10 Actors Who Turned Down Roles On Star Trek

Since its debut in the 1960s, "Star Trek" has remained one of the largest, most successful and culturally enduring media franchises of all time. Paramount has found countless ways to re-introduce the series to new generations without abandoning the legacy of the universe Trekkies have devoted themselves to for years.

At every turning point — from "The Next Generation" in the '90s and the J.J. Abrams films of the 2000s to the streaming-era series of the 2020s — the stewards of each new frontier have been the cast. When one joins the "Star Trek" universe, they take on an immense responsibility to both the studio and the fans. For many of the 10 actors featured below, that responsibility proved too intense — for others, that very sentiment inspired them to attempt to join the universe in spite of already busy careers.

Here are 10 actors who turned down roles in the "Star Trek" franchise over the years.

When Paramount and Gene Roddenberry were preparing for lift-off with "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in the '80s, Edward James Olmos was on a hot streak. His role as Lt. Martin Castillo on "Miami Vice" had earned him an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, while the original "Blade Runner" (seen above) had raised his profile considerably among discerning fans of science fiction. As such, he was an inspired choice to lead the next voyage into the final frontier as Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

It has long been rumored that Olmos first landed on the "Star Trek" radar when Leonard Nimoy considered him for the role of Klingon Commander Kruge in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock." Christopher Lloyd ultimately landed the gig in the 1984 film. It's an interesting footnote because it's unclear if Olmos would've taken the role, had it been offered to him. In multiple interviews he gave in the 2000s, the actor explained that "Blade Runner" was such a high-water mark for the genre that nothing he could do within it thereafter would be worth doing for him personally. "This isn't to say that 'Star Trek' isn't a wonderful piece of work," he explained to Latinx Files in 2022. "It is brilliant. It's got a great following and everything. But it doesn't hold up to 'Blade Runner.'"

Of course, the role eventually went to "Dune" (1984) actor Patrick Stewart, whose career would be launched into the stratosphere following "The Next Generation." As for Olmos, he tried to turn down "Battlestar" even after seeing the success of "TNG," but he was won over by the quality of the writing.

After guest-starring on an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as a one-off character, Michelle Forbes was brought in during season 5 of the series as Bajoran Starfleet Ensign Ro Laren. She was a major recurring character throughout the latter seasons of the series, so much so that producers wanted her to have an even larger role in the imminent spin-off series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." Though it seems like an expected and natural trajectory for actors in such genre projects now (think of all the "Arrow" guest stars who got series regular gigs on "Legends of Tomorrow"), Forbes somewhat shockingly declined the offer.

At the time, Forbes had given much of her career to "TNG" and the daytime soap opera "Guiding Light." By the time she started playing Ro Laren — and was being asked to commit to several more years of "Star Trek" — she had yet to explore the film industry. In the retrospective book "Star Trek: The Next Generation — All Good Things: Companion," released in 2017, Forbes admitted that her decision may have rubbed some fans and executives the wrong way. "I want variety in my life, and I want to play as many things as possible," she explained. "I simply made a decision to hold out for variety, and I hope people understand that." When the showrunners of the modern-era follow-up series "Star Trek: Picard" wanted to bring back Forbes and her character, they had to fight against significant pushback from Paramount.

Nonetheless, "DS9" was arguably better off for Forbes' refusal, as it forced the creative team to pivot to Nana Visitor's Kira Nerys. Forbes, meanwhile, was eventually cast off the strength of her "Star Trek" work to play an all-time-great "Battlestar Galactica" villain.

The odd thing about Ricky Gervais' brush with the "Star Trek" franchise is that we've never gotten confirmation about what exactly the scope of it was meant to be. At the same time, we can almost certainly pin down who he was meant to play — and why we're so glad his casting ended up falling through.

The controversial comedian and creator of the original U.K. "Office" series has never been quiet about his success or his seeming tongue-in-cheek contempt for Hollywood. (He once famously tweeted an apparently hypothetical exchange between himself and a heckler to emphasize how much he doesn't care about the outsized success of the U.S. "Office" because both series made him "really f***ing rich.") I

n 2008, he gave an interview to Entertainment Weekly where he blithely recounted several high-profile blockbuster roles he'd passed on in recent history, including "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" ("I didn't want to sit in a Winnebago for six months waiting to show up as a comedy pirate for two minutes”), "The Da Vinci Code" ("I'm going to pop up and people are going to go: That's the fat fellow from The Office! Who the f— does he think he is?”), and J.J. Abrams' 2009 "Star Trek" film.

Abrams and Gervais had previously crossed paths, with the filmmaker once courting him for a role in "Mission: Impossible III" that ultimately went to Simon Pegg. It's worth noting Pegg went on to star in "Star Trek" '09 as Scotty, and it isn't hard to imagine Gervais in his place. ”I was never a big fan [of 'Star Trek'], so I would've felt guilty taking the part just to be in a blockbuster," Gervaise told EW. "To what? Boost my profile?”

