went on directly to the films and then to Picard and naturally found The Ready Room and I just want to say thank you for the work you do to ask such amazing questions and welcome all the newcomers to your star trek family. It’s awesome to see how close everyone is. So again.. thank you for being Wesley and for taking us on a deeper dive of all the shows we enjoy so much! Take care!

  17. Congratulations! Well deserved! We (Trek fans, most humans I know) are so grateful in so many ways for you, Wil. Your contribution to TNG is one of them. Your contribution to showing up and letting yourself be seen is another.

  18. You absolutely deserve to be included. You were a significant member of the cast. I’m so glad you were all honoured together.

  20. I’m not crying. Wait. Yes, I am. I feel the happiness in this post and I can’t love it enough! You are amazing!

  22. You look so right standing there.
    I finally don’t have to go, Wait, where’s Will?
    I’m just sorry that all the rest couldn’t make it. Maybe next time.

  24. Wil….happy with you and for you. This family you found that truly loves you is where you have belonged all along. No one can take that from you ever again.

  26. Wil, one of the many things I love about you is that you can share your inner thoughts and fears and triumphs so honestly and eloquently. When there is a tough day it sure helps to hear from someone that got to pilot the Enterprise with that amazing cast yet still strugles with the mundane demons we all face. Just sharing the authentic Wil with us has improved many, many lives.

  28. My heroes 💗My childhood would’ve been bereft of magic had it not been for TNG. Ya’ll in the cast deserve EVERY award as far as I’m concerned.

  29. This is wonderful. Congrats to you all. I always thought Wesley was one of the more important characters on the show, and the writers totally dropped the ball with that. He was the reminder that this was a different Star Trek, that there were families on board, that it was a multi-generational group working together towards peace and discovery. Wesley’s presence was a visual indicator that the show had (in its best moments) moved beyond the more militaristic, heroic alpha male vibe of the original.

  30. Great stuff and really happy that you’re included. I must say though, what with the Saturn Awards being for sci-fi and genre works, how on Earth has TNG not been presented with this several times over already?

  32. Had to hit the View In Browser button in my RSS reader to come post a comment this time, instead of just smiling and moving on to the next post.

    You deserve to be included, and I’m thrilled for you! Your space family knows you belong, too, which is what really counts, IMO.

    To riff off of one of my favorite Wesley-Saves-The-Day episodes: your space family has ALWAYS been proud of you.

  33. Thank you so much for being so open about your feelings and experience. It’s great to read about what others have gone through and how they’ve overcome and continue to work and live. Seriously, very brave and super appreciated, man!

  34. This makes me so happy for you. Thank you for sharing your authentic self with us. You are a good person, you have worked hard and you deserve this! (repeat 10x)

  35. YESSSS so glad this happened, and kudos to Gates for bringing you into the limelight! So happy for you. <3

  36. Each time you post about your Space Family, I think of your appearance at the Calgary Expo in 2012, where you shared the story about not feeling like you could invite them to your wedding, but at that appearance you felt like you were coming home. I love that story so much and am so ridiculouly second-hand-happy for a guy I don’t even know IRL to have re-found his family. Congratulations on the award!

  37. Your Spacemom is an awesome person (shoutout to Gates’ podcast), and you all deserve the recognition for the work you all do.

  43. Very happy for you, Mr. Wheaton. Congratulations. You deserve it. Enjoy the moment and the feeling it brings you. You’ve a lot to be proud of. (A preposition is something you never want to end a sentence with.)

  44. It’s about TIME! I loved you on TNG. So cute!! 🥰🥰 I just read your RECOVERY journey. I’m 4 years sober myself. Similar family issues that I contend with today. THANK YOU for SHARING! It hit home with me. I felt the pain but also the joy of coming out of the FOG of addiction. Just as you were an inspiration in my childhood you are in my adulthood.

  45. Hi Wil,
    I want you to know how proud I am of you. I read your biography and had no idea what you were going through. It completely broke my heart. It’s amazing what you’ve written about addiction and trauma and how achingly truthful you’ve been about it. I think I last saw you at the MTV awards a million years ago, and I’ve been in therapy forever dealing with anxiety and depression too. Now that I’m also writing a biography, I’ve had to really look at our family and the addictions and the obsession with show business that’s been there for decades. It’s answered a lot of questions for me. I’d love to talk to you but understand if you don’t want to. I’m really so happy that you have a wonderful loving chosen family now–your wife and kids sound wonderful and you deserve it.

  46. That’s awesome Wil! I know how hard they tried to Exclude you in the past and how shitty that must have been for you. You are a part of the TNG family no matter how shitty the haters don’t want you to be. You were still in the show after you left because a lot of their stories still revolved around your character even after you were gone.

    Congratulations, you deserve this one good buddy!

  48. When TNG was on the air, I was so happy about your character because, as the mother of two girls, I was glad that they had an intelligent, thoughtful, and kind young man as a role model. It gave me hope that they would meet someone like Wesley Crusher to partner with in real life. I was completely flabbergasted when they took your character off the show.

    I met Gates at a Star Trek convention some years ago, and she impressed me as one of the kindest, most down-to-earth celebrities I have ever met. I’m so glad that you have her love and support!

    Warmest wishes always for your health and happiness!

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