12 Actors You Didn't Know Were Almost Cast In Star Trek

6. Yaphet Koto

Martin Landau Spock
Fox

Yaphet Koto was one of those great character actors you saw everywhere in the '70s and '80s. He was in Alien, Live & Let Die, The Running Man, Midnight Run, and he had a recurring role in the NBC series Homicide: Life On The Street.

Honestly, he was terrific in all these roles, which is why it’s a shame we didn’t get to see his take on Jean Luc Picard.

That’s right, like Edward James Olmos, Koto was also offered the role of the storied captain before Patrick Stewart. Koto turned down the role, but later said he regretted his decision.

You may be wondering why so many other actors were offered the role of Jean Luc Picard. Well, as it turns out a few producers campaigned for Patrick Stewart, but Gene Roddenberry hated the idea of casting.

Roddenberry was so against the casting that he sent out a memo saying he never wanted to hear the name Patrick Stewart aga

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John is a teacher and writer living in Texas. He spends far too much time watching Star Trek. Check out more if his work at artofnarrative.com