Posted in: Star Trek, TV | Tagged: star trek, Star Trek: Enterprise

Star Trek: John Billingsley on "Enterprise" Ending, "United" Interest

John Billingsley discusses how fans' franchise fatigue may have impacted Enterprise's run, his interest in Star Trek: United, and more.

Before Paramount+, there was a time when there was a continuous stream of Star Trek shows on TV stemming from its revival in the syndicated era with The Next Generation in 1987 and its average span of seven seasons with the next series, overlapping with shows like Deep Space Nine in 1993, Voyager in 1995, and Enterprise in 2001. Sadly, the cycle would end on UPN in 2005, well short of the seven-season goal, and there would be no additional series the franchise could lean on since Voyager ended in 2001. It marked a dark era for the franchise as we would not see another project until 2009's theatrical soft reboot from J. J. Abrams that introduced the Kelvin universe incarnation of The Original Series crew in Star Trek, and we wouldn't see another Trek TV series until a year after the final Kelvin film in 2016's Beyond with Paramount+'s Discovery. John Billingsley, who played Dr. Phlox on Enterprise, spoke to TrekMovie.com to reflect on the series' struggles on network television, how it was even a "miracle" that Enterprise lasted four seasons, and his thoughts on the proposed Picard-like sequel series, Star Trek: United, from Enterprise producer Michael Sussman.

Star Trek: Enterprise Star John Billingsley Reflects on Series' Decline and Cancellation

Billingsley was already aware of how Enterprise was underperforming on UPN. "One had reason to think, given the recent history of Star Trek [in the 1990s], that seven years is a given. But I wasn't blind to the fact that UPN was had a pretty tenuous hold on an audience base in the first place as a network… Frankly, it was a miracle we got four seasons, given the numbers." Voyager was the first Trek series to return to network TV since TOS on NBC, premiering on UPN.

The Anaconda (2025) star believed the enthusiasm for Star Trek wasn't what it once was by the time the TOS prequel series became a staple on prime time, with 13 years of continuous presence on TV, "There'd been a lot of overlap, Deep Space Nine had overlap with Next Gen and Voyager… and here we were right on the heels of Voyager. I think there was some fatigue, to a certain extent. While people came and watched that first episode [of Enterprise] I don't think at the time it was an audience that was just chomping at the bit for more. I think they were kind of almost looking for a reason to say, 'Yeah, I'm gonna let this go for a while.'"

As much as shows post-TOS had an eye to honoring the past, Enterprise leaned hard not only revisiting, but in some instances, rewriting certain narratives of the Gene Roddenberry series since Enterprise sought to fill in the blanks since 1996's First Contact, Discovery originally took place later in the timeline, but still before TOS reintroducing fan favorite Spock, Strange New Worlds inched even closer focusing on Kirk's predecessor Pike, and EPs Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers is proposing, yet another TOS prequel in Year One that leads direct into TOS as it will focus on Kirk's early captain years on the Enterprise.

Sussman's United will focus on Scott Bakula's Jonathan Archer after his time as captain on the NX-01 and the Federation is formed, embracing his role as its president. The NCIS: New Orleans star has admitted to being open to the idea, assuming it reaches the filming phase. As far as recruiting his former ship's chief medical officer, "Absolutely! I love Toronto, and I'd also love the opportunity to work with Scott [again]. He's generous and gracious and knows everybody's name and just brings warmth and light and joy to a set. I mean, I can't say enough good things about Scott. And you can make fun of them at the same time, which is a delight." For more, including on what creative changes the late showrunner Manny Coto brought to Enterprise's final season, you can check out the whole interview. Enterprise is available on Paramount+.

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