Actors Who Were Almost Cast As Star Trek’s Data Before Brent Spiner

Before securing the role of Data on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” actor Brent Spiner was perhaps most widely recognized for his recurring role as Bob Wheeler on the sitcom “Night Court.” He also had one-shot appearances on various other hit TV shows like “Tales from the Darkside,” “The Paper Chase,” and “Ryan’s Hope.” He also had a bit part in the excellent cult musical “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains” and was one of the background students in “Grease 2.” Spiner had been acting in Broadway productions throughout the 1970s. 

Data was a boon to his career, making him a household name, and giving him a role that he would continue to revisit for decades. Spiner has always felt ambivalent about Data, however, loving the fame, but resenting how he had been typecast. He has since referred to Data as a double-edged sword. That said, his post-“Star Trek” career is more expansive and varied than one might assume. 

Spiner may have played Data, but it seems that he wasn’t on the “wish list” of finalists for the role. A 1987 interoffice memo — written from producer John Ferraro to Paramount TV president John Pike — listed all the actors that the makers of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” had been most closely eyeballing for the show’s eight main roles. The memo has handily been published on the Slice of Sci-Fi website, and it’s an interesting read. Some of the studio’s actor preferences are surprising and tantalizing. Wesley Snipes, for instance, was under consideration for Geordi La Forge. Yaphet Kotto was being considered for Captain Picard. 

As Data, the studio was looking at four other candidates: Eric Menyuk, Mark Lindsay Chapman, Kevin Peter Hall, and Kelvin Han Yee. 

Eric Menyuk will instantly be recognized by Trekkies as he went on to play the mysterious Traveler in three episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Meyuk has a gentle demeanor and would have made for a disarming, almost soulful Data. Of course, Data is an emotionless android, so “soulful” may not have been correct for the part. Menyuk, like Spiner, had a TV career that included mostly one-time appearances on hit TV shows, with Menyuk appearing on “Melrose Place,” “Cheers,” “Married… with Children,” and “Diagnosis: Murder.” Menyuk retied from acting in 1998. 

Mark Lindsay Chapman was under consideration for Data as well, and he had a more extensive TV career than any of his rivals for the role. He was in 24 episodes of “Days of Our Lives,” and played multiple roles throughout “Murder, She Wrote.” He later played the constable in James Cameron’s “Titanic,” and played one of the lead roles in all 72 episodes of the 1990 version of “Swamp Thing.” Chapman was under consideration to play John Lennon in the 1985 biopic “John and Yoko: A Love Story,” but he was fired when the producers noticed that his name was similar to that of John Lennon’s murderer, Mark David Chapman. He would end up playing Lennon in the 2007 film “Chapter 27.” 

Kevin Peter Hall was also being considered, and monster movie fans will recognize him as the stunt player inside the alien suit in John McTiernan’s “Predator.” At 7’2″, Hall cut an impressive figure and was hired to play several creatures in his role, including the title Bigfoot in “Harry and the Hendersons,” the title monster in “Monster in the Closet,” and Charon in the demonic adventure “Highway to Hell.” Hall was also being considered for the role of Geordi La Forge. His height didn’t seem to be much of an issue for casting directors. Prior to his Trek auditions, Hall played one of the main roles on “Misfits of Science,” and turned up in shows like “The Dukes of Hazzard” and, yes, “Night Court.” 

Hall would end up playing an alien character named Leyor in an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” called “The Price.” Sadly, Hall died of complications related to AIDS in 1991, shortly after his “Star Trek” role. He was 35. 

In some of the early character descriptions of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Data was described as an Asian character, and it seems at least one actor of Asian heritage was under consideration. Kelvin Han Yee, an amazingly prolific stage actor, was being heavily considered. He didn’t have many screen credits before his “Star Trek” audition, but Yee had been a repertory player in multiple theater troupes in San Francisco and Los Angeles. After Spiner was cast as Data, Yee’s career took off, and his credits are too plentiful to list here. He did appear in films like “The Island” and “Milk,” and more recently, “Destroyer” and “May December.” 

Data would have been a boon for him, but he seems to have done fine without it.