Angela Bassett Almost Starred In A Star Trek Back Series?
Angela Bassett as a Star Trek captain? Did this actually come close to happening?
Well, it seems there was a time when Angela Bassett was considered for a role in this franchise. Around the time Star Trek Into Darkness was hitting the big screen in 2013, Star Trek was receding from the limelight just a bit with renewed energy going towards the Star Wars franchise (J.J. Abrams had made the switch).
And around this time there was discussion around Star Trek making a return to its original home of television. Bryan Fuller, who was leading Hannibal then had thoughts about a show and wanted Angela Bassett to take a Star Trek captain’s chair.
Fuller, who created such memorable but short-lived shows as Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls, had actually been trying to get a new Star Trek TV series going the year prior, collaborating with another Brian: director Brian Singer (X-Men: Days of Future Past).
Apparently, the two had each been brainstorming a new Star Trek TV pitch and eventually decided to pool their resources to try and make it happen. The scuttlebutt at the time was that Fuller and Singer wanted to do a TV spinoff set on the U.S.S. Reliant, presumably still set within the “new” continuity of Abrams’ movies.
Unfortunately, Fuller later said that, with the franchise focused on Abrams’ big-screen adventures, the TV series was probably a non-starter, at least for the time being. Where does Angela Bassett fit into this? Well, take a walk here.
With J.J. Abrams moving into the Star Wars world and the Star Trek movie franchise hanging in the air, it made sense to start thinking about how the latter could move back to the small screen.
Whether a new Star Trek series followed the adventures of the Reliant or something else entirely, it could have helped entice back long-time Star Trek fans who didn’t like Abrams’ movie take on Gene Roddenberry’s universe.
Star Trek on the small screen could have returned to the more high-minded, humanistic, philosophical storytelling of the franchise’s roots, which the films could continue to serve up Abrams’ action-oriented brand.
Speaking with Den of Geek back in 2013, Fuller confirmed that his Star Trek series was still in limbo at that point though he did have Angela Bassett on his mind were it to come to pass.
Fuller actually has a background in Star Trek, having worked on both Deep Space Nine and Voyager. He told Den of Geek he would still love to return to the Trek universe at some point, and even elaborated a bit on his Reliant idea.
Bryan Fuller said about adding Angela. Bassett in a Star Trek series, “Yeah, I think let [the adventures of the Enterprise] be the movies and let that be their story. I would love to do something on the Reliant. I want Angela Lansbury…Not Lansbury! I want Angela Bassett to be the captain, that’s who I would love to have, you know Captain Angela Bassett and First Officer Rosario Dawson. I would love to do that version of the show and but that’s in the future to be told.”
While this never came to pass and the Star Trek franchise eventually went with a Justin Lin movie instead, the Angela Bassett casting would have been a cool way to take things. Eventually, the television landscape of Star Trek picked up on Paramount with series like Picard and Strange New Worlds among others.
And Angela Bassett did comment on the Bryan Fuller mentions saying she was flattered but was never actually approached for anything Star Trek related.
