Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Zephram Cochrane

10. Life Is Like A Warp Five Engine

A story that has become slight apocrypha over the years is that the role of Zephram Cochrane was written with the vision that Tom Hanks would be playing the part.

Let's put that to rest now. That didn't happen. As noted in The Making of Star Trek First Contact, the part was always intended for Star Trek alumni James Cromwell with only the slightest of suggestions that Hanks would be a fit for the part.

Had Hanks been successful for the role, there would have been the requirement to change schedules and also rewrite the part because it had been crafted with James Cromwell very much in mind from the start.

This would be Cromwell's fourth role in the franchise following on from Prime Minister Nayrok in TNG's The Hunted, Yridian Jaglom Shrek in Birthright and Minister Hanok from DS9's Starship Down. It would also be the only role he would play more than once with Cochrane turning up in the Enterprise pilot, Broken Bow. Later footage from Star Trek First Contact would be reused for his appearance in the cold open for In a Mirror Darkly, Part 1. For nitpickders though that means this appearance is technically Mirror Cochrane!