Gates McFadden was reluctant to accept the role of Dr. Crusher because of her commitment to appear in the play The Matchmaker at the La Jolla Playhouse.

"[3] Producer Rick Berman has said that McFadden left due to her disputes with the head TNG writer at the time, Maurice Hurley.

Patrick Stewart was upset by McFadden's departure and played a large part in bringing about her return after Hurley left at the end of the second season.

She also admits that it brought back painful memories of those years when she saw her son Wesley going through similar ridicule as a child.

In the series finale "All Good Things...", it is revealed that in an alternate future, Dr. Crusher and Captain Picard had been married and then divorced—still evidently having feelings for each other after so many years.

She sends a message to Jean-Luc requesting help and gets severely injured when encountering an aggressive band of raiders.

Picard commandeers a Starfleet ship, the USS Titan, and rescues her and Jack, right before the raiders' leader Vadic destroys the Eleos.

After she is treated, Beverly helps the Titan's medical staff throughout the third season, and her analysis of autopsies and interrogation of Vadic with Picard, prove crucial in helping uncover a conspiracy of rogue Changelings infiltrating Starfleet out of revenge for Starfleet's medical experimentation and actions during the Dominion War.

She is reunited with the rest of the Enterprise crew as they race to prevent the conspirators and their collaborators the Borg from further attacking Starfleet.

By 2402, after developing new transporter modifications and gene therapies to prevent the conspirators and their partners the Borg from returning, her commission is reinstated.

"[7] McFadden left the series at the end of the first season and was replaced by Diana Muldaur as Doctor Katherine Pulaski at the beginning of the second.

[8] In an interview in May 2006, Berman revealed the actress was fired at end of the first season of The Next Generation because head writer Maurice Hurley "had a real bone to pick"[9] and did not like her acting.

[10] In 2016, SyFy ranked Beverly Crusher as the fourth best of the six main-cast space doctors of the Star Trek franchise.

[11] In 2016, Beverly Crusher was ranked as the 20th most important character of Starfleet within the Star Trek science fiction universe by Wired magazine.

[12] In 2017, IndieWire ranked Beverly fifth in a list of important characters on Star Trek: The Next Generation, noting she was "pretty much flawless" and offered "valuable perspectives".

[16] In 2019, SyFy Wire recommended Star Trek: Picard include Beverly Crusher, pointing out her long-time friendship with the titular character.