Jeffrey Dean Morgan is an icon in the world of acting, especially to fans of a few major television shows like Grey's Anatomy, The Walking Dead, and Supernatural. It's hard to imagine what those shows would be without him, yet that could have indeed happened had the actor made a different key decision when he took on a guest role for Star Trek: Enterprise.
The Negan actor recently appeared on Hot Ones and, as usual, host Sean Evans and his crew had some big questions for the actor to answer while he devoured hot wings. Evans asked Negan about the time Star Trek almost made him walk away from acting entirely, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan confirmed all that and more in his response:
That job was on the nose, in a bad way. It turns out I'm claustrophobic. I had a really hard time doing the makeup process, and I had straws in my nose. I've never been on a set where I went home at night and just thought, 'What am I doing? This is -- I've made the worst fucking decision of my life. I don't ever want to be an actor again.' Like, I was sure that this was just wrong, and it almost made me quit. It was, it was horrible.
Extensive makeup almost ended Jeffrey Dean Morgan's acting career and, considering that appearance on Star Trek: Enterprise was in 2003, that would've been a huge deal. Had he hung it up then, he wouldn't have played Denny Duquette, John Winchester, and the iconic Negan. Perhaps in the Terran world, there's a Morgan who actually walked away from acting, and that's why Terrans are so angry?
As one may guess from his talk of the experience, Jeffrey Dean Morgan has not returned to the Star Trek franchise in any capacity since then. That's a shame because I think he'd make a hell of a bridge captain. But he probably wouldn't risk the opportunity in the freak chance he may get roped into a storyline where he's fitted with lots of Borg material. Perhaps that wouldn't be so bad, given that it can be done without stuff over the nose, which seemed to be the worst part of it for the actor.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan played the Xindi-Reptilian scientist Damron in his brief stint on Star Trek: Enterprise. Damron and his cohorts attempted to destroy humanity with the use of a virus but were thwarted by a time-traveling Archer and T'Pol. It was yet another role in which Morgan was killed off, though given his experience, he likely wasn't too mad about it.
Star Trek fans can check out Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Enterprise episode "Carpenter Street" on most streaming services. For those who haven't seen the actor's Hot Ones experience, it's worth a watch especially considering what happened after it was over.
