10 Amazing Behind The Scenes Secrets Of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

To massively misquote Tom Jones, it's not unusual for a TV show to write its characters with particular actors in mind for the parts. What is unusual though, is for a show to set out with massively lofty expectations for the calibre of star it's able to attract and then work its way down from there.

But that's precisely what happened in the case of Deep Space Nine's pre-production, with Paramount convinced that the respective successes of both The Next Generation and the more recent movie outings of the original cast would make a new Star Trek property incredibly attractive to the industry's big names.

Thus, Predator's Carl Weathers, ER's Eric La Salle, and James Earl Jones (yes, literally Darth Vader) were offered the role of Benjamin Sisko, but all of them turned it down. Terminator 2's Robert Patrick was approached about taking the role of Odo, but decided another shapeshifter was a bit on the nose for him, while Goldeneye's Famke Jansen was offered the part of Dax.

Jansen came the closest out of all of the above names though, having helped influence the design of the Trill during her appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation.