We've had some dystopian timelines here, but this takes the cake...
"In a broadcast celebration of Star Trek's 40th Anniversary back in 2006, Leonard Nimoy mentioned in an interview that George Lindsey had been Gene Roddenberry's first choice to portray Spock. Yes, the George Lindsey that played Goober Pyle....
"While some questioned the validity of Nimoy's claim, another 1960s star confirmed this curious piece of TV history a couple of years later.
"Ernest Borgnine of McHale's Navy published a memoir titled Ernie in 2008. Late in the book, Borgnine took time to gush about his friendship with Lindsey.
"Oddly enough, they met in a gas station. Borgnine was going through a rough patch in his marriage and took his car out for a spin to clear his head. He stopped for a lube job and oil change and bumped into Lindsey while getting a cup of coffee.
""My name is George Lindsey," Lindsey introduced himself. "I play Goober on The Andy Griffith Show."
"The two actors started chatting, went for a spin in Lindsey's car, played some golf, and opened up about their relationships. They became quick friends.
"So, about the Spock thing. Borgnine went on to write:
""To this day I think that George Lindsey is one of the great guys in the world. I can't say too much about that old boy and how he used to keep me in stitches talking about his home in Alabama, how he gave up being a science teacher to act, and how — my hand to God — he turned down the part of Mr. Spock on TV's Star Trek."..
https://www.metv.com/stories/george-goober-lindsey-was-the-first-choice-to-play-spock-on-star-trek/
Seriously, if we put aside the image we have of Lindsey for playing Goober, would he have been such a terrible Spock? (After all, he had been a science teacher, and did have a pre-Goober acting career, though hardly a well-known one.) But would it be possible to put aside that image? After all, he had been playing Goober on The Andy Griffith Show since 1964...