Star Trek: Strange New Worlds brought a lot of classic Star Trek back to the fandom, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that Star Trek: Discovery started that concept within the modern era. While Discovery has its fair share of critics and rightfully so, they did do a great job of bringing in classic characters.
People like Spock, Christopher Pike, and Una-Chin Riley all returned to the franchise with Discovery, as did characters like Amanda Grayson and Sarek. Yet, one of the more high-profile characters to return to the series was Henry Mudd. Played by The Office star, Rain Wilson, Mudd came in with a lot of hype and hoopla.
His run on Star Trek: The Original Series, while brief, was memorable and many fans seemed to embrace the, shall we say more whimsical, Mudd. Yet after his two-episode run on Discovery and a quick appearance on the ill-fated Short Treks, we’ve yet to see Mudd or Wilson back in Star Trek.
Now, some are thinking it’s a good time for Mudd to return to the franchise via Strange New Worlds.
It’s certainly an interesting concept, and Wilson is a marvelous actor. Yet, there doesn’t appear to be much demand for his or his characters’ return to the franchise. Especially with the direction that Strange New Worlds is going.
The core of their series has been the developing conflict between the Federation and the growing region that the Gorn occupy. It’s been the crux of the series since they introduced the conflict and it’s been the biggest narrative that they’ve explored.
Couple that with the debut of the Original Series characters like James Kirk and Uhura, and you can start to see what the show is prioritizing. That’s for good reason. The show is working. It’s arguably the most-watched series that Star Trek has produced since the end of Enterprise, and the fandom (both old and new) likes how things are going for the most part.
Mudd could work in a one-off episode but with no real fan support to get him back into the narrative, what’s the point? He works to a point but the series has outgrown characters like him for now. Maybe, in the near future, you can craft a narrative good enough to warrant bringing him back, but otherwise, it’s ok that he isn’t around.
