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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
00:11it.
00:12This includes, of course, Hollywood's own acting elite themselves,
00:15many 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
00:25of Trek media.
00:26And so, with that in mind, I'm Ellie with Trek Culture, here with 10 actors who want to be in
00:31Star Trek.
00:33Number 10. Nicolas Cage
00:34Kicking 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
00:47love 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 cameras soon,
01:21wouldn't Cage make for one hell of an addition to the cast, whether as a Sage-supporting character or riotous
01:27villain?
01:28Number 9. Rosario Dawson
01:31Rosario Dawson gained a whole new generation of fans when she began playing the live-action iteration of Star Wars'
01:37Ahsoka Tano
01:38in 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
01:59be 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
02:16want 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
02:34tick 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
02:42contact 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
03:29Next 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
03:36new 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
03:51of 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
04:16Late 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
04:25be 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
04:35Trek, 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,
04:45he'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
04:57fan-favorite character Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica, and since starred as Star Wars' Bo-Katan in both voiceover and live
05:04-action form.
05:05And in a 2021 interview with Looper, Sackhoff confirmed that she might not be stopping at those Titanic sci-fi
05:11franchises.
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
05:21and 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
05:29icon, 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,
05:45over 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
05:55one 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
06:03first human to create a warp drive and make contact with the Vulcans, they kicked around the ideas of offering
06:08the 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
06:15offered 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
06:25to accept.
06:26Hanks said,
06:35While the potential for Hanks' presence to prove distracting in any Trek media speaks for itself, could any producer really
06:42say 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,
06:54appeared 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
07:07resist 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
07:14have the phaser, I've got the little toy set which has the transporter that turns around, I went to conventions
07:19as 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.
07:27And crucially, Savino couldn't help but advocate for herself appearing on basically any form of Star Trek media in the
07:33future, adding,
07:33That's my thing, and if I could ever, hint hint, be in any future iterations, well, as of 2023, it
07:40hasn't happened yet.
07:41But considering how easy it is to picture Savino playing a dignitary or higher up at Starfleet, it's about time
07:47somebody 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
07:57Galaxy Vol. 3, after 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, and
08:09he'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
08:17Star Trek.
08:18When freelance writer Jay Stobie tweeted that he'd love to see Bautista in Star Trek one day, the star retorted
08:23with 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, and so casting
08:35him as a Klingon warlord in a future Trek movie basically sells itself. So let's get on it.
08:41Number 1. Daniel Craig
08:42Following on from Dave Bautista, we have his James Bond and Knives Out co-star Daniel Craig, who, in an
08:48admittedly relatively old interview with Airlock Alpha from 2007, confessed a long-held desire to be a part of Star
08:55Trek. Craig said,
08:56I would love a synth in the TV show or in a movie. It's been a secret ambition of mine
09:00for years.
09:01And given that Craig ended up making a surreptitious cameo as a stormtrooper in Star Wars The Force Awakens, one
09:07suspects his love of major sci-fi franchises hasn't diminished one bit.
09:11It's just a shame that The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams couldn't have found a way to insert Craig
09:16into 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
09:24mistake, especially 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, Craig has the chops to
09:32give 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 and tap that notification bell so you never miss a
09:47Trek 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 and remember to boldly go where no
10:01one has gone before.
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