Screenwriters Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes were enlisted to craft a role specifically for Murphy. They envisioned him as a quirky English professor at Berkeley, reminiscent of the eccentric educators of the ’60s and ’70s, who harbored a belief in extraterrestrial life. Meerson shared with Woman’s World that Murphy’s character would have played whale sounds during his lectures, inadvertently attracting the attention of the Starship Enterprise. Although the concept evolved after the initial draft, the core premise remained: Murphy’s character would witness aliens beaming into his classroom, sparking his mission to prove their existence to skeptics.

Despite the creative enthusiasm, the concept bordered on the absurd. “Star Trek” has never shied away from humor, but balancing Murphy’s extraterrestrial-enthusiast professor with the franchise’s blend of comedy, emotion, and science fiction was a risky endeavor. The proposed storyline seemed more fitting for a lighthearted sci-fi series like “My Favorite Martian” or “Mork & Mindy” than a “Star Trek” film.

Reflecting on the collaboration, “The Voyage Home” producer Harve Bennett, a veteran of four “Star Trek” films starting with “The Wrath of Khan” in 1982, described his initial meeting with Murphy as “a little bizarre.” Bennett recounted to Woman’s World that Murphy and his entourage arrived in matching black leather attire. Although intrigued by the concept, Murphy requested to see a script before making any commitments, leaving the creative team to ponder the potential impact of his involvement.

According to “The Voyage Home” producer Harve Bennett (who first took the reins for 1982’s “The Wrath of Khan” and went on to produce four “Star Trek” films in total), his first meeting with Eddie Murphy was a “little bizarre.” He told Woman’s World that Murphy and his entourage all showed up in black leather outfits. “We told Eddie this story, he thought about it for a while and he said, ‘It’s good. Let me see a script,’ and walked out. We sat there and thought, ‘Would it be terrific to have Eddie in this movie?’”

Behind the scenes, the studio was starting to get cold feet. However, at this point, it was pretty much out of their hands. “Eddie had a certain amount of clout and he said that he hadn’t decided whether he wanted to do it or not and so much of the development of the story was with the very distinct possibility that Eddie Murphy was in it,” Bennett explained. Luckily for them — and for “Star Trek” fans everywhere – Murphy ended up rejecting the part in favor of “The Golden Child,” which came out the same year.

With Eddie Murphy out, the script for “The Voyage Home” was rewritten by Bennett and Nicholas Meyer, with some of the professor character’s qualities given to Catherine Hicks’ Dr. Gillian Taylor. The film was lauded by critics and it did well at the box office, raking in $133 million worldwide from a budget of $24 million. “The Golden Child” wasn’t quite as successful, making just shy of $80 million from a similar budget. The majority of critics panned the dark fantasy action comedy — it has a 22% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Eddie Murphy, who is a self-described Trekkie, would later lament turning down the chance to appear in a “Star Trek” movie. Speaking to veteran entertainment journalist Ed Gross in 2023, he admitted that opting to appear in “The Golden Child” instead of “The Voyage Home” was a mistake. “In retrospect, I think I might have been better off doing ‘Star Trek IV,’” he said. So why did Murphy opt to make “The Golden Child” instead? Well, it apparently came down to his character being human — and a familiar human, at that.

During the promotion of his 2008 sci-fi comedy film “Meet Dave,” Murphy brought up the fact that he almost appeared in “The Voyage Home.” He stated that the character the screenwriters came up with was too similar to Axel Foley from “Beverly Hills Cop,” which ultimately pushed him toward “The Golden Child.” During a 2023 appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Murphy said: “I was going to be the one that they met when they got to San Francisco, and I was like, ‘No, I want to go and beam up and be on the ship,’ so I didn’t do it,” Murphy said. He then added, “They had me like talking jive to Spock.”

Murphy apparently had his heart set on playing a Vulcan, which came as news to Leonard Nimoy. When TrekMovie told the Spock actor this during a 2008 interview, he said that they only ever envisioned Murphy playing the professor character. “I guess he was right in that it was a character that he had played before in some way,” Nimoy said. “I had no idea that he was looking to play an entirely different kind of alien or Vulcan. We still admire Eddie Murphy and I hope he still admires us.”