Nicolas Cage revealed that he prefers Star Trek over Star Wars, and Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Wil Wheaton recently said that Cage would be great on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds or Star Trek: Lower Decks. As an animated comedy following the zany adventures of the USS Cerritos, Lower Decks would be a perfect fit for a character with Nicolas Cage’s distinctive voice. However, if Cage wants the chance to stand on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, Strange New Worlds would be the better fit. With its blend of heartfelt humor, sci-fi action, and character-driven stories, Strange New Worlds incorporates multiple genres into its blend of episodic and serialized storytelling.
The versatility of Strange New Worlds makes it the perfect vehicle for a compelling one-off character or cameo appearance from an actor like Nicolas Cage. Screen Rant spoke with Wil Wheaton on the red carpet of the 51st annual Saturn Awards, where the actors of Star Trek: The Next Generation received a much-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award. When asked about Nicolas Cage and Star Trek, Wheaton said the following:
Now there’s a big movie— Get Nicolas Cage in Star Trek. I can see that. That seems like not a very heavy lift. When we did Next Generation, it was always so exciting and validating when someone I thought was amazing wanted to come do one line on our show. Or no lines on our show. Just be on our show. And now we see on the current Star Trek shows amazing performers. Todd Stashwick on Picard, Tig Notaro on Discovery. Just phenomenal actors. If someone like Nick Cage was like, ‘Listen, I would love to come Nick Cage all over the place?’ I think he would be amazing on Strange New Worlds. He would fit into Strange New Worlds. He would be phenomenal on Lower Decks. We know what Nick Cage does better than anyone else, and if he brought that Nick Cage list to one of our things? Wow! That’s the Star Trek I want to be part of.
Star Trek Wins Big At The 2024 Saturn Awards
The Star Trek franchise swept the board at the 51st Annual Saturn Awards, with some big wins for Picard, Strange New Worlds, and The Next Generation.
Many Celebrity Star Trek Fans Have Found Their Way Into Star Trek
Some of these famous faces even campaigned for their role in the Star Trek franchise.
Nicolas Cage is certainly not the only celebrity who has spoken about their love for Star Trek, and several Trekkie celebrities have appeared in the franchise. Fresh off of the success of Stand By Me, Wil Wheaton himself was a movie star before being cast as Wesley Crusher, as well as a fan of Star Trek: The Original Series. Whoopi Goldberg joined the cast of TNG in season 2 as Ten Forward’s mysterious bartender, Guinan. Goldberg had been a fan of TOS and reached out to the producers of TNG requesting to join the show. Kelsey Grammer, known for portraying Dr. Frasier Crane, was also a Trek fan and made a cameo in TNG season 5, episode 18, “Cause and Effect.”
Celebrities Who Have Appeared In Star Trek | Star Trek TV show or movie |
|---|---|
Whoopi Goldberg | Star Trek: The Next Generation |
Stephen Hawking | Star Trek: The Next Generation |
Mae Jamison | Star Trek: The Next Generation |
Christian Slater | Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country |
Kelsey Grammer | Star Trek: The Next Generation |
Iggy Pop | Star Trek: Deep Space Nine |
John Rhys-Davies | Star Trek: Voyager |
Stacey Abrams | Star Trek: Discovery |
Several of Star Trek‘s current stars were fans of the franchise before joining the Star Trek universe, including Strange New Worlds’ Anson Mount and Lower Decks’ Tawney Newsome. The Star Trek fandom stretches far beyond Hollywood as well, and many well-known figures from other fields have appeared in the show. In the finale of Star Trek: Discovery season 4, politician Stacey Abrams appeared as the president of United Earth, and NASA astronaut Mae Jemison appeared in TNG season 6. Several of these celebrities spoke about their love for Star Trek before ever being cast, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Nicolas Cage popped up in an upcoming Trek project.
