Star Trek: Enterprise is one of the most slept-on shows, not just in the Trek canon of shows, but in all of science fiction and television. It is an engaging story, that highlights the start of something truly grand, Starfleet, all while cementing lore that was started nearly 35 years prior. One of its best selling points is its cast. While not perfect, the show did a great job of highlighting the varied cast and giving voices to other characters who weren't the series' star, Scott Bakula.
One of those voices that got a lot more work than expected was the slightly sour, golden retriever of a man in Charles "Trip" Tucker, played wonderfully by Connor Trinneer. The second-highest ranking member of the ship, just behind Bakula's Jonathan Archer, Trip was the chief engineer and he kept the U.S.S. Enterprise NX-01 in the air against all odds.
He became arguably the most-liked character during the show's run, and the franchise would look radically different if it weren't for him. And that nearly happened. One of the names that was apparently up for his role in 2001 was former Gremlins star and one-time Star Trek: Voyager guest star Zach Galligan.
Galligan spoke to TrekMovie.com and revealed that he was up for the role of Trip Tucker, and got through several rounds of additions before eventually being weeded out. As he was on Voyager prior, and had a standing relationship with Robert Picardo due to their turn in Gremlins 2 together, you'd think he'd be a shoo-in, but he ended up losing out on that part to someone else.
We're sad Galligan didn't land a role in Enterprise, as he's a wonderful talent, but we'd be remiss if we thought that anyone could do Trip better than Trinneer did.