Background
Lucas Wolenczak was portrayed by actor Jonathan Brandis and is one of three characters to remain with the series for all three seasons, as well as being the only actor to appear in every episode. The character has often drawn comparison with Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation, as both are teen-aged child prodigies, both of whom have "saved the ship" in several instances of their respective shows, and both would eventually join their respective military services. (Actually, Wesley Crusher chose not to finish the Academy and decided not to join Starfleet at the end of season 7, in the TNG episode "Journey's End". He was an Acting Ensign for most of the series, as was Brandis' character in season 3.)
While seaQuest DSV was originally designed to target the young male demographic (aged between 18-34), the Lucas character proved to be very popular among teenage girls, many of whom flooded NBC, the show, and Brandis himself with fan mail. As a result, the character began to take center stage in a number of episodes such as "Photon Bullet", where he was reunited with his It co-star Seth Green; "The Last Lap of Luxury"; and "Higher Power" as well as print ads and promos for the show. By the second season, Brandis had moved up to second billing in the credits, right after Roy Scheider's (and Michael Ironside's in the third season). In 1994, Brandis was at the top of Seventeen magazine's readers' poll of "10 sexiest guys". After the show's cancellation, he continued to receive bags of mail from seaQuest fans.
For his portrayal of Lucas Wolenczak, Brandis won a Young Artists Award in 1993 at the age of 17. He enjoyed some time as a teen idol, but the Wolenczak role was the peak of his acting career. Brandis hanged himself on November 11, 2003, and died of complications associated to that attempt on November 12, 2003 at the age of 27.
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