- 21 hours ago
Dave Bautista wants to be a Klingon. Make it happen already.
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00:00Star Trek is undeniably one of the greatest and most iconic franchises in the history of fiction,
00:05which over the last 50 plus years has expanded the imaginations of anyone who has ever sat down to watch it.
00:11This includes, of course, Hollywood's own acting elite themselves, many of who grew up with Trek just as the general public did.
00:18Beyond that, some of Trek's famous fans have even publicly stated their long-held desire to appear in some form of Trek media.
00:26And so, with that in mind, I'm Ellie with Trek Culture, here with 10 actors who want to be in Star Trek.
00:35Kicking things off with perhaps the single most chaotic choice on this list, we have Nicolas Cage,
00:40who, while promoting his new Western film The Old Way, told Yahoo that he's a card-carrying Trekkie and would love to join the franchise.
00:48When the interviewer mentioned that Pedro Pascal, Cage's co-star in the recent The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,
00:54wanted to recruit Cage to join his Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, Cage replied,
00:59I'm not really down. I'm a Trekkie man. I'm on the Star Trek Enterprise. That's where I roll.
01:04I'm not in the Star Wars family. I'm in the Star Trek family.
01:07Cage also expressed a fondness for Trek's history of socio-political messaging
01:11and praised Chris Pine's performance as the rebooted Captain Kirk in the J.J. Abrams-produced movies.
01:17With Paramount still hoping to get a fourth Pine-starring movie before camera soon,
01:21wouldn't Cage make for one hell of an addition to the cast, whether as a sage-supporting character or riotous villain?
01:28Number 9. Rosario Dawson
01:30Rosario Dawson gained a whole new generation of fans when she began playing the live-action iteration of
01:36Star Wars' Ahsoka Tano in both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.
01:40But in a 2020 interview with Variety, Dawson confessed that her ambitions didn't simply end with Star Wars
01:46and that she'd love to add Trek to her resume too. She said,
01:50The two universes, Star Trek and Star Wars. I get in those two. I'm telling you, man, that's it.
01:55I will just retire. And then I can just concentrate on going to school and running for office. That would be it.
02:00Though Dawson added that she'd happily play a background part as a Romulan or Vulcan,
02:04her own father suggested she play a new version of iconic Trek character Q.
02:08Speaking of the possibilities of playing the dimension-hopping entity, Dawson said,
02:12I mean, it would be great because then I could jump on Discovery. I could be on Picard. I just want to be with Jean-Luc Picard.
02:18Don't we all, Rosario? Don't we all?
02:20Number 8. David Tennant
02:22David Tennant is, of course, best known for playing surely the most beloved modern iteration of Doctor Who.
02:28And during a 2020 Reddit AMA was asked by a fan if there were any major franchises he'd like to tick off his acting bucket list by appearing in.
02:36Tennant succinctly responded that he's eager to play a part in Star Trek after having some up-close and personal contact with a certain legendary Trek cast member.
02:45He said,
02:45Star Trek would be great. After talking to George Takei for the podcast, I've got a bit immersed in it.
02:50Tennant certainly wouldn't be the first Doctor Who performer to join the Trek franchise,
02:54but he'd undeniably be one of the most high-profile gets-to-date,
02:58and per his impressive versatility as a performer, could evidently slot into a variety of possible roles.
03:04Number 7. Mila Kunis
03:06Mila Kunis has repeatedly stated in interviews that she's absolutely obsessed with Star Trek,
03:11and even went as far as to rank the various Trek series for GQ back in 2011.
03:16The Next Generation came out on top, of course.
03:18And in 2015, while speaking to IGN to promote Jupiter Ascending,
03:23Kunis reacted with stunned surprise upon learning that Deanna Troi actress Marina Sirtis wanted her to play Troi if The Next Generation was ever rebooted.
03:31After recovering from the joyous shock of the news, Kunis replied in the affirmative that she'd love to play a new version of Troi, saying,
03:38I love Deanna Troi. She's awesome. I would totally put in those contact lenses and call it a day.
03:43Big poofy hair? Curl? Like, get a perm?
03:45Later in the interview, Kunis admitted that she actually considered contacting J.J. Abrams to be an extra in one of his Trek movies,
03:52though in terms of a larger role, admitted that she'd simply prefer to keep watching as a fan.
03:57Even so, a cameo could be fun.
03:59Number 6. Paul Giamatti
04:01Paul Giamatti isn't just one of the greatest actors of his generation, he's one of the greatest actors, period.
04:07As such, he'd be a major credit to any Star Trek production that'd have him.
04:11And as a self-professed sci-fi fan, admitted his desire to join the Trek universe when appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2019.
04:19He said,
04:20My dearest wish in the world as a child until this moment is to be a Klingon, basically, or to be something, but for some reason, those jobs don't come to me.
04:28When Colbert added that Giamatti doesn't evoke a dangerous air, Giamatti replied that he'd gladly play any role on Star Trek, even one of the silly blue guys, presumably referring to Andorians.
04:39Anybody who's seen Big Fat Liar knows that Giamatti looks the part under blue makeup, and it goes without saying, he'd absolutely crush the role of a Trek villain of any kind.
