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A fun piece of trivia taken from Larry Nemecek’s invaluable sourcebook “The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion“: The character Tasha Yar in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was originally conceived as a Latina character named Lieutenant Macha Hernandez, who was intended to become the tactical officer on board the Enterprise-D. Lieutenant Hernandez is quite Vasquez (Janet Goldstein) was largely inspired by the military grunt character from James Cameron’s “Aliens” film, which was still new at the time, in fact, Goldstein was briefly considered for the role, but was immediately rejected when it was revealed she was not Latina. After some further development, Hernandez was cast as Tanya, then Natasha, then Tasha. Changed to dude.
Several actresses auditioned for the role of Tasha, including Rosalind Chao, Marina Sirtis, Julia Nickson, and Bunty Bailey, the woman in the “Take on Me” music video. For a moment, Chao was the frontrunner for the role, although she was eventually replaced by Dennis Crosby, then a rising star in Hollywood and the star of “The Eliminators”.
As it happens, Crosby was already on the showrunners’ radar, as she had already auditioned for the role of the Enterprise’s sympathetic psychiatrist, Counselor Deanna Troi – and was one of the finalists for it. As Trekkies can now tell you, Marina Sirtis – one of Tasha Yar’s hopefuls – will be cast in the role of British-sounding counselor Troi. Sirtis and Crosby would essentially swap parts.
This swap appears to have been encouraged by show creator Gene Roddenberry himself. Casting directors looked for actresses to play Yar and Troi at the same time, they wanted to ensure that the two actors did not look alike. It seemed that Sirtis and Crosby looked good opposite each other, but Roddenberry felt they should trade parts.
This was confirmed by Crosby himself A 2012 interview with StarTrek.com,
Dennis Crosby and Marina Sirtis swapped Star Trek roles
The story of the Roddenberry-mandated Crosby/Sirtis swap was at least made public much earlier A “Star Trek: The Next Generation” oral history appeared in EW in 2007While speaking to StarTrek.com, Crosby was asked by the interviewer whether this was simply a widespread rumor, or whether it was true. Crosby was not aware of some of the casting details going on in 1986, but she remembered reading for Counselor Troi… and then she was asked to read for Tasha Yar. In Crosby’s words:
“As far as I know, that’s true. We were in a series of auditions at a certain point and, if I can remember, my agent said, ‘Now they want you to take a look at this character. They’re going to change you.’ We were still auditioning. I think we had to go five different times and maybe after the third audition we finally got there. [audition for] Gene Roddenberry. I’m sure Marina got the same call, but my agent said, ‘Gene Roddenberry really likes you, but he wants you to read this role now.’ The next time I went in, it was for Tasha.”
So it certainly appears that Roddenberry requested to trade Sirtis and Crosby. In an EW story, Crosby recalled that Troi was initially described as a “cool, Icelandic blonde. Almost Spock-like”. It should be noted that Sirtis’s hair was dark brown, providing a visual “balance” to the blonde Crosby. It’s a small detail, but small visual differences like hair color can really be important to casting directors.
Of course, Crosby would eventually leave the show in its first season.
Trekkies won’t see anyone in “next generation” roles worse than those ultimately chosen, but a little imagination could create a world where Crosby plays an intensely Spock-like counselor Troi and Marina Sirtis. Plays the role of an aggressive security chief. We came closer to that world.
