The surprise return of a Star Trek: Enterprise icon was Star Trek‘s best comeback in 8 years, and now there’s a way to complete the comeback of Enterprise‘s entire cast. Star Trek television was dormant for 12 years after Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled in 2005, but the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017 sparked a renaissance on Paramount+.
Along with introducing numerous new Star Trek characters, Star Trek on Paramount+’s various series have also seen the return of many beloved icons. Patrick Stewart opened the floodgates of Star Trek legacy actors reprising their iconic roles when he agreed to return as Admiral Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: Picard.
In Star Trek: Picard season 3, the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation reunited. Meanwhile, many of Star Trek: Voyager’s actors, led by Kate Mulgrew as Admiral Kathryn Janeway, voiced their characters in the animated Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Trek: Lower Decks. Some of the actors from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine returned as well.
However, there were a few Star Trek legacy actor unicorns who, for specific reasons, seemed like a comeback was out of reach. Avery Brooks, for instance, will likely not play Captain Benjamin Sisko again.
Yet Star Trek: Lower Decks proved the seemingly impossible was indeed possible when one of Star Trek: Enterprise’s biggest names made her surprise comeback.
Jolene Blalock As T’Pol Was Star Trek’s Best & Most Unexpected Comeback In 8 Years
Image via Paramount+
Arguably the best comeback of Star Trek on Paramount+’s era, but certainly the most unexpected, was Jolene Blalock reprising Subcommander T’Pol in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 9, “Fissure Quest.”
In a novel twist, this version of T’Pol was from an alternate reality where the Vulcan Science Officer was married to Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer), who was never killed off the way Trip was in Star Trek: Enterprise‘s maligned series finale, “These Are The Voyages…”
In 2023, Connor Trinneer voiced Commander Trip Tucker again in the Star Trek: very Short Treks episode, “Holograms All The Way Down.”
T’Pol was part of the multiverse-exploring starship Anaximander, comprised of a crew of alt-reality Star Trek icons like Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), Garak (Andrew Robinson), and Curzon Dax (Fred Tatasciore), led by Captain William Boimler (Jack Quaid). They were also joined by multitudes of Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang).
One of the most amazing parts of Jolene Blalock’s Star Trek comeback after 19 years away was how flawless her performance was. Jolene perfectly recaptured T’Pol’s cadences, and even as an alternate reality version, this was still indeed the T’Pol Star Trek: Enterprise fans remembered and loved.
How Jolene Blalock Returned As T’Pol On Star Trek: Lower Decks
Jolene Blalock coming back was generally considered a long shot that would never happen, but Star Trek: Lower Decks’ creator and showrunner, Mike McMahan, hit upon a novel idea: He asked Blalock if she’d be willing to return.
As Mike McMahan told ScreenRant, he wrote Jolene a letter and sent her a copy of Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ script. Blalock watched episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks, and she agreed to do it because she loved what she saw.
Jolene Blalock starred in a few films after Star Trek: Enterprise ended in 2005, but she largely retired from acting to raise her three sons with her husband, Michael Rapino, the CEO of Live Nation.
With her surprise appearance on Star Trek: Lower Decks, Jolene Blalock became the most high-profile Star Trek: Enterprise actor to make a comeback on Paramount+, but fans have long yearned to see the entire cast of the NX-01 Enterprise reprise their roles.
Remarkably, there is now a way for Star Trek: Enterprise to return that has been in the works for years and has now captured the imagination of Star Trek fans.
Scott Bakula’s Star Trek Spinoff Plan Is The Perfect Way For An Enterprise Comeback
In August 2025, Star Trek: Enterprise writer and producer Mike Sussman revealed that he and Scott Bakula developed an idea called Star Trek: United about Bakula reprising his role as President Jonathan Archer set decades after Star Trek: Enterprise ended.
Star Trek: United would be a political saga and a prestige TV series akin to Star Wars: Andor, and it would center on President Archer and his children navigating the complex early years of the recently formed United Federation of Planets.
While Mike Sussman doesn’t intend Star Trek: United to be a direct sequel to Star Trek: Enterprise, meaning Archer would not reunite his old crew aboard the NX-01 Enterprise, Sussman also hopes to bring in other actors from Star Trek: Enterprise when it makes sense for the story.
Star Trek: United is only an idea, and not an actual TV series in development, but it has caught fire with Star Trek fans and has garnered momentum because of the rampant desire to see Scott Bakula return to Star Trek as Captain Archer.
Another unfulfilled dream for Star Trek fans is to catch up with Enterprise now that twenty years have passed since the series ended on UPN. Thanks to streaming, Enterprise has been reassessed since its cancelation, and has found a greater appreciation than it enjoyed during its broadcast run on UPN from 2001-2005.
Since 2022, Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer have kept Star Trek: Enterprise‘s flame alive with their podcasts, The Shuttlepod Show and The D-Con Chamber.
Star Trek: Enterprise‘s cast members, Connor Trinneer, Dominic Keating, Linda Park, Anthony Montgomery, John Billingsley, and Jeffrey Combs have all continued their acting careers post-Enterprise. All would surely be willing to reprise their characters if Star Trek: United were to happen.
Even if not all of Star Trek: Enterprise‘s cast were to come back in Star Trek: United, or they don’t all share the screen together, Enterprise is long overdue for a follow-up that would finally cleanse the palate after the way Enterprise ended, which is still a sore spot for fans (and the actors) 20 years later.
Hopefully, Mike Sussman and Scott Bakula will properly pitch Star Trek: United to the executives at Paramount Skydance, who are looking to expand Star Trek on streaming, and they will find a receptive audience that gives them a green light to deliver a Star Trek series unlike any other.
Jolene Blalock was the most unexpected and delightful return Star Trek on Paramount+ saw in the 8 years since Star Trek: Discovery premiered. Fingers are crossed that Star Trek will complete the prospective Star Trek: Enterprise comeback that Blalock started.
- Release Date
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2005 – 2005-00-00
- Showrunner
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Brannon Braga
- Directors
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Brannon Braga
