Tom Hanks is known for his good-guy roles in films and is often considered to be one of the greatest actors of the generation. Hanks has played iconic characters such as Saving Private Ryan’s John Miller, Toy Story’s Woody, and the eponymous character in Forrest Gump, which won him an Oscar for Best Actor.
While Hanks has not been a part of a major franchise yet, the two-time Oscar winner was reportedly being tapped to play a legendary character in the Star Trek: The Next Generation film. Though he was never cast as Zefram Cochrane, Hanks mentioned that he would have jumped at the opportunity of starring alongside Patrick Stewart.
Tom Hanks Was Considered For A Role In Star Trek: First Contact
Tom Hanks is a self-confessed Star Trek fan with The Next Generation being his favorite. The actor spoke about his obsession with the show to the point where he nailed Trekkie Trivia when he appeared on The Graham Norton Show with Simon Pegg.
However, the actor could have been a part of the franchise if the makers had gone along with their wishlist of actors for the TNG film Star Trek: First Contact. According to THR, the makers were floating around names for the character of Zefram Cochrane, who invented the warp drive system in the franchise.
Hanks mentioned that he would have loved the opportunity to join the franchise and mentioned that he would have also brought gifts to everyone. He said to Josh Horowitz,
The guy who invented warp drive? Oh come on, I would’ve jumped on that! I would have come in, I would have brought gift tribbles to everybody on the first meeting. ‘Guys here’s some tribbles you.’
The character was eventually played by James Cromwell in the film, which is often considered to be one of the best Star Trek movies.
Sir Patrick Stewart Wanted To Stay In The Ship During Star Trek: First Contact
The film Star Trek: First Contact was the second film starring the TNG cast after the film Star Trek: Generations, which also featured the cast from the original series. The second film marked the directorial debut of Jonathan Frakes and is often considered to be one of the best Star Trek films of all time.
After the studio demands in the first film, writers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga were reportedly given relatively free reign in taking the franchise in any direction. The film saw the TNG crew travel back in time to stop the Borgs from conquering the universe.
The film saw Patrick Stewart’s Captain Picard stay in the ship and fight the Borgs while other members of the crew helped Zefram Cochrane test his warp drive. According to the writers, the initial plan was to flip this idea and keep Picard with Cochrane. But Stewart had other plans (via THR),
Patrick had really liked doing the [TNG episode] ‘Starship Mine,’ where he was alone on the Enterprise-D and running around. And I think he overtly referenced that in a way like, ‘I would really like to be the one on the ship fighting the Borg, instead of down on the surface.’ And Rick Berman relayed that to us, and I think Brannon and I just immediately went: ‘That’s better. That makes more sense.’ So we flipped it.
The film was a commercial success, earning over $146 million at the global box office (via Box Office Mojo).
Star Trek: First Contact is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
