To boldly govern where no one has governed before | The Express Tribune

Two decades after ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’ bowed out with more of a whimper than a warp jump, Scott Bakula’s Captain Jonathan Archer might finally be getting the comeback he deserves.

Writer-producer Mike Sussman, who helped steer ‘Enterprise’, has dusted off an old idea for a spinoff – ‘Star Trek: United’ —and it sounds like Trek’s answer to ‘Andor’.

Forget the starship bridge and warp-core malfunctions; this one’s all about the corridors of power. Set years after ‘Enterprise’, ‘United’ would see Archer as President of the United Federation of Planets, juggling peace treaties, Romulan conspiracies and a family of four grown-up children all tangled in interstellar politics.

Think The West Wing meets ‘The Wrath of Khan’, with a dash of spy-thriller grit for good measure. Sussman, speaking to TrekMovie.com, explained that he and Bakula have been nursing this idea since the days of ‘Star Trek: Picard’.

The original pitch didn’t fly with Paramount back then —apparently it felt too close to Starfleet Academy —but the new Paramount-Skydance era might be more receptive. Especially now that studios are sniffing around for prestige, politically charged sci-fi after ‘Andor’ cleaned up with critics and 22 Emmy nods.

‘Star Trek: United’ would open with the Romulan War —that key slice of Trek history ‘Enterprise’ never got to show before it was cancelled in 2005. Expect flashbacks, intrigue and the kind of moral murkiness that keeps even Vulcans raising an eyebrow.

Sussman also wants to dig into the long-standing mystery of why no one in Starfleet actually saw a Romulan until Captain Kirk’s day. Cover-ups, spies, and shady government secrets? Beam us up.

And yes, fan favourites could return. Jeffrey Combs’ Andorian bruiser Shran might make an appearance, provided he’s not just there for a cameo and a blue-skinned handshake.

Todd Stashwick’s Romulan double-agent Talok could also slink back into the mix, still up to no good. But make no mistake – this isn’t an ‘Enterprise’ reunion show. The focus is squarely on Archer and his politically minded offspring, offering something Star Trek’s never really done: a family drama wrapped in Federation intrigue.

Sussman describes United as more ‘Deep Space Nine’ than ‘Discovery’ – less action, more moral chess. It wouldn’t be a flagship series for the franchise, he says, but a more grounded, character-driven slice of Trek for grown-ups. “It’s not about exploring new worlds,” he adds. “It’s about holding the ones we already have together.”

For now, ‘Star Trek: United’ is still orbiting in the “dream project” zone —no green light, no production date, just a hopeful pitch and a lot of fan enthusiasm. But if Paramount does take the plunge, it could close the book on Archer’s unfinished story and boldly take Trek somewhere it’s rarely gone before: the political heart of the Federation. And that’s a frontier worth exploring.