We haven’t seen Star Trek on TV since Enterprise ended in 2005, and we had to wait four years until Trek came back into our lives in the form of J.J. Abrams’ successful movie reboot of the venerable sci-fi franchise. But did you know there were a few attempts to bring back Star Trek to television that were literally crushed?
In an interview with UGO, Jonathan Frakes—who played Cmdr. William T. Riker, Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) first officer on the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation and four movies, made some startling revelations about a couple of proposed Star Trek TV series ideas that Paramount ended up rejecting.
“I had a Star Trek that I developed for TV, and we were told in no uncertain terms that they said no to [a] Bryan Singer television Star Trek, they said no to a William Shatner television Star Trek. They feel at CBS/Paramount that they don’t want to make the same mistake that’s been made before, which was watering down the brand by having a TV show and a movie. That’s what happened with Star Trek: Nemesis, and that’s why I think Star Trek: Enterprise didn’t last the way they expected to.”
