Yet when it came to picking someone for the role of Spock’s Vulcan father Sarek, actor Ben Cross was probably one of the easiest casting decisions he could have made.
Which makes it even sadder for us to report that Ben Cross has died today, at the age of 72.
Wise and stoic, but eventually with a hint of fatherly pride, Cross’ reinvention of the character helped the 2009 blockbuster become the success it eventually was known to be.
When director J.J. Abrams set out to create a new canon telling the story of the sci-fi legacy known as Star Trek, casting the new faces of old favorites must have been a terrifying ordeal.