12 Actors Who Hated Being On Star Trek

To date, Garrett Wang is the only cast member to have had a request to direct an episode refused by the producers.

Many Star Trek alumni and current cast have taken the director's chair along the way. Shatner and Nimoy, Frakes and Burton, Stewart and Brooks - all of them have directed episodes or features of the franchise. So when Garrett Wang put in his request, it may have been with a sense of 'just a formality' to put in the application.

That it was denied seems to be emblematic of a larger issue with Star Trek Voyager. In the seven year run of the show, it suffered from ratings issues and the aforementioned tensions due to the introduction of Seven of Nine. Characters were underwritten and underdeveloped and perhaps the worst victim of this is Wang.

A common joke is that Harry Kim was the franchise's forever ensign, unable to gain a promotion even though he had more experience than half of Starfleet. This is even remarked on in several episodes. However, Wang says that he did ask for his character to be promoted and the response was 'well, someone has to be the ensign'.

Couple this with the refusal of the directing gig and the lack of cast cohesion ala The Next Generation, then there is little mystery as to why Garrett Wang did not have the most enjoyable time on Star Trek. Like many others on this list, he attends the conventions and seems more than happy to be a part of the show regardless.