The late Yaphet Kotto was at one time in the running to play Captain Picard on Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Yaphet Kotto had already made a name for himself in the science fiction world nearly a decade before TNG aired, starring as Parker in Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi horror classic, Star Trek: TNG actress Michelle Forbes. Prior to his involvement with film and television, Kotto found great success on stage, starring in a production of Othello at 19 and subsequently replacing James Earl Jones on Broadway in the 1969 production of The Great White Hope.
Yaphet Kotto was an amazingly well-rounded actor with a dynamic presence on stage and screen, so it is perhaps not surprising that when Star Trek: The Next Generation was being cast, his name appeared on the shortlist for Captain Picard. Kotto was not only considered for the role but actually offered it, an offer he ultimately turned down. In a 2015 interview, Kotto explained that at the time he had felt less inclined to pursue a career in television after having had such great success in movies. He likened the idea of a movie actor being asked to do television to a college student being asked to a high school prom. In the same interview, however, Kotto expressed regret over rejecting the role of Picard, implying that he felt like he should have considered the offer more seriously. Kotto's retroactive change of heart about television could perhaps be attributed to his success on Homicide: Life on the Streets, although he did not ever cite this as a reason publically.
It is certainly interesting to imagine what Star Trek: The Next Generation would have been like with Kotto in the captain's chair instead of Patrick Stewart, to whom the role of Captain Picard ultimately went. Casting Picard was a fraught process, and Star Trek: Discovery which aired in October of 2020, over three decades after TNG first premiered.
Sadly, Yaphet Kotto ed away on March 15th, 2021, at the age of 81. He had not appeared on stage or screen for a number of years prior to his death, but had already cemented his importance in Hollywood history especially with his roles in Alien and Live and Let Die. Although his legacy did not end up including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Yaphet Kotto will always be ed as an integral part of television, film, and science fiction history, and Star Trek fans would be well within their rights to think of him as an honorary part of the franchise.