The Ghostbusters Star Who Almost Became a Star Trek Captain

With any franchise that’s been around as long as Star Trek has, there are always going to be a certain number of tantalizing “what-ifs.” From narrative swerves (What if Christopher Pike was never injured and remained the Enterprise’s captain ?) to casting choices (What if Mitchell Ryan played Jean-Luc Picard instead of Patrick Stewart?), the current configuration of the series’ onscreen universe could have gone in a lot of different directions, some of which seem kind of nuts when looked at from our modern-day perspective. But some are downright intriguing. Like the idea that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s captain could have been played by a former Ghostbuster.

Don’t get me wrong, Avery Brooks is an iconic performer. The first Black actor to lead a Star Trek series, he rep