Lwaxana Troi had Lurch from the Addams Family helping her out.
Majel Barrett played many famous roles for Star Trek across its long and storied existence. Her more notable and controversial role was as Lwaxana Troi, the opinionated and demonstrative mother of Deanna, the Enterprise’s counselor on The Next Generation. Her character was oftentimes disliked for her personality, and as she was far too domineering for most people to stand. Yet, when she debuted on The Next Generation, she debuted alongside Lurch from the Addams Family.
When Lwaxana debuted, she debuted alongside Dutch actor, Carel Struycken, most known for his role as Lurch in The Addams Family films of the early 90s. He appeared as Mr. Homn, and did so across five episodes on the Next Generation.
He would also appear in the Voyager episode The Thaw as The Spectre, a large, smiling monstrosity.
This wasn’t the first Lurch from the Addams Family to be in Star Trek
For those eagle-eyed fans, this isn’t the first time Star Trek and Addams Family borrowed actors from one another. The original man to portray Lurch, Ted Cassidy, also appeared in Star Trek. He appeared in the Original Series episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” as Ruk, the large, lumbering android.
Lower Decks paid homage to Cassidy, by putting in an image of Ruk in a hallway of photos in the season two episode “An Embarrassment of Dooplers”.
Both men played rather iconic characters despite their limited screen time. Both Ruk and Mr. Homn were intriguing in their design and their towering physiques captured the imagination. The interesting thing about them both is how they came across, not just as their respective Star Trek characters but also in the way they portrayed Lurch.
Both Ruk and Cassidy’s Lurch was far more intimidating and it showed in their characters, while Struycken’s Lurch and Mr. Homn was far more of a gentle-giant type. It’s rather interesting that their time on Star Trek influenced their time on the Addams Family and vise versa.