Star Trek: First Contact Writer Confirms Tom Hanks Was Considered For A Role

Star Trek: First Contact was released 25 years ago and Trekkies still consider it as the best The Next Generation movie. The film focused on the crew as they go back in time and stop the Borg's attempt to prevent the historical moment (in its universe) where humanity had its first encounter with alien life.

Since the film's release, there have been rumors that Academy Award winner Tom Hanks, who is also a Star Trek fan, was considered to play Zefram Cochrane (who ended up being played by James Cromwell). Director and co-star Jonathan Frankes has publicly said that it would have been a mistake to cast him since he is a well-known actor.

Now, in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter commemorating the 25th anniversary of the film, co-writer Ronald D. Moore confirmed that the award-winning actor was indeed considered for the role, but it never went beyond that. He said, "It never got that far. At that point in the process, there are lots of names on a wishlist for many, many reasons. I’m sure his name was floated in some capacity, but it was never really on the table."

When Cromwell got cast for the role, there were fans who were confused since he was deemed too old to play the part since Cochrane was supposed to be younger during the timeline. The Star Trek Encyclopedia offered an explanation in which they theorized that Cochrane's older-looking appearance in First Contact was a result of radiation poisoning and his encounter with the Companion reversed the effects, resulting in having a youthful appearance again by the time we see him in Star Trek: The Original Series.

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It would have been nice to see Hanks play the role of Cochrane and there's no doubt that he would have done a terrific performance if he did get the part. However, Frakes might be right that his star power might have overshadowed the entire film and people would see it more as a Tom Hanks movie. Besides, Cromwell was great on the role and the film overall performed well enough with or without Hanks.