The out of universe explanation is that the actor for Captain Pike Jeffrey Hunter did not want to continue the series after the pilot was rejected by NBC. As other answers said, the pilot was rejected because it was too slow. Jeffrey Hunter then went to Spain to continue his acting career there.
Why did they change the cast of Star Trek after the pilot?
Why did the cast of Star Trek changed after the pilot?
Jeffrey Hunter wasn't available to do the second pilot (he was pursuing his film career, and some claim his then-wife convinced him science fiction was beneath him; they divorced a couple of years later), so the role was recast with William Shatner and along the way renamed (Christopher Pike became James Kirk).
Why did Star Trek change original cast?
By now most fans know that the original cast of Star Trek actually was re-cast and most of the characters were cut from the show after the first pilot. They shot just one episode with that cast, with the lone holdover being Leonard Nimoy as Spock.
Why was William Shatner not in the Star Trek pilot?
The first pilot was too cerebral for NBC but they asked for a second pilot. Hunter had had enough (and so had his wife) so he declined to participate.
Why did Jeffrey Hunter not continue with Star Trek?
Jeffrey Hunter was unwilling to return, so the disfigured Pike was played by Sean Kenney under heavy makeup. Pike wouldn't play a role in a Star Trek story again until the 2009 J.J. Abrams reboot film, where he was portrayed by Bruce Greenwood and served as something of a father figure to Chris Pine's young Kirk.
Why did Star Trek switch from Pike to Kirk?
The out of universe explanation is that the actor for Captain Pike Jeffrey Hunter did not want to continue the series after the pilot was rejected by NBC. As other answers said, the pilot was rejected because it was too slow. Jeffrey Hunter then went to Spain to continue his acting career there.
Why did original Star Trek get Cancelled?
The cast recalled that there was a noticeable drop in quality in Season 3 episodes, and, with ratings continuing to slide, NBC announced it was canceling Star Trek on Feb. 18, 1969, when it was conspicuously absent from the network's programming schedule for the 1969-1970 season.
Why was the original Star Trek pilot rejected?
The first pilot was not aired on TV until 1988, when it was used as a filler episode for Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) due to a writers strike. … NBC reportedly called the pilot "too cerebral", "too intellectual", and "too slow" with "not enough action".
Why was Spock limping in the cage?
Nimoy often had to answer why Spock limped and confirmed that it wasn't a real injury in a tweet from 2012. Stark Trek creator Gene Roddenberry told him to limp, and so he did. … Three crewmen were killed in the altercation and seven injured, including Mr. Spock and the ship's navigator, Jose Tyler.