50 Actors Who Could Be The Next Star Trek Captain

Kal Penn

Kal Penn has mastered the art of playing the lovable nerd. We’ve had stoic, commanding, and adventurous captains before, but we’ve never truly had a nerdy captain. Often the “nerd” character gets relegated to sickbay in the case of Voyager’s Doctor or Deep Space Nine’s Doctor Julian Bashir. Why not let the nerd take the captain’s chair for a change?

A Kal Penn-portrayed, lovable nerd captain’s biggest hurdle would be learning to deal with other people. Perhaps the character never meant to become a captain and with a truly blue shirt background must now learn to command on the job.

Kal Penn has been a regular on sitcoms like How I Met Your Mother and dramas like House. We know that he could bring both humor and depth to the role of captain. Having Kal Penn on board for the new Star Trek series would also mean that both Harold and Kumar were a part of Star Trek lore.

Next: Josh Holloway