Star Trek being forced to recast Christopher Pike saved the franchise

Star Trek fans may be familiar with the story involving Jeffrey Hunter; the franchise's first captain. Hunter played Captain Christopher Pike in the first Star Trek pilot, "The Cage". It was later soundly rejected and a re-shoot was ordered. This time Hunter wasn't interested in appearing in the series anymore, and so series creator Gene Roddenberry and crew went and cast William Shatner to be the new lead.

Shatner of course played James T. Kirk and he'd head a mostly new cast in the next pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before". It faired much better, and a franchise was born. From that casting switch fans got six films featuring the original cast, a spinoff in The Next Generation, and further spinoffs in Deep Space Nine and Voyager, followed by a prequel in Enterprise. Plus, two other film franchises and a whole new slate of shows starting in 2017.

None of that would've been possible without the change from Hunter to Shatner. We're not being hyperbolic, either. Quite literally, had Shatner not taken over the reins from Hunter, there wouldn't have been a Star Trek heading into 1970.

At least not one you'd recognize. The reason why Star Trek was revived in the 70s, nearly a decade after its cancelation is because of the support the cast had from the fandom. Every from Shatner to Leonard Nimoy to Nichelle Nichols and everyone else you could think of was beloved. The thought of doing more Star Trek without someone from that original crew reprising their role was a non-starter for many.

Sadly, that's where things become too clear. You see, Hunter suffered an accident in 1969, and died on May 27, just six days before Star Trek: The Original Series broadcasted its last episode. Had Hunter stayed on with the project and the show met the same success with him at the helm as with Shatner, then it's fair to say that the series would've died with Hunter.

Fans right now, ourselves included, are debating how Star Trek 4 should handle the horrible passing of Anton Yelchin, a young and tremendous actor who died weeks before the premiere of Star Trek: Beyond. Yelchin's passing shocked fans, and now we're not sure if there should be another version of Pavel Chekov in this specific universe.

Imagine trying to recast the lead of an ultra-popular show. There's no guarantee fans would've wanted it. It may have ceased to exist like so many other shows before it. So while Hunter's passing was sad, the fact that Star Trek had Shatner at the time likely saved the franchise.