04:49Number 5. Katie Sackhoff
04:51Katie Sackhoff is undeniably sci-fi royalty in her own right at this point, having risen to fame while playing fan-favorite character Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica, and since starred as Star Wars' Bo-Katan in both voiceover and live-action form.
05:05And in a 2021 interview with Looper, Sackhoff confirmed that she might not be stopping at those Titanic sci-fi franchises.
05:12When asked whether she had designs on any other major IP, Sackhoff said,
05:16I mean, I haven't been in Star Trek. That seems to be the one that's still there. That's still there and still exists for the possibility.
05:23The fact that this hasn't actually happened already is honestly pretty surprising, and given Sackhoff's continued popularity as a genre icon, it feels like a mere matter of time before she wins a beefy role on a Trek TV series.
05:34Make it happen already, Paramount.
05:36Number 4. Tom Hanks
05:38Tom Hanks would be basically the biggest A-list name Star Trek could ever get, a universally beloved actor who, over more than 40 years, has delivered some of the most iconic performances of all time.
05:49And unlike most everybody on this list, Hanks' name was actually in the conversation for a Star Trek role at one point, even if he sadly didn't know about it.
05:57While the filmmakers of Star Trek First Contact were locking down casting for the vital role of Zephryn Cochran, the first human to create a warp drive and make contact with the Vulcans, they kicked around the ideas of offering the part to Hanks.
06:09But in a recent interview on a Josh Horowitz Happy Sad Confused podcast, Hanks claimed that he'd never actually been offered the chance to play Cochran, with the part eventually going to the great James Cromwell instead.
06:20Hanks, a huge Trek fan, responded with clear disappointment about never learning of the offer, which he would have loved to accept.
06:26Hanks said,
06:27The guy who invented warp drive. Oh, come on, I would have jumped on that. I would have come in and brought gift triples to everyone on the first meeting. I would have done that.
06:36While the potential for Hanks' presence to prove distracting in any Trek media speaks for itself, could any producer really say no to him if he formally threw his hat in the ring?
06:45Number 3. Mira Savino
06:47You won't get many bigger Star Trek fans in Hollywood than Oscar-winning actress Mira Savino, whose father, Paul Savino, appeared in The Next Generation's seventh season episode Homeward, playing Worf's human foster brother Nikolai Rajenko.
07:00In a 2018 interview with Sci-Fi, Savino was asked about her starter passions before becoming an actress, and couldn't resist but bring up Star Trek, saying,
07:09You know what I'm gonna say. I've been on the record before. Original Star Trek. I have the dolls, I have the phaser, I've got the little toy set which has the transporter that turns around, I went to conventions as a teenager, I have met most of the original cast, while many of them have now passed on, sadly.
07:24I am the biggest geek for Star Trek ever. And crucially, Savino couldn't help but advocate for herself appearing on basically any form of Star Trek media in the future, adding,
07:34That's my thing, and if I could ever, hint hint, be in any future iterations…
07:38Well, as of 2023, it hasn't happened yet, but considering how easy it is to picture Savino playing a dignitary or higher up at Starfleet, it's about time somebody made her dream a reality.
07:49Number 2. Dave Bautista
07:51Dave Bautista will be imminently making his final appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,
07:59after which he'll be retiring from the Drax role and seeking challenges elsewhere.
08:03It's evident that Bautista wishes to be taken seriously as a real actor, rather than a wrestler-turned-actor,
08:08and he's certainly made a persuasive case for that since leaving the wrestling ring.
08:12But in the summer of 2021, Bautista added his name to the many who want to make an appearance in Star Trek.
08:18When freelance writer Jay Stobie tweeted that he'd love to see Bautista in Star Trek one day, the star retorted with his enthusiasm for the idea, saying,
08:26Likewise, I was born to be a Klingon. Just saying.
08:29He's certainly not wrong. It takes no mental effort whatsoever to picture Big Dave as a Klingon,
08:34and so casting him as a Klingon warlord in a future Trek movie basically sells itself. So let's get on it.
08:40Number 1. Daniel Craig
08:42Following on from Dave Bautista, we have his James Bond and Knives Out co-star Daniel Craig,
08:48who, in an admittedly relatively old interview with Airlock Alpha from 2007, confessed a long-held desire to be a part of Star Trek.
08:56Craig said,
08:56And given that Craig ended up making a surreptitious cameo as a stormtrooper in Star Wars The Force Awakens,
09:07one suspects his love of major sci-fi franchises hasn't diminished one bit.
09:11It's just a shame that The Force Awakens director JJ Abrams couldn't have found a way to insert Craig into his trilogy of Trek reboot movies.
09:18Yet, if the long-gestating fourth film does ever go into production, there will be ample time to correct that mistake,
09:24especially with Craig's all-consuming Bond role now at an end.
09:28Whether as a wink-wink cameo or honest-to-God character in his own right,
09:31Craig has the chops to give us a Trek character either smolderingly intense or totally hilarious.
09:37And that concludes our list. If you think we missed someone, then do let us know in the comments below.
09:42And while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe,
09:45and tap that notification bell so you never miss a Trek culture video again.
09:48Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there, and Instagram as well,
09:52and I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
09:55I've been Ellie with Trek Culture. I hope you have a wonderful day,
09:59and remember to boldly go where no one has gone before.
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