10 Times Gene Roddenberry Hated Star Trek

The pilot episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, The Cage, featured an entirely different cast, apart from Spock. Among them, playing the First Officer, Number One, was Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the partner and future wife of Gene Roddenberry.

Gene Roddenberry wanted to give Barrett a lead role in Star Trek but when the studio watched The Cage, although they were intrigued by the premise of the show, they hated the cast, particularly two of the lead characters, Spock and Number One. Gene eventually convinced them to keep Spock, but all other characters had to be replaced. Barrett lost the role of First Officer, but appeared in future episodes of The Original Series, wearing a blonde wig, playing Nurse Chapel in a number of episodes.

Eventually, during The Next Generation, Barrett went on to voice a number of computers on the show, as well as the fan-favourite character, Lwaxana Troi. Also, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is set to premiere soon. The show is based around the adventures of the original crew from The Cage, including Number One, now portrayed by Rebecca Romijn. So, although Gene was annoyed by Barrett's exclusion, she eventually got to solidify her place in Trek in other ways, and her character, Number One, is finally getting the spotlight.