Nicolas Cage has revealed his sci-fi loyalties. They lie with Star Trek’s United Federation of Planets, and not Star Wars’ Galactic Republic. Cage recently said “I’m not in the Star Wars family, I’m in the Star Trek family” expressing his love for Gene Roddenberry’s seminal franchise. And even shared he dreams of acting on the Enterprise. Cage has chosen his weapon, and it is a phaser instead of a lightsaber.
This, of course, has us wondering what we have to do to get some Nicolas Cage in our Trek. Anson Mount, who plays Captain Pike on Strange New Worlds, seems to want this to happen too. Here are the Star Trek characters we think Nicolas Cage would simply excel at playing, should they wisely choose to beam him on board the Enterprise.
Sybok
Spock’s older half-brother was introduced in the much-maligned film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. A full-blood Vulcan (Sarek was his father, but his mother was a Vulcan princess), Sybok became a heretic for embracing emotion. The Vulcan High Council exiled him from his home planet, and he became a cult leader. He only appeared in that one Star Trek film.
Star Trek never spoke of Sybok again for over three decades, until the first season of Strange New Worlds mentioned him. They even showed his head from behind. We think when he’s properly introduced, Cage should play him. We think Cage as a Vulcan who embraces emotion and also leads a cult would be genius casting. Just imagine the impassioned speeches! Please, just let us see Cage in the Star Trek universe with pointed ears.
A Classic Era Klingon (Kor/Koloth/Kang)
If Nicolas Cage is a Trekker, then on some level he must be dying to play a Klingon. But we don’t think he should just be any old Klingon. We think an appearance by Nicolas Cage on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as one of the three main Klingon antagonists from The Original Series era is in order, Kang, Koloth, or Kor. After all, we have no idea if any of these warriors met with Captain Pike before meeting Kirk. He could also play one of these Klingon Dahar Masters in a Kelvin timeline movie. This is all we ask. In the Strange New Worlds era, all three of these Klingons don’t have forehead ridges. This was thanks to a mutagenic virus that made them look human. Keep the continuity intact!
Trelane
Before there was Q on The Next Generation, there was the character of Trelane in The Original Series. His only appearance was in one episode, “The Squire of Gothos.” There, they introduced him as an omnipotent being who was bratty, petulant, and wielded godlike powers. He also loved to dress in 18th-century clothing. So yes, he was absolutely the prototype for Q decades later. We never saw Trelane again—although non-canon novels explained him as a member of the Q continuum. But it would be fun to see Nicolas Cage show up as this Star Trek character and chew some scenery.
Captain Matt Decker
When we met Commodore Matt Decker in the classic episode “The Doomsday Machine,” he had gone a wee bit mad after losing his entire crew to an ancient planet killer. Actor William Windom gave an unhinged performance as the grieving and revenge-driven Commodore. Well, during the Strange New Worlds era, Commodore Decker would probably still be Captain Decker. We think it would be fun to see Cage play the same Star Trek character at an earlier point in the timeline, maybe giving us a hint of his madness that we’d see come to the surface later.
Gary Seven
Gary Seven was a “Class 1 Supervisor,” a human being altered by aliens to guard the timeline at various points in history. His only appearance took place in the 1968 episode of The Original Series called “Assignment: Earth,” which saw Kirk and Spock travel to the 20th century. There, they met Mr. Seven and learned about the existence of these timeline watchers. Paramount intended for Gary Seven to have a spinoff show, but it never happened. But it would be fun to see Nicolas Cage inherit the role. Who’s to say he’s not alive 1,000 years after the Pike/Strange New Worlds era?
The President of the Federation
The original series gave us no hints as to who the President of the Federation was during the time of Kirk’s first tour of duty on the Enterprise. It wasn’t until the movies that we saw two different Federation presidents, a human male in Star Trek IV and an alien in Star Trek VI. Who better to play the leader of galactic democracy than one Nicolas Cage? Since this is not a pre-existing character, yet someone we know exists in the timeline, we say let Cage run wild with a performance of the Star Trek galactic leader. You just know he’d do something special.
Originally published on January 9, 2023.