10 Background Star Trek Actors More Important Than You Think
5. Jason Matthew Smith As Hendorff
Most fans don't know that the Starfleet Cadet, Hendorff, who got in a bar fight with Kirk in Star Trek (2009), was actually a minor background character from The Original Series.
In the original Star Trek timeline, Hendorff appeared in the episode The Apple as a redshirt who was killed by a poisonous plant. Both Kirk and Scotty seem deeply saddened by Hendorff's death and it's clear that they really respected him. In the alternate timeline created in Star Trek (2009), Hendorff starts off as an adversary to Kirk, first during their bar fight, then later in the movie when he is sent by Captain Pike to apprehend Kirk in the engineering section of the Enterprise. Interestingly, through a series of convoluted and unlikely events, Hendorff eventually ends up serving as a Lieutenant under Kirk in this universe as well.
Jason Matthew Smith goes on to reprise this role in the background of the next two Star Trek movies. In Into Darkness he is one of the security officers who travelled to Qo'noS to capture Kahn, and in Beyond he can be seen being led into Krall's base after the ship was destroyed.