Rainn Wilson is trying to get Harry Mudd on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Rainn Wilson was cast to bring the Original Series character Harry Mudd to a new generation of Star Trek fans, appearing as the character in Star Trek: Discovery and Short Treks. Wilson had such a blast playing Mudd, he’d like to continue playing the character on Strange New Worlds.
Wilson spoke on his panel about how he wanted to be part of Discovery but was unsure about being an alien or relocating to Toronto full time while the series shot. Eventually, the role of Mudd came up and Wison jumped at it.
With Discovery leaping into the distant future, Wilson has revealed that he’d like to switch shows and join up with Strange New Words, as they’re still in the same time period as his actor is. Speaking at the 55-Year Mission Star Trek convention in Las Vegas last week, Wilson revealed he’s actively trying to return to the franchise through Strange New Worlds (via TrekMovie);
"I’ve written the producers and said, “Bring Harry Mudd back.” I’d love to come back. I wrote to [executive producer/co-showrunner] Akiva Goldsman about Strange New Worlds. And he was like, “I don’t know, I would need to think about that.” So it’s out in the ether. Maybe if the fans write in to producers saying they want more Harry Mudd, they will listen to that. But I would love to do more, yeah."
Rainn Wilson has an obvious love of science-fiction thanks to Star Trek
Speaking at the same convention, Wilson spoke about how Star Trek impacted his life.
"I would come home from school and watch Star Trek reruns and it just blew my mind. I can in allMore from Star Trek: Strange New WorldsIs Star Trek now a multiverse? Does it really matter?Jonathan Frakes returning to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a great thingStar Trek: Strange New Worlds moving toward productionStar Trek: Strange New Worlds introduced the scariest episode of Star TrekStar Trek’s constantly changing starship “Enterprise” – Relax, it’s just a TV show!honesty say it really changed my life. Star Trek allowed me to see a world in an entirely different way, which was: what was possible with technology – not just in terms of weapons and space exploration – but things like replicators. The idea that we could eliminate hunger, we could eventually eliminate financial systems. We wouldn’t need them to work in the same way. Racially we could get along in new ways and there was gender equity and the whole human race participated. We were grateful in the diversity that we had on the planet."
So it’s no real surprise that elements of this passion for science fiction have bubbled up over the years. His most famous role so far was as Dwight Schrute in The Office, and one of his character’s major interests was science fiction and fantasy stories; most notably Battlestar Galactica (the remake).
Not only that, but Wilson has also launched a brand new podcast series called Dark Air, in which Wison plays Terry Carnation, a paranormal radio show host, who looks at things like alien abductions, ghosts, cryptids, and out of the word theories. In fact, one episode features fellow sci-fi fan Nathan Fillion, playing Nathan Fillion, but Nathan Fillion isn’t really Nathan Fillion. It’s a wild episode that highlights the incredible storytelling medium that podcasts can be.
It’s arguably the best episode of the season, so if you like podcasts check it out.
Hopefully, Wilson rejoins the Star Trek franchise, be it with Strange New Worlds or elsewhere.