Every Star Trek Actor Who Quit The Franchise

Every Star Trek Actor Who Quit The Franchise

Every Star Trek show is an ensemble focusing on the lives of the crew of whichever starship or space station is the primary location. Sadly, these ensembles don't always endure as actors decide to leave to pursue other roles, or in some cases are even forced out. Given the grueling schedule of delivering over 20 episodes of a Star Trek show during the 1990s, it's hardly surprising that some actors lost their passion for the franchise, especially if they found their scripts lacking. At the time of Star Trek: The Next Generation 's legendary season 3 finale, "The Best of...

Every Star Trek show is an ensemble focusing on the lives of the crew of whichever starship or space station is the primary location. Sadly, these ensembles don't always endure as actors decide to leave to pursue other roles, or in some cases are even forced out. Given the grueling schedule of delivering over 20 episodes of a Star Trek show during the 1990s, it's hardly surprising that some actors lost their passion for the franchise, especially if they found their scripts lacking. At the time of Star Trek: The Next Generation 's legendary season 3 finale, "The Best of Both Worlds: Part 1" it was rumored that Patrick Stewart could have exited the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and he would be replaced as the series lead by Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes). It's unclear how true those rumors actually were, or whether they were a means to promote what became a turning point for TNG's popular appeal. Whatever the truth of Patrick Stewart's desire to leave Star Trek behind at the time, there are several other major characters before and after Picard who were written out when the actors portraying them decided to leave the franchise. 7 Jeffrey Hunter The Starship Enterprise's Original Captain, Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter), would never have existed had it not been for some quick thinking on the part of the Star Trek: The Original Series' production team. Hunter played Pike in Star Trek's first pilot, "The Cage", which was rejected by NBC for being "too cerebral." Although the network gave creator Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek a second chance, Hunter had decided not to continue in the leading role, eventually being replaced by William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk. However, despite this, Hunter's performance was eventually seen when scenes from "The Cage" were re-purposed for the two-parter "The Menagerie" as a time-saving measure when production on Star Trek season 1 fell behind. This established Pike as an earlier Enterprise captain and would eventually lead to Captain Pike getting his own show 56 years later in the form of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . So while Hunter left before the franchise even started, his legacy lives on through Anson Mount's portrayal of the character. 6 Denise Crosby Another actor who decided that Star Trek wasn't for them early in the process was TNG's Denise Crosby, who was dissatisfied with the writing of her character Lieutenant Tasha Yar. Despite being cast as the Enterprise-D's Chief of Security, Crosby felt that Tasha was often reduced to playing a background character. Denise opted to exit the series, and TNG creator Gene Roddenberry decided that the best way to write her out would be to shock audiences by killing her off in TNG season 1, episode 23, "Skin of Evil".
Despite leaving The Next Generation, Crosby would later return as Tasha in both an alternate timeline and in flashback. She would also play the villain role of Sela, Tasha's half-Romulan daughter, in several TNG episodes. The character of Sela was actually Crosby's idea, and was then worked on by the TNG writer's room. She was an excellent foil for Jean-Luc Picard and finally gave Denise Crosby a more substantial character that actually made an impact on TNG. 5 Wil Wheaton While Star Trek fans staged a letter-writing campaign to reinstate Beverly Crusher actress Gates McFadden after her TNG season 2 firing, there was less love for Beverly's son Wesley (Wil Wheaton). Prior to being cast in TNG, Wheaton had been one of the leads in the movie Stand by Me, but his Star Trek commitments hampered the actor's attempts to build on his Hollywood successes. When Wheaton was cast in the movie Valmont, he requested time off, which was denied to him, because the episode he had to miss was important for the Wesley character. After turning the movie down, Wheaton realized that the episode in question had...