One of the perceived failures of the Star Trek prequel series Enterprise is the fact that it did not embrace what could have been the road to The Original Series until its fourth and final year. The creators of Star Trek: Discovery, however, seem to be taking the opposite approach, first by (according to rumors) dealing with some aspect of the Federation-Klingon War (which audiences have never seen) to having cast James Frain as Spock's father, Sarek; and, now, the US version of The Office's Rainn Wilson as intergalactic conman, Harry Mudd.
The character of Harry Mudd was created by Gene Roddenberry and writer Stephen Kandell for the first season Star Trek episode "Mudd's Women." Says Kandell, "I thought Harry was a marvelous character of the highly human quality set against the alien in time or alien in space paradigm. That's what made it amusing, and it's also hard to do because you had stern-jawed Kirk who would meet an eight-foot intelligent reptile and deal with him as any astronaut would. Then the reptile would meet Harry Mudd, whose first impulse would be to run and hide, and second impulse would be to sell it scale enhancer."
Another writer who chronicled Harry's appearances — in this case the animated series segment "Mudd's Passion" — is Howard Weinstein, who says, "His endearing combination of greed, desperation, intelligence and grandiose style — with just a hint of menace — makes him one of Star Trek's most interesting and complex characters, and a great foil for Kirk. And with so many Trek stories about serious issues, Harry was just plain fun to watch."
Whether or not Star Trek: Discovery will retain that sense of fun surrounding Harry Mudd, remains to be seen. As Wilson has previously proven, though, he is certainly capable of bringing that element and a bit of the menace that Weinstein suggests.
• Star Trek: Discovery — James Frain Cast As Sarek, But Series Delayed Again