One Star Trek Actor Played Three Characters in the Original Series (After She Was Cut From The Pilot)

All the credit in Star Trek goes to the characters who work on the bridge. The captain and their second-in-command are the ones calling the shots, deciding whether the ship will participate in a dangerous mission and negotiating with threats from across the galaxy. Star Trek: The Original Series sets that standard by giving all of its best material to James T. Kirk and Spock, but it’s hard to blame the show for playing favorites. After all, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy are icons. However, as great as their journeys in the final frontier are, they don’t have the most interesting ones.

It’s no secret that Gene Roddenberry had trouble getting Star Trek on the air. He went to NBC with a pilot and believed that he had cooked up something really unique. The powers that be didn’t agree, though, and they forced Roddenberry to make significant changes to his show, including cutting a character that meant a lot to him. While Roddenberry gave in to the demands, he still got his way, saving a couple of spots for the actor with whom he had to part ways initially.

Star Trek: The Original Series Almost Had a Different Number One

When it came time to cast “The Cage,” Star Trek‘s original pilot, Roddenberry didn’t want to work with a bunch of new faces. He reached out to Nimoy, whom he had worked with previously on the military drama The Lieutenant, and cast him as Spock, a character that initially had red skin and pointed ears, making him look like a demon. Another important role, Number One, Captain Pike’s right-hand woman, went to Majel Barrett, who also had a stint on The Lieutenant. NBC wasn’t happy with those two characters, in particular, asking Roddenberry to remove them both after rejecting the pilot. While Roddenberry was able to go to bat for Spock after a redesign, Number One got the axe, leaving Barrett without a gig.

Once Star Trek was on solid footing, Roddenberry pulled a fast one and brought Barrett back into the fold, casting her as Nurse Christine Chapel, one of the medical personnel aboard the USS Enterprise. NBC wasn’t happy, but there wasn’t much it could do, so Roddenberry took things a step further, having Barrett voice the Enterprise‘s computer in several episodes and bring her talents to Star Trek: The Animated Series. By the time the original crew was ready to hang it up, Barrett was a fixture of the franchise, so much so that she came back for a few more rounds.

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Majel Barrett Continues to Be A Major Part of Star Trek

Despite The Original Series getting cancelled, the world wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Star Trek. Roddenberry got back on the horse in the 1980s, developing Star Trek: The Next Generation, about a new crew that tried its best to maintain peace in the galaxy. Since the Enterprise would remain the franchise’s primary mode of transportation, it was only right that his wife, Barrett, returned to voice the ship’s computer. But spending all her time in a recording booth didn’t sit right with Barrett, so she agreed to play Lwaxana Troi, the mother of the Enterprise’s Counselor, Deanna Troi, and a big fan of Jean-Luc Picard. While Patrick Stewart’s character didn’t reciprocate Lwaxana’s feelings, that didn’t deter her from appearing in several episodes of TNG and in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Sadly, Barrett didn’t live to see the franchise’s recent resurgence, as she passed away in 2008. However, her voice appears in J.J. Abrams’ first Star Trek film and in Star Trek: Picard via archival footage. Christine Chapel also continues to shine on the small screen, thanks to Jess Bush, who plays the character in the spinoff series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. That’s an impressive legacy for Barrett to leave behind, especially since NBC didn’t want anything to do with her at the start. It just goes to show that rejection doesn’t have to be the end of the story, and that hard work and perseverance always win out in the end.

Which of Majel Barrett’s Star Trek characters is your favorite? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!