Star Trek: 4 Actors Who Almost Played Data Before Brent Spiner

Looking back, it's hard to imagine any other actor than Brent Spiner playing the role of Data in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." But just like every beloved character, the fan-favorite android Data was once just words on the page waiting for someone to bring him to life, and back in 1987, it could have been a number of different actors. Based on an internal memo from Paramount while "The Next Generation" was in pre-production, there were several performers brought in to read for the role of Data. But alas, only one of them would walk away with the part, a character that eventually became one of the most popular on the entire show. 

In the hands of Spiner, Data stole the hearts of audiences everywhere. He appeared in not just 176 episodes of "The Next Generation," but several other shows and films in the "Star Trek" franchise, including "Generations," "First Contact," "Insurrection," "Nemesis," "Enterprise," and "Picard." Still, despite his legendary status in the "Star Trek" universe — or perhaps because of it — it's tempting to imagine what might've been if a different character had taken on the role.

When the casting team behind "Star Trek: The Next Generation" brought Mark Lindsay Chapman in to read for Data, he was just a young, classically trained English actor with very few credits to his name. But although "Star Trek" didn't turn out to be Chapman's big break, it wasn't a long time coming. The same year that "The Next Generation" hit the airwaves, Chapman was hired to act on the soap opera "Days of Our Lives," a show he returned to dozens over times through the next 20 years. And in 1990, he was cast as the lead antagonist in "Swamp Thing," where he appeared in 72 episodes. 

Although his career was largely dominated by television roles, he also made his mark on the big screen — he played Chief Officer Henry Wilde in "Titanic" (you may remember him as the corpse that Rose steals a whistle from in the icy waters to signal to the lifeboats) and John Lennon in "Chapter 27." His most recent performance was in 2017, when he appeared in the Lifetime horror film "The Twin." A year later, he got himself into legal trouble after being arrested for assaulting his then-girlfriend, who later filed a restraining order against him, and he hasn't acted since.

Unlike many of the other actors who auditioned for the role of Data, Eric Menyuk had already developed quite a career in television by the time that "Star Trek: The Next Generation" came calling. In an interview with StarTrek.com, Menyuk discussed the audition process and how close he came to landing the role of Data, saying, "Among the main characters, the regulars on the show, I was told that Brent Spiner and I were the closest in terms of being the last ones it came down to when they made their decision." But although he ultimately missed out on the part, he clearly made an impression on the casting team, as they offered him the role of The Traveler, a mysterious humanoid with the ability to manipulate perceptions of reality itself.

Menyuk's career in television flourished throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with appearances on shows such as "Hill Street Blues," "Cheers," "Melrose Place," "Thirtysomething," "Married... With Children," and many others. In 1998, however, he retired from acting and made an unconventional career transition: He passed the bar exam and became a lawyer who has since developed a reputation for championing children with disabilities and their educational rights.

The fact that Kevin Peter Hall was on the short list to play Data suggests that the production team for "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was willing to consider going in a very different direction than what they eventually ended up with when they cast Brent Spiner. Hall was extremely tall, clocking in at 7'2", and after transitioning to acting from an international basketball career, he quickly became known for his ability to play monsters with heavy prosthetics. In 1987, Hall played both the Predator in Arnold Schwarzenegger's popular creature feature "Predator," and Harry in "Harry and the Hendersons." 

Although he wasn't cast as Data, he did make a one-off appearance in a 1989 episode of "The Next Generation" playing a Caldonian diplomat named Leyor. Sadly, Hall was diagnosed with HIV, contracted from a blood transfusion after he was in a car accident, and he passed away from AIDS-related pneumonia in 1991 when he was just 35 years old.

No, Kelvin Han Yee didn't end up getting cast as Data. But we shouldn't feel too bad about it, because he's had an incredibly impressive career since. When they were casting for "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Yee had just one credit to his name, making a splash with a leading role in the surprise hit "A Great Wall." But despite his success in that film, it wasn't until the 1990s that his career really took off. Since then, he's been booked and busy, regularly turning up in TV shows like "Nash Bridges," "24," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Westworld," "GLOW," and "Beef." 

He's also made an impression with his work on the big screen — he has appeared in films as varied as the Mike Myers comedy "So I Married an Axe Murderer" and the sci-fi thriller "The Island." Most recently, he was cast in Netflix's "May/December," where he played Joe Sr., the father of Charles Melton's tormented Joe Yoo.