Takei May Appear in 'Star Trek: New Voyages'

James Cawley and Jeff Quinn, who play Kirk and Spock on Star Trek: New Voyages (of which Cawley is also a longtime executive producer) announced that they are in talks with George Takei (Sulu) to appear on the fan video series, following a recently produced episode with Walter Koenig (Chekov).

Speaking to G4's Attack of the Show, Cawley said that they were in negotiations with Takei and "It looks like he's going to step up to the plate and come back to Star Trek." When the host joked that he would need permission from Howard Stern, on whose radio show Takei is now an announcer, Cawley and Quinn said that they had heard Stern was a big Star Trek fan and they would be glad to have him too.

"NBC foolishly cancelled the show," Cawley noted, explaining that, as fans themselves, they wanted to be part of that universe. The New Voyages team decided to pick up where the original Star Trek left off.

Quinn was not a big fan until he met Cawley, he said, explaining that he needed a crash course in portraying the beloved character made famous by Leonard Nimoy and feeling concerned because this wasn't a situation like James Bond where several actors had made it their own; there was only one prototype.

As for Cawley, as "kind of the financier", he decided that even though everyone wanted to play Kirk, "the big chair was mine!"

Now, noted Quinn, it feels remarkable "to be validated by some of the people, the pros, who have been working on Star Trek since its inception back in the 60s." He named Rod Roddenberry and Koenig as just a few professionals connected with Star Trek who have been involved with New Voyages.

The original interview can be streamed from here.

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