Screenrant writer thinks Eddie Murphy could play Worf

Worf isn’t known for comedy like Eddie Murphy

With some fans speculating as to whether or not there will ever be a Star Trek: The Next Generation movie set in the Kelvin timeline, Screenrant writer, Ben Sherlock, posted a list of actors to fill the roles of the original characters. While some like Mila Kunis as Deanna Troi could possibly work, there is one that seems a bit out there to consider—Eddie Murphy as Worf.

Eddie Murphy is a wonderful comedic actor, and Sherlock believes he could bring some comedy to the role. But Worf was never meant to be funny. He wasn’t written as a humorous character; it was simply the way he delivered the lines that were given to him that often brought a chuckle or two. Casting an actor known for comedy as Worf would detract from the character Michael Dorn had created—that of a no-nonsense, powerful warrior with little to no sense of humor.

Casting Eddie Murphy would change Worf

Murphy has been successful with more serious roles like James “Thunder” Early in Dreamgirls, but he has spent most of his career in comedy. And if he were to be cast as Worf with the intention of injecting more humor into the role, that would essentially be changing the character, something which even the Kelvin timeline movies by J.J. Abrams avoided doing.

Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy is played by Karl Urban in the Star Trek rebooted films, and he maintained the curmudgeonly persona perfected by DeForest Kelley while Zachary Quinto didn’t vary from Leonard Nimoy’s emotionless Spock. If one intends to reboot a series then the characters should remain as intact as they were on television. Otherwise, the entire dynamic of the series is changed.

Not many fans are eagerly awaiting a potential TNG reboot into the Kelvin timeline, but if it does happen, we certainly hope the characters will be allowed to be who they were onscreen.