While Ricky Gervais graciously turned down a role in "Stark Trek" because of his lack of fandom, Rosario Dawson reportedly turned one down in spite of her own excitement. The former "Daredevil" and "Luke Cage" star was an avowed Trekkie and sci-fan long before she joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having been raised on "Star Trek: The Next Generation." When J.J. Abrams was getting ready to relaunch the franchise in the late 2000s, she spoke fluent Klingon on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." Of course, she also loved "Star Wars." As she said of her personal connection to the franchises and aspirations to join them both in a 2020 Variety interview, "I get [cast] in those two, I'm telling you, man, that's it. I will just retire."

Though she spent much of that interview practically begging to join "Star Trek: Picard" as anything from a background Romulan to the transcendent extra-dimensional being Q, the conversation was conducted amid rumors that Dawson was set to join the galaxy far, far away as none other than Ahsoka Tano in season 2 of "The Mandalorian." She declined to confirm the rumors then, but she obviously went on to bring the fan favorite "Clone Wars" character to live-action in both the aforementioned series and her own, self-titled spin-off. Dawson sacrificed much to play Ahsoka — including the chance to finally make her "Star Trek" debut.

In 2024, Dawson revealed at FAN EXPO Boston that she was offered a role in one of the modern-era "Star Trek" shows but was forced to decline due to conflicts with "Ahsoka." She didn't reveal the nature of that role, though her comments give the impression that producers were in the preliminary process of figuring out the character when she declined.

The story of Eddie Murphy's near-miss first encounter with "Star Trek" is one of the more infamous. It's also one of the more revised bits of trivia as the decades pass, in terms of its recounting in the public record. The consistent premise is that the comedian and "Saturday Night Live" breakout was passionately sought after for a supporting role in the 1986 film "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," following a recent string of hits from Murphy in the '80s. "48 Hrs." and "Trading Places" had both rocked the box office, and 1984's hit "Beverly Hills Cop" — Murphy's first headline film — was the biggest movie of the year financially.

However, all three films were also produced by Paramount. While that may make Murphy sound like an even better fit for the studio's flagship franchise, it's been reported that Paramount was actually against his inclusion because of his individual success. Why consolidate two independently lucrative brands, the thinking allegedly went. Murphy, for his part, makes the decision sound far more personal. Simply put, he recalled that he read the script and felt it wasn't worth his time.

Despite being a fan of "Star Trek," Murphy had worked hard to establish himself as a leading comedic actor and had other opportunities that seemed better suited to his career goals. It has previously been claimed by Murphy himself that he turned down a supporting role in "The Voyage Home" to lead the 1986 comedy "The Golden Child." Leonard Nimoy recalled in 2008 that the partnership fell apart amicably due to Murphy's dislike of the character that was written for him. Murphy confirmed as much in a 2023 interview with Jimmy Kimmel, where he clarified that he wanted to be a space-bound player as opposed to an Earthling "talking jive to Spock."

Most of the actors on this list so far were fans of "Star Trek" heartbroken over their inability to join the franchise in any capacity. None of them seem quite as dedicated as the late Robin Williams. The mutual affection between him and the "Star Trek" family was obvious in William Shatner's fateful cameo on "Mork and Mindy," which cheekily teased the poorly-concealed twist-ending of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan."

The actor's love of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was so well known to producers of the series at the time that, when they began preparing episodes for season 5, they wrote one specifically for Williams. He was to guest star in season 5, episode 9, "A Matter of Time," playing a con-artist by the name of Berlinghoff Rasmussen. 

Sadly, according to writer Rick Berman (who spoke about the episode in the 1994 book "Great Birds of the Galaxy: Gene Roddenberry and the Creators of Trek"), the production schedule happened to line up with a particularly busy time in Williams' life. He had just finished working on Steven Spielberg's 1991 film "Hook," and his second wife, Marsha Garces, was in the late stages of pregnancy, mere weeks away from giving birth. Alas, casting let go of Williams and hired "Max Headroom" star Matt Frewer.

Williams' "Star Trek" dreams dimmed after that disappointment. He reportedly visited the set of "Star Trek: Voyager" multiple times (once for a game of softball) and tried to make an appearance on that series work. He only became more famous and, consequently, difficult to pin down as the years progressed, making it impossible for him to ever board the Enterprise.

Speaking of impossible, we simply can't imagine the "Star Trek" universe without Leonard Nimoy. More than any other actor in the franchise, he helped define and shape what it would become, from his iconic portrayal of the Vulcan first officer Spock on the original series to his work writing, directing, and producing some of the franchise's most successful feature films. But there is indeed a timeline when Nimoy's Spock never makes it onto the Enterprise, and the role is instead accepted by Martin Landau.

At the time, Landau was best known for one-off guest-starring roles on popular shows like "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits" and supporting roles in films like "Cleopatra" and Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest." A role like Spock would've conceivably taken his career to the next level, and Landau knew it then — as he said on Starlog in 1986, "I knew if the show hit, Spock would be very effective. You have to think of the turmoil of the '60s. A super-intelligent creature with pointy ears who thought logically was exactly right." And yet, he very thoughtfully declined the offer, as the mere idea of playing a character unable to express emotion felt like a deep betrayal of his personal relationship to the craft of acting.

Despite the success of "Star Trek," history proved Landau right. Nimoy was the perfect choice for Spock, and Landau found what he was looking for in "Mission: Impossible" (seen above). He left the latter series after three seasons (and three Emmy Award nominations) and went on to expand his presence in the film industry, ultimately leading to three Academy Award nominations and one win for "Ed Wood." Ironically, after Landau left "Mission: Impossible," he was essentially replaced by Nimoy.

By 2007, Matt Damon had established himself as one of Hollywood's most bankable leading men. The "Bourne" trilogy had just come to a mostly satisfying conclusion, the "Ocean's 11" trilogy had maintained financial credibility despite a few stumbles, and his starring role in Martin Scorsese's Academy Award-winning film "The Departed" proved beyond a doubt that he was ready to cement his legacy as one of the all-time greats.

When the late-aughts internet caught wind that Damon was being considered for the role of Captain Kirk in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek," they were ecstatic — and, for the most part, entirely wrong in their assumptions. By all accounts, Damon was never considered for the role of James T. Kirk. As he explained when confronted with the rumor by IGN while promoting "The Bourne Ultimatum," he had not auditioned for the part and understood that Abrams was looking for a much younger actor to lead the series. Damon was 37 at the time, and Chris Pine, who ultimately made the iconic role his own, was just 27.

So why is Damon on this list? Because he was, in fact, offered the role of Captain Kirk in "Star Trek" '09, but it was Captain George Kirk, Jim's father, who anchors the film's dramatic opening sequence. Damon declined the cameo and went on to star in "Invictus" that same year, earning his second Academy Award nomination for acting. Abrams considered it a blessing at the end of the day, as Damon's fame might've been somewhat distracting for the moment. The role of George Kirk went to a largely unknown actor by the name of Chris Hemsworth, who would star in Marvel Studios' "Thor" just two years later.

Famke Janssen had already been a notable one-off guest star on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" when she was contacted by Paramount about starring in "Deep Space Nine." In season 5, episode 21, "The Perfect Mate," she portrayed a being who is capable of biologically altering herself to become the ideal romantic partner for any man in her physical presence. It's not a particularly inspiring premise on paper. Even then, the writers knew it had the potential to be one of their more controversial episodes. There were even three different alternate endings concocted, each seemingly trying to reconcile the show's contemporarily progressive gender dynamics with a story that literally features a woman being reshaped for the desires of a man.

Janssen's performance had an impact on producers nonetheless, leading them to offer her the role of Jadzia Dax in "DS9." She was interested — "The Next Generation" had been her TV acting debut, and a series regular role was much larger than anything she'd been offered thus far. Still, she was understandably concerned by the five-year exclusivity clause in her contract, which, in addition to preventing her from continuing to expand her career, made the actor feel as though she was destined to become complacent playing the same character for half a decade.

It was a wise move on Janssen's part. The role was then offered to Terry Farrell, and it was curiously designed to look like Janssen's character from "The Perfect Mate." As for Janssen herself, she soon after landed the breakout role of Xenia Onatopp in "GoldenEye" and went on to star as Jean Grey in Fox's "X-Men" trilogy.

After Michelle Forbes turned down the opportunity to reprise her role as Ro Laren on "Star Trek: Deep Space 9," the creative team got to work trying to find the actor that would replace her in the new role of Major Kira Nerys. "The Next Generation" had revived the franchise, regaining enough cultural cache for casting directors to really shoot for the stars — literally. According to an infamous leaked memo presumably intended for internal distribution at the studio, "DS9" producers were after soon-to-be major film actors like Rita Wilson. Her name is featured alongside the likes of Kim Cattrall and Illeana Douglas.

Wilson, who has never addressed her "Star Trek" potential publicly, is noted on the memo as having declined due to a lack of interest in television work. She went on to act in several classic films of the '90s, including "Sleepless in Seattle" (above) and "That Thing You Do!," the latter film being the directorial debut of her husband, Tom Hanks. Funnily enough, Hanks had his own missed opportunity to star in "Star Trek: First Contact" as recurring franchise character Zefram Cochrane. 

Though there is no unified account of his involvement, it generally sounds like producers wanted the two-time Oscar-winner to play the role but almost immediately talked themselves out of it assuming he would be too famous or busy to be interested. The story has always gone that Hanks was unable to appear due to scheduling conflicts. On the contrary, Hanks said in 2023 that, as a diehard Trekkie, he would've taken the role if he'd been offered.