Wil Wheaton left his mark as a beloved figure in science fiction thanks to his role as Wesley Crusher on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Beyond being part of the series’ main cast, Wheaton also had a secret role in the 2009 film reboot directed by J.J. Abrams, which established the now-defunct Kelvin timeline. Wheaton lent his voice to several Romulans from the crew of the film’s antagonist, Nero (Eric Bana).
Wheaton discussed his participation in the 2009 reboot on his blog (via TrekMovie). “I thought it would be really hard to keep my squee under control,” Wheaton shared. “But when I stood there in the darkened ADR stage, three pages of dialog in front of me, sitting in the soft glow of a single dim light clipped to a music stand, I was able to put my inner awkward superfan into check long enough to be a professional actor. I mean, I was working for J.J. freakin’ Abrams on Star freakin’ Trek, so maybe I could rise to the occasion, you know?”
Wil Wheaton’s ongoing contributions to the Star Trek is boldly expansive
Regarding his contributions to the Abrams film, Wheaton acknowledged that the sound designers modified his voice on some of the Romulans. “They digitally-altered my voice to sound like different people, but when I saw the movie, I could definitely tell that it was me underneath the effects,” Wheaton wrote (via /Film). “In fact, there’s one moment near the end of the movie where one of the Romulans is yelling at Nero, and it’s my plain old voice without any alterations. I bounced in my seat when I saw that in the theater just like … well, you know.”
Following the original run of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Wheaton would go on to reprise his role as Wesley Crusher numerous times in other entries in the franchise, including one-episode appearances in both “Star Trek: Picard” and “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” as well as a brief appearance in the film, “Star Trek: Nemesis.” Wesley was a main character during Season 2 of the animated series, “Star Trek: Prodigy.”