After leaving “Star Trek: The Next Generation” at the end of the first season, Denise Crosby didn’t expect to return to the series.

“I never thought that would’ve ever happened. Out of the blue, (Executive Producer) Rick Berman called me and asked, ‘Would you come back?’ I was like, ‘Oh my god, yes!’” recalled Crosby, of Los Angeles, who will appear at the Motor City Comic Con in Novi the weekend of May 17-19.

Crosby played security chief Lt. Tasha Yar on “TNG,” who was killed off at the end of the first season.

“The first year of ‘TNG’ was rough,” she recalled. “It was all over the place and didn’t have its footing yet. It was 26 episodes/season, which is a lot of shows and commitment. I thought my role was promising to be fantastic and had all the promise of what you hadn’t seen on TV yet: A woman security chief in a traditional male role, who is strong, fierce, at the top of her class. Those are empowering traits. She was on the bridge of the Enterprise and would have something to say and would be acknowledged. It slowly devolved, where I felt like a prop. I felt like the token female in the male role but without really fulfilling the part. It was very frustrating.”

Crosby expressed her concerns to the late “TNG” creator Gene Roddenberry.

“Gene himself said to me: ‘It will not change. This is what it’ll be. I don’t want you to leave, but I understand your frustration. I have a template for the main three: (Patrick Stewart’s Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, Jonathan Frakes’ Commander William Riker, and Brent Spiner’s Lt. Cmdr. Data).’ God bless him, but he was stuck in the 1960s formula that worked on the original series. My decision to leave wasn’t an overnight decision. It was months of thinking and talking, trying to get some idea of developing her,” she said.

Berman asked Crosby to reprise her role as Tasha in the third season episode called “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” considered one of the best episodes of “TNG.” The plot involved an alternate timeline where Tasha was alive and well. Only Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) sensed something was wrong and that Tasha should be dead. Eventually, Tasha, alongside Richard Castillo (Christopher McDonald), manage to restore the proper timeline with Tasha dead once again.

“It was the script I’d been waiting for. I had an incredible time coming back. It was a surprise on so many levels,” Crosby said. “Working with (MacDonald) was one of the all-time pleasures I had. … It was just such a solid, solid, wonderful episode. For me, it sort of was redemption in a way. I had to die to get the best episode, I’ve always said.”

Crosby wasn’t done with “TNG.” She played Tasha again on the series finale, “All Good Things …” She also played Sela, Tasha’s half-Romulan daughter, who was a villain for three episodes. Another character she played was Dr. Jenna Yar, Tasha’s grandmother, in a 2009 episode of “Star Trek: Phase II,” a fan-created web series.

Crosby said she really enjoyed playing Sela. She explained why Sela didn’t appear in “Star Trek: Picard,” which concluded last year after three seasons.

“(‘Picard’ showrunner Terry Matalas) thought it would be such an add-on to use Sela. She really needs her own storyline because she’s such a great villain with so much room to explore,” Crosby said. “I think there’s more of Sela to come. I’m hoping another (Matalas) can get it off the ground. She’s just a dynamic, complex character with so much potential. Tasha had so much potential. Now we’re in a different time, a different place, with different writing, and with different people running the ship — no pun intended — maybe something could come about. You never know.”

Crosby said she’s looking forward to coming to the Motor City Comic Con for the first time in more than a decade. Her fellow “Trek” actors who will be present include William Shatner and Gates McFadden (her “TNG” co-star), Bruce Greenwood, Ron Perlman, among others.

“You get to see these people. Bruce and I go way back; we did a movie (1995’s ‘Dream Man’) together. While I’ve never had the privilege of working with Ron as an actor, I got to meet him through these con experiences. You make a lot of actor connections through these cons. It’s unique,” Crosby said. “I see Gates more because we do shows and charity events together. We belong to the same theater company, Ensemble Studio Theatre Los Angeles, where she was the artistic director for a long time. She asked me to become a member and directed me in this amazing play. She’s an incredible theater director.”

After a fashion, cons break the fourth wall for Crosby because she gets to hear feedback from the fans, who make it all worthwhile.

“Cons are always a chance to connect with the fans who have been so lovingly supportive over the years; they have been loyal to your career and whatever you do. It goes without saying you always leave with some really, deeply touching story about being on (‘Trek’) — that a fan caught the show at a specific time in their life when they needed it, how it registered with them, and they walked away with some hope. I’ve been brought to tears numerous times over the years as you can imagine because of the stories that have been shared.”