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
00:05of fiction, which over the last 50-plus years has expanded the imaginations of anyone who
00:10has ever sat down to watch it.
00:12This includes, of course, Hollywood's own acting elite themselves, many of who grew
00:16up with Trek just as the general public did.
00:19Beyond that, some of Trek's famous fans have even publicly stated their long-held desire
00:23to 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
00:31to be in Star Trek.
00:3310.
00:34Nicolas Cage
00:35Kicking things off with perhaps the single most chaotic choice on this list, we have
00:39Nicolas Cage, who, while promoting his new Western film The Old Way, told Yahoo that
00:44he'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
00:53Weight of Massive Talent, wanted to recruit Cage to join his Star Wars series The Mandalorian,
00:58Cage replied,
00:59"'I'm not really down.
01:00I'm a Trekkie man.
01:01I'm on the Star Trek Enterprise.
01:03That's where I roll.
01:04I'm not in the Star Wars family.
01:05I'm in the Star Trek family.'"
01:07Cage also expressed a fondness for Trek's history of socio-political messaging and praised
01:12Chris 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, wouldn't
01:22Cage make for one hell of an addition to the cast, whether as a sage-supporting character
01:26or riotous villain?
01:289.
01:29Rosario Dawson
01:30Rosario Dawson gained a whole new generation of fans when she began playing the live-action
01:35iteration of Star Wars' Ahsoka Tano in both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.
01:41But in a 2020 interview with Variety, Dawson confessed that her ambitions didn't simply
01:45end with Star Wars and that she'd love to add Trek to her resume too.
01:49She said,
01:51Though 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.
02:09Speaking of the possibilities of playing the dimension-hopping entity, Dawson said,
02:12I mean, it would be great, cuz then I could jump on Discovery, I could be on Picard, I
02:16just want to be with Jean-Luc Picard.
02:18Don't we all, Rosario?
02:20Don't we all?
02:218.
02:22David Tennant
02:23David Tennant is, of course, best known for playing surely the most beloved modern iteration
02:27of Doctor Who, and during a 2020 Reddit AMA, was asked by a fan if there were any major
02:33franchises 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
02:41up-close and personal contact with a certain legendary Trek cast member.
02:45He said,
02:46Star Trek would be great.
02:47After 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, and per his impressive versatility
03:00as a performer, could evidently slot into a variety of possible roles.
03:047.
03:05Mila 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.
03:19And in 2015, while speaking to IGN to promote Jupiter Ascending, Kunis reacted with stunned
03:24surprise upon learning that Deanna Troi actress Marina Sirtis wanted her to play Troi if The
03:29Next Generation was ever rebooted.
03:32After recovering from the joyous shock of the news, Kunis replied in the affirmative
03:35that she'd love to play a new version of Troi, saying,
03:38"...I love Deanna Troi.
03:39She's awesome.
03:40I would totally put in those contact lenses and call it a day.
03:43Big poofy hair.
03:44Curl.
03:45Like, get a perm."
03:46Later in the interview, Kunis admitted that she actually considered contacting J.J. Abrams
03:50to be an extra in one of his Trek movies, though in terms of a larger role, admitted
03:54that she'd simply prefer to keep watching as a fan.
03:57Even so, a cameo could be fun.
03:596.
04:00Paul Giamatti
04:02Paul Giamatti isn't just one of the greatest actors of his generation, he's one of the
04:06greatest actors, period.
04:07As such, he'd be a major credit to any Star Trek production that'd have him, and as a
04:12self-professed sci-fi fan admitted his desire to join the Trek universe when appearing on
04:16The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2019.
04:19He said,
04:20"...my dearest wish in the world, as a child until this moment, is to be a Klingon, basically,
04:25or 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
04:33he'd gladly play any role on Star Trek, even one of the silly blue guys, presumably referring
04:38to Andorians.
04:40Anybody who's seen Big Fat Liar knows that Giamatti looks the part under blue makeup,
04:44and it goes without saying he'd absolutely crush the role of a Trek villain of any kind.
04:495.
04:50Katie Sackhoff
04:51Katie Sackhoff is undeniably sci-fi royalty in her own right at this point, having risen
04:56to fame while playing fan-favorite character Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica and since
05:01starred as Star Wars' Bo-Katan in both voiceover and live-action form.
05:06And in a 2021 interview with Looper, Sackhoff confirmed that she might not be stopping at
05:10those Titanic sci-fi franchises.
05:12When asked whether she had designs on any other major IP, Sackhoff said,
05:16"...I mean, I haven't been in Star Trek.
05:18That seems to be the one that's still there.
05:20That's still there and still exists for the possibility."
05:23The fact that this hasn't actually happened already is honestly pretty surprising, and
05:26given Sackhoff's continued popularity as a genre icon, it feels like a mere matter of
05:31time before she wins a beefy role on a Trek TV series.
05:34Make it happen already, Paramount!
05:364.
05:37Tom Hanks
05:39Tom Hanks would be basically the biggest A-list name Star Trek could ever get, a universally
05:44beloved actor who over more than 40 years has delivered some of the most iconic performances
05:48of all time.
05:49But unlike most everybody on this list, Hanks' name was actually in the conversation for
05:54a Star Trek role at one point, even if he sadly didn't know about it.
05:58While the filmmakers of Star Trek First Contact were locking down casting for the vital role
06:02of Zefron Cochran, the first human to create a warp drive and make contact with the Vulcans,
06:06they kicked around the ideas of offering the part to Hanks.
06:10But in a recent interview on a Josh Horowitz Happy Sad Confused podcast, Hanks claimed
06:14that he'd never actually been offered the chance to play Cochran, with the part eventually
06:18going to the great James Cromwell instead.
06:20Hanks, a huge Trek fan, responded with clear disappointment about never learning of the
06:24offer, which he would have loved to accept.
06:26Hanks said,
06:27"...the guy who invented warp drive.
06:28Oh, come on, I would have jumped on that.
06:31I would have come in and brought gift triples to everyone on the first meeting.
06:34I would have done that."
06:36While the potential for Hanks' presence to prove distracting in any Trek media speaks
06:40for itself, could any producer really say no to him if he formally threw his hat in
06:44the ring?
06:453.
06:46Mira Savino
06:48You won't get many bigger Star Trek fans in Hollywood than Oscar-winning actress Mira
06:51Savino, whose father, Paul Savino, appeared in the next-generation seventh-season episode
06:56Homewood playing Worf's human foster brother, Nikolai Rozenko.
07:01In a 2018 interview with SyFy, Savino was asked about her starter passions before becoming
07:06an actress, and couldn't resist but bring up Star Trek, saying,
07:09"...you know what I'm gonna say.
07:10I've been on the record before.
07:12Original Star Trek.
07:13I have the dolls, I have the phaser, I've got the little toy set which has the transporter
07:18that turns around.
07:19I went to conventions as a teenager.
07:20I 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
07:32of Star Trek media in the future, adding,
07:34"...that'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
07:43Savino playing a dignitary or higher-up at Starfleet, it's about time somebody made her
07:48dream a reality.
07:49Number 2.
07:50Dave Bautista
07:51Dave Bautista will be imminently making his final appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
07:56in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, after which he'll be retiring from the
08:00Drax 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,
08:09and 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
08:17in Star Trek.
08:18When freelance writer Jace Dobie tweeted that he'd love to see Bautista in Star Trek one
08:22day, the star retorted with his enthusiasm for the idea, saying,
08:26"...likewise, I was born to be a Klingon.
08:28Just sayin'."
08:29He's certainly not wrong.
08:30It takes no mental effort whatsoever to picture Big Dave as a Klingon, and so casting him
08:35as a Klingon warlord in a future Trek movie basically sells itself.
08:39So let's get on it.
08:41Number 1.
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
08:53long-held desire to be a part of Star Trek.
08:56Craig said,
08:57"...I would love a stint in the TV show or in a movie.
08:59It's been a secret ambition of mine for years."
09:01And given that Craig ended up making a surreptitious cameo as a Stormtrooper in Star Wars The Force
09:06Awakens, one suspects his love of major sci-fi franchises hasn't diminished one bit.
09:12It's just a shame that The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams couldn't have found a way to insert
09:16Craig into his trilogy of Trek reboot movies.
09:19Yet if the long-gestating fourth film does ever go into production, there will be ample
09:23time to correct that mistake, especially with Craig's all-consuming Bond role now at an
09:28end.
09:29Whether as a wink-wink cameo or honest-to-God character in his own right, Craig has the
09:32chops to give us a Trek character either smolderingly intense or totally hilarious.
09:37And that concludes our list.
09:39If 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
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09:49Also head over to Twitter and follow us there, and Instagram as well, and I can be found
09:52across 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
10:00boldly go where no one has gone before.