10 Actors Who Turned Down Star Trek

Of course, as far as gravitas and atmosphere is concerned, it always comes down to the captain themselves. Patrick Stewart, a classically trained stage actor, was not Gene Roddenberry's first choice to play the part of Jean-Luc Picard, and, given his night-and-day difference to William Shatner's Captain Kirk, this is hardly surprising. Stewart won over the casting directors nonetheless, and thus Captain Picard's pragmatic, stiff-upper-lip disposition is one that plays off brilliantly against the crew of the Enterprise-D, as well as the captains that both precede and succeed him.

In-keeping more with Roddenberry's vision, a number of other actors were considered for the role, including Yaphet Kotto, who had already cut his teeth in the science fiction genre with the 1979 horror classic, Alien. Kotto was intrigued by the part, but, as the familiar story goes, turned down his chance of playing one of sci-fi's most influential characters to focus on film roles over TV.

Unsurprisingly, after seeing what a success the show and its lead turned out to be, he later stated that he regretted saying no to being a part of the Star Trek universe. But, what's done is done, and no decision is more final than in the final frontier.