The Cage (Star Trek: The Original Series) - Casting

Casting

Jeffrey Hunter had a six-month exclusive option for the role of Captain Pike. Although he was required to continue if the series was picked up by the network, he was not required to film the second pilot that NBC requested. Deciding to concentrate on motion pictures instead, he declined the role. Gene Roddenberry wrote to him on April 5, 1965:

I am told you have decided not to go ahead with Star Trek. This has to be your own decision, of course, and I must respect it. You may be certain I hold no grudge or ill feelings and expect to continue to reflect publicly and privately the high regard I learned for you during the production of our pilot.

Roddenberry then asked if Hunter would be willing to film additional scenes to allow the rejected pilot episode to be released as a theatrical feature instead (as was the pilot for Hunter's recent NBC series Temple Houston). Hunter declined.

Two weeks after the option expired on June 1, 1965, Hunter formally gave his letter requesting separation from the project. He died in 1969. Roddenberry later suggested that it was he — unhappy with interference by Hunter's then-wife Dusty Bartlett — who decided not to rehire Hunter. However, executive producer Herbert F. Solow, who was present when Dusty, acting as manager, refused the role on behalf of her husband, later said in his memoir, Inside Star Trek, that it was the other way around.