Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Jonathan Archer
9. It Had To Be You, Bak-u-la
Quite contrary to the casting of other contemporary Star Trek captains — one wig flown in from London, one frustrated French Canadian, and a surplus of possible Siskos — it seems the studio and producers had their eyes on Scott Bakula for Captain Archer from the start, apparently not considering anyone else for the role.
Indeed, as Star Trek director James L. Conway stated in The Fifty Year Mission: The Next 25 Years, "Scott Bakula was the only actor ever discussed for Archer." Everyone else might have wanted him, and we've already hinted at this above, but it was Bakula himself, not wanting to follow in the footsteps of William Shatner et al., who needed a little more, but not too much, convincing to accept the part.
Bakula was already a Star Trek fan, having fallen in love with The Original Series whilst watching it in re-runs in college in the 1970s. It was, in part, his fandom that led him to turn down the part of Archer when first offered. It was only the idea of going 100 years before it all that hooked Bakula in. As he commented in the season one DVD extra Cast Impressions:
They said we'd like you to be the first captain on the first starship. I think they knew before they asked me that that was gonna get my interest, and I tried not to act too excited. They pretty much had me from that point on.
And the rest is history.