10 Actors Who Turned Down Star Trek

In 1965, a pilot episode of Star Trek was filmed, featuring a vastly different cast to the one we know today. Had its lead actor not passed on the opportunity to shoot a second pilot the following year, the poster boy of the Trek series would not be William Shatner's James T. Kirk, but Captain Christopher Pike, played by Jeffrey Hunter.

The pilot, titled 'The Cage', has Pike in command of an entirely different Enterprise crew (with the exception of Spock). Though it was rejected, clips and story elements from this pilot are recycled in the Original Series episode, 'The Menagerie', which features a recast Pike whose difference in appearance is explained by an accident that left him in a scarred and vegetative state.

By the time a second pilot was ordered, Hunter had already left the show, expressing his excitement for appearing in more feature films and not wanting his involvement as a TV regular to compromise his movie career. As such, this second pilot has Kirk take over as captain, along with iconic crew members Uhura, Mr. Sulu and Doctor McCoy, leaving us with a rather sad end for the once great Christopher Pike.