Star Trek's Bruce Greenwood Was Considered For A Huge Deep Space Nine Role

"Star Trek" fans know Bruce Greenwood best as the actor behind Captain Christopher Pike in the "Star Trek" reboot films. As one of the most recent incarnations of the character, coming a bit before Anson Mount's version in "Strange New Words," Greenwood's performance as Pike has been instrumental in reshaping the classic character and adding a new layer of depth to him. With that said, some fans may be surprised to learn that there was once a time when Greenwood was considered for a very different role in the "Star Trek" franchise.

Nearly two decades before he became Pike, Greenwood attempted to enter "Star Trek" by way of a different project. According to an old casting sheet shared by @trekdocs on X (formerly Twitter), Greenwood was among the names considered for the lead role of Benjamin Sisko in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." 

The document also includes a bunch of other notable names, including Tony Todd and Stan Shaw. Of course, the role ultimately went to Avery Brooks, instead. As for Greenwood, his desire to join the "Star Trek" universe would eventually be fulfilled as well — just not how he may have originally envisioned it.

While Christopher Pike may not be the character that Bruce Greenwood originally intended to join the "Star Trek" series as, he came to have a pretty big attachment to his role in the reboot films. "It was an incredible thing to be given the chance to be in the first one and join that train, and the second one likewise," Greenwood told Bring Me The News.

Of course, Greenwood's appreciation of the role made it difficult for him to say goodbye to it, as his incarnation of Pike dies tragically during the events of "Star Trek: Into Darkness." While he was sad to have his character killed off, Greenwood indicated that he was nonetheless content with the outcome, mostly because he really enjoyed the ride.  That said, while Greenwood has made his peace with the death of his Pike, it seems he still holds out hope that his version might make a comeback appearance one day in a future project like "Star Trek 4." And given the franchise's past history with concepts like time travel and mirror universes, it's very possible this could occur someday. "My not-so-secret wish is that somehow there's a memory lane scene where Pike gets to come back and talk to Kirk in some way," he told StarTrek.com. "I don't think they can give me a drop of Khan's blood because that would render my death somewhat meaningless if they could reanimate me. But of course I'm hoping they'll reach into memory lane and bring me back."