With the Skydance–Paramount merger now complete, it’s becoming clear that new Star Trek projects are on the horizon. We’ve already heard about a possible reboot of The Original Series (that no one’s asking for). Now, another pitch is making the rounds—this one involving the return of Scott Bakula in a Star Trek: United series that would pick up where Enterprise left off.
Rumors suggest Alex Kurtzman’s current deal with Paramount could be coming to an end amid years of negative fan feedback and poor ratings. If that’s the case, Skydance will indeed be fielding new ideas for Star Trek.
Star Trek: United details
The details include that Scott Bakula could be headed back to the Star Trek universe—this time as President Archer—in a series pitch from former Enterprise producer Michael Sussman.
Sussman, whose Trek credits include 10 episodes of Voyager and 22 episodes of Enterprise (where he also served as producer on more than 70 episodes), revealed that he and Bakula have been developing the idea for a few years.
The concept, first jokingly referred to as “Star Trek: Archer,” but now titled Star Trek: United, would follow Archer after his time in Starfleet, exploring his career as President of the United Federation of Planets. The series is described as a political thriller and family drama set during the chaotic early years of the Federation—think The West Wing meets Star Trek, with some Homeland and The Diplomat mixed in.
According to Sussman, the inspiration came from a detail he planted in the Enterprise episode In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II, where a future database outlined Archer’s life after his Starfleet career. That small canon detail became the seed for an entire series. Via TrekMovie:
“One of my aspirations would be that the series could do for Star Trek what Andor did for Star Wars. A show where you can tell adult stories about adults and tell them in a very grounded, realistic way.”
Why It Hasn’t Happened Yet
A couple of years ago, Sussman pitched Star Trek: United to Alex Kurtzman’s production company, Secret Hideout. Executives liked the idea and even discussed it with higher-ups at Paramount, but the pitch stalled. At the time, Paramount was pulling back on streaming spending, and there were concerns about overlap with the upcoming Starfleet Academy series.
Since then, Sussman and Bakula have continued refining the concept, even moving the setting from Earth to the planet Babel—first introduced in The Original Series—to make it stand apart from Academy.
Why Skydance Could Change Things
With Skydance now officially in charge of Paramount, Sussman believes the timing could be right to revive the pitch. New Paramount CEO David Ellison has promised greater investment in exclusive streaming content, and other Trek creatives—including Strange New Worlds producer Akiva Goldsman—are already talking about bringing new ideas to the table (the TOS reboot).
Sussman says both he and Bakula are ready to present a full series proposal if given the chance. Given Bakula’s fan-favorite status and history with Paramount, the idea of him leading a mature, politically driven Star Trek series could have strong appeal for both longtime fans and streaming audiences.
