J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek was a special kind of reboot. It was a traditional reboot in the sense that it recast all the iconic roles with new actors and brought a modern blockbuster sensibility to the Trek franchise, but it didn’t erase the Enterprise’s previous adventures. Instead, it takes place in the “Kelvin Timeline,” a totally separate continuity.
For years, Star Trek fans have speculated about whether Paramount will follow up its Original Series-based movie series with a Next Generation reboot set in the Kelvin Timeline. If such a film were to be made, these actors could perfectly fill out the second-gen crew of the Enterprise.
Tom Holland As Wesley Crusher
What made Wesley Crusher stand out in the TV series was his endearing nerdiness. His geeking out rivaled that of Data and Geordi La Forge, and Stand By Me’s Wil Wheaton portrayed his enthusiasm brilliantly.
One actor who’s already proven he can play a dorky, overzealous kid is Tom Holland, whose Peter Parker is essentially the Wesley Crusher of the MCU.
Jason Sudeikis As Commander William Riker
Commander Riker is a complex, interesting character, but his primary function in the ensemble is as a foil for Picard. And since his days on Saturday Night Live, Jason Sudeikis has been a great deadpan comic foil.
Sudeikis’ work in SNL, Horrible Bosses, We’re the Millers, and most recently Ted Lasso has demonstrated the kind of dry wit that would make him a perfect Riker.
Mila Kunis As Deanna Troi
Deanna Troi has an interesting role as the ship’s counselor. Whenever the other characters have problems to work through, she’s the one who helps them through it.
The perfect casting for this role has actually already presented itself. Not only would Mila Kunis nail Troi’s warm, empathetic personality; during the press tour for the Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending, she told IGN: “I love Deanna Troi. She’s awesome. I would totally put in those lenses and call it a day – big, poofy hair, curl, like get a perm...”
Eddie Murphy As Worf
Made iconic by Michael Dorn, Commander Worf was the first Klingon to appear as a major character in a Star Trek TV series. Worf’s intense dream of one day ing his lost culture made him something of a dark, brooding presence around the Enterprise.
It might be interesting to contrast Worf’s dark personality with an actor who would bring some humor to the role. Eddie Murphy is a lifelong Star Trek fan and was originally slated to appear in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Since Murphy turned that role down, he could play Worf in a Next Generation reboot instead.
Tom Hiddleston As Data
Data is a very difficult role to recast, because it’s impossible to imagine anybody playing the part as well as Brent Spiner. Like Rainn Wilson with the role of Dwight Schrute or Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the role of Elaine Benes, Spiner owned the role of Data.
Having said that, the wry charms and articulate line deliveries of Tom Hiddleston could fit the role pretty well. Not to mention, there are plenty of storylines involving Data that need to be resolved. Of course, like Holland, Hiddleston already has one role in a sci-fi franchise taking up a lot of his time.
John Boyega As Geordi La Forge
Since John Boyega got cheated out of a rich, complex character arc in one beloved sci-fi franchise, he could get one in another as a consolation prize. In a Next Generation reboot, he’d make a great Geordi La Forge (and based on Community’s homage, Donald Glover would be an awesome candidate, too).
Although he was sidelined in the movies, Boyega’s turn as the heroic Finn in the Star Wars sequels demonstrated the kind of infectious ion and energy that LeVar Burton brought to Geordi in the TV series, while Attack the Block and Detroit proved he could easily match the nuance of the other Kelvin Timeline actors.
Julianne Moore As Dr. Beverly Crusher
Gates McFadden was so integral to the success of Star Trek: The Next Generation that her absence in the second season – explained away as her character Dr. Beverly Crusher running Starfleet Medical for a year – resulted in one of the show’s worst slumps (and it didn’t help that she was replaced with the irritating Dr. Katherine Pulaski).
Naturally, McFadden has left pretty big shoes behind, but one legendary redhaired actor who could fill them is Julianne Moore. Julianne Moore has starred in many brilliant comedy and drama films, so she’s got the whole spectrum of human emotion covered.
Bryan Cranston As Jean-Luc Picard
Recasting Jean-Luc Picard is tricky, because he’s so inextricably tied to the unique charms of Patrick Stewart. Any potential Next Generation reboot should avoid an actor who will simply do a pale imitation of Stewart. If Bryan Cranston took on the role of Picard, he’d surely make it his own.
Plus, the role of Picard requires an actor who can pull off baldness, which Cranston more than proved as Breaking Bad’s Heisenberg (and it’s also caused him to be fan-casted as pretty much every bald character ever created).
