Garrett Wang’s first big role in Hollywood was playing Ensign Harry Kim on Star Trek: Voyager. But his career could have been over before really getting off the ground. That’s because he nearly killed Harrison Ford.
Wang and his former Voyager co-star, Robert Duncan McNeill, launched The Delta Flyers podcast where they re-watch the series and talk about their time working on the show. In the first episode, Wang recalled the casting process he went through to land the role and explained that he was driving through the Paramount parking lot when Ford stepped out in front of his car.
“I’m actually speeding around the parking lot, and I come around this one bend, and this guy in a suit walks between two cars right in front of my car, so I slam on my breaks,” Wang recalls in the podcast episode. “You know when you almost have an accident; your heart is beating a thousand miles a minute? I lock eyes with this dude in the suit, and it’s Harrison Ford! I look at him, and I go ‘Oh my god! I almost killed Han Solo!’ I would have been hated by nerds everywhere!
“I remember reading the Variety paper, our Hollywood trade paper, the next day, and on the front page was a photo that said ‘Harrison Ford at Paramount Studios for the Clear and Present Danger screening.’ He was there for that, based on the Tom Clancy novel, wearing that same suit I almost maimed him in. He could have been a cripple, because of me.”
It’s a crazy what-if. Fortunately, Ford went about his day and his career and Wang appeared on Voyager for seven seasons.
As fans will know, Ford has had a number of near misses in his life, including more than one involving flying. He crashed his own plane on a golf course a few years ago and in a separate incident, he flew low over an American Airlines plane. Furthermore, earlier this year, he misheard instructions from an air traffic controller and could have collided with a two-seat gyroplane.
Also, you know that scar on his chin? He got that in a car accident where he slammed into a telephone pole. This guy’s got more lives than a cat.
The 77-year-old needs to stay off the ground though because he’s still in high demand. He starred in The Call of the Wild earlier this year, he’s reportedly being eyed to appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and he’s set to reprise his role as Indiana Jones for a fifth time. Despite his age, Harrison Ford is showing no signs of slowing down. As long as he doesn’t get hit by cars or crash flying airplanes, that is.