THE original Star Trek crew has been replaced, but the TNG lot still have some miles in them yet.
Indeed, it’s hard to see anyone else in their iconic roles, but it could all have been so different according to a memo unearthed by the always-excellent Letters of Note.
In it, the Star Trek casting team outline the actors and actresses under consideration for each role back in 1987 – and there are some awesomely fantastic names.
Star Trek casting memo
For starters, Captain Picard could have been played by Yaphet Kotto (he would have been awesome) or Roy Thinnes – that’s David Vincent from The Invaders, classic sci-fi from back in the 1960s.
It gets better. Kevin Peter Hall – the Predator himself – was up for the roles of Data and Geordi La Forge, where he was competing against a young actor called Wesley Snipes, as well as the eventual choice, Levar Burton.
It’s for damn sure nobody would have poked fun at Geordi’s visor with Snipes wearing it!
Other interesting names include Jenny Agutter who was in the running for Beverley Crusher and Tim Russ as Geordi, who would later go on from missing out here to Trek success as Tuvok in Voyager.
Denice Crosby was down to play Troi – not Tasha Yar which she would go on to play and then leave just before the show got super-popular. Meanwhile Jonathan Frakes did well to get past the favourite for Riker, Michael O’Gorman.
What might have been, eh? Anyone else you think should have been in the Enterprise crew?
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