Star Trek: The Original Series almost had two more regular characters

Star Trek: The Original Series nearly had two more regular characters.

They may not be names you’d recognize but Kevin Riley and Joe Tormolen were two characters who were allegedly being considered for recurring status on the original Star Trek series in the 1960s. This according to “The Naked Time”‘s writer, John D. F. Black. There’s no reason as to why that didn’t happen. Riley on the other hand would show up again in “The Conscience of the King”.

For the actor who played Tormolen, Stewart Moss, he’s actually grateful he didn’t become a series regular, telling Star Trek.com;

"When I think about it, if I was a regular on Star Trek, I’d most likely never had met my wife of 46 years. I’m happy about the way it turned out."

For what it’s worth, he also claims to have no knowledge of his character ever being considered for recurring status. This is good, as his character ended up dead before the second act anyway, so that would’ve been a tricky re-write.

Riley would go on to be a bit of a fan favorite for his bit of singing during “The Naked Time”. Even though it’s not a huge and successful role in the franchise’s lore, it’s at least gotten him some cult fandom.

The episode is quite infamous.

“The Naked Time” didn’t just introduce two beloved side characters who serve better as trivia answers than anything else, it also gave Star Trek fans two major moments. First is the iconic scene of Sulu wielding a foil, attempting to poke anyone who tries to get in his way. It’s become one of the more lasting images of the original series.

The other big part of the episode was that it marked the debut of Majel Barrett to the series as a regular character. She’d go on to portray Nurse Christine Chapel for a majority of the series. Of course, Barrett would go on to become the voice of the ship’s computers going forward as